August 29th, 2026

Things continue on, and the number of Sundays after Pentecost continues to increase. With the three-year series, this Sunday’s title is the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, and the Gospel Reading follows immediately after the text from last week. This is the first time that has happened in a while. The text is Matthew 16:21-28. This Sunday the context will be a lot easier to discern.

With the writings of this website, we have currently been going through the Gospel according to John. It is a significantly different Gospel account when compared to the other three, but it also is one with a lot of good news. Now we are much farther along in that account, and Jesus is EXTREMELY close to the cross.

With such an important topic, we continue to study the words for more clarity, especially when it comes to the Gospel or a Gospel account. When we take a little bit of a Gospel account at a time, we put it into words, in the order in which it has been laid out, and we are not skipping any parts.

It should also be mentioned that with these writings we have been going through all four Gospel accounts with a unique translation called an EXTREMELY literal translation. If you are familiar with this style of translation, you may wish to skip the next two paragraphs.

The first significant thing to mention regarding the description of this type of translation is that the chapter and verse numbers will not be included within the text itself. Both numbers were added quite later after the text was written, and they are certainly useful when someone is searching for a particular text, but the structure they imply is not always helpful. This pair of numerical designations makes the very beginning of the text important. There is always a first verse, and there is not always a twentieth verse. With this structure, the focus tends to be on the beginning of the writing. The act of writing those verses is probably not the most important thing that the writer wants to get across to the reader. The biblical writers basically wanted the readers to focus on God and not on themselves. The words are much more important than the numbers, and often those words lead the reader near the middle and/or the end of the text in some way, to give to the reader some structure to all the words being read.
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It should also be noted that the words with hyphens occur when more than one English word is used to describe a single word of the ancient Greek. And it should also be noted that some of the words chosen below are meant to point out the close connection that often occurs between the English and Greek languages. It is also important to mention that the order of the words below is also the same order that is in the ancient Greek. This may help to show the important words, especially when another word besides the verb is first in the sentence or phrase. Sometimes this emphasis will be shown with a “(!)”. The exception to this translation order is that there are just a small number of words (like “therefore” and “now”) that are usually second in a sentence that are meant to be first when translated. And although it should be obvious, it should be said that repetition of words should be noted as another type of emphasis. One more thing to mention is that the verbs in capital letters are called HISTORICAL PRESENTS.  Historical presents are somewhat frequent within all the Gospel accounts, but they are especially frequent in the Gospel according to John. An historical present is when a verb in a past tense is expected, but a verb in the present tense is given. More details regarding the historical presents have been explained elsewhere in these writings, so it may be helpful to read some of the other writings of this website. With all of the above things to consider, it will probably be very helpful to have another translation or a study bible nearby as you read the text below.
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What follows is an EXTREMELY literal translation of the first part of the what has been called the nineteenth chapter of the Gospel according to John (19:1-16a; the “a” indicates that only half of the verse is in this section; this point was chosen because of the period/full stop—which was also added later—is the last one before Jesus is crucified). These words continue to be important, and they are certainly nice gifts that we have.

Therefore,  then  he-took,  the  Pilate,  the  Jesus,  and  he-whipped.  And  the  soldiers,  having-woven  a-stephanos  out-of  thorns,  they-put-upon,  of-him,  the  head,  and  a-garment,  purple,  they-threw-around  him,  and  they-were-coming  toward  him,  and  they-were-saying,  “Hail,  the  King  of-the  Jews.”  And  they-were-giving  to-him  blows.

And  he-came-out  again,  outside,  the  Pilate,  and  HE-SAYS  to-them,  “Behold,  I-am-leading  to-you  him,  outside,  in-order-that  you-may-know  that  not-any  crime  I-find  in  him.”  Therefore  he-came-out,  the  Jesus,  outside,  wearing  the  thorny  stephanos  and  the  purple  garment,  and  HE-SAYS  to-them,  “Behold,  the  anthropoid.”

Therefore,  when  they-saw  him,  the  archpriests  and  the  assistants,  they-shouted  saying,  “Crucify,  crucify.”

HE-SAYS  to-them,  the  Pilate,  “Take  him,  you,  and  crucify;  for  I,  not  do-I-find  in  him  a-crime.”

They-answered  him,  the  Jews,  “We,  a-law,  we-have,  and  according-to  the  law,  he-ought  to-die,  because  Son  of-God,  himself,  he-made.”

Therefore,  when  he-heard,  the  Pilate,  this,  the  word,  more  he-was-afraid,  and  he-came-into,  into  the  praetorium  again,  and  HE-SAYS  to-the  Jesus,  “From-where  are-you,  you?”

Now  the  Jesus,  an-answer  not  did-he-give  to-him.  Therefore  HE-SAYS  to-him,  the  Pilate,  “To-me(!)  not  do-you-speak?  Not  do-you-know  that  authority  I-have  to-release  you  and  authority  I-have  to-crucify  you?”

He-answered  him,  Jesus,  “Not  you-would-have  authority  against  me,  not-any,  if  not  it-was  having-been-given  to-you  from-above;  on-account-of  this,  the-one  having-given-over  me  to-you,  a-greater  sin  he-has.”

Out-of  this  the  Pilate  was-seeking  to-release  him;  now  the  Jews  shouted  saying,  “If  this-man  you-release,  not  you-are  a-“friend  of-the  Caesar”;  everyone  the  king  himself  making,  speaks-anti  the  Caesar.”

Therefore  the  Pilate,  hearing  the  words,  these,  he-led  outside  the  Jesus,  and  he-sat  upon  a-tribunal,  into  a  place  being-called  “Lithostrowtos”,  now  in-Hebrew,  “Gabbatha”. 

Now  it-was  preparation  of-the  Pascha,  hour  it-was,   about  sixth,  and  HE-SAYS  to-the  Jews,  “Behold,  the  king  of-you.”

Therefore  they-shouted,  these,  “Take,  take,  crucify  him.”

HE-SAYS  to-them,  the  Pilate,  “The  king(!)  of-you  will-I-crucify?”
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They-answered,  the  archpriests,  “Not  we-have  a-king,  if  not  Caesar.”  Therefore,  then,  he-handed-over  him  to-them,  in-order  to-be-crucified.