John 18:33-37

Living Bible

³³Then Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked him.

³⁴“‘King’ as you use the word or as the Jews use it?” Jesus asked.^[a]

³⁵“Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their chief priests brought you here. Why? What have you done?”

³⁶Then Jesus answered, “I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of the world.”

³⁷Pilate replied, “But you are a king then?”

“Yes,” Jesus said. “I was born for that purpose. And I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth are my followers.”

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Footnotes

John 18:34 “‘King’ as you use the word or as the Jews use it?” Jesus asked. An extended paraphrase of this verse would be, “Do you mean their King, or their Messiah?” If Pilate was asking as the Roman governor, he would be inquiring whether Jesus was setting up a rebel government. But the Jews were using the word King to mean their religious ruler, the Messiah. Literally, this verse reads: “Are you saying this of yourself, or did someone else say it about me?”