Luke 23:39
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If you be Christ, save yourself and us.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If you be Christ, save yourself and us.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And one of the malefactors that were hanged railed on him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And one of the evil-doers on the cross, with bitter feeling, said to him, Are you not the Christ? Get yourself and us out of this.
Webster's Revision
And one of the malefactors, who were hanged, railed on him, saying, If thou art Christ, save thyself and us.
World English Bible
One of the criminals who was hanged insulted him, saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!"
English Revised Version (ERV)
And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, Art not thou the Christ? save thyself and us.
Definitions for Luke 23:39
Clarke's Luke 23:39 Bible Commentary
One of the malefactors which were hanged - It is likely that the two robbers were not nailed to their crosses, but only tied to them by cords, and thus they are represented in ancient paintings. If not nailed, they could not have suffered much, and therefore they were found still alive when the soldiers came to give the coup de grace, which put a speedy end to their lives. John 19:31-33.
Barnes's Luke 23:39 Bible Commentary
One of the malefactors - Matthew Mat 27:44 says "the thieves - cast the same in his teeth." See the apparent contradiction in these statements reconciled in the notes at that place.
If thou be Christ - If thou art the Messiah; if thou art what thou dost pretend to be. This is a taunt or reproach of the same kind as that of the priests in Luke 23:35.
Save thyself and us - Save our lives. Deliver us from the cross. This man did not seek for salvation truly; he asked not to be delivered from his sins; if he had, Jesus would also have heard him. Men often, in sickness and affliction, call upon God. They are earnest in prayer. They ask of God to save them, but it is only to save them from "temporal" death. It is not to be saved from their sins, and the consequence is, that when God "does" raise them up, they forget their promises, and live as they did before, as this robber "would" have done if Jesus had heard his prayer and delivered him from the cross.
Wesley's Luke 23:39 Bible Commentary
23:39 And one of the malefactors reviled him - St. Matthew says, the robbers: St. Mark, they that were crucified with him, reviled him.Either therefore St. Matthew and Mark put the plural for the singular (as the best authors sometimes do) or both reviled him at the first, till one of them felt "the overwhelming power of saving grace."
