Often it’s helpful to get a fresh perspective. That was the reason my family and I chose to read the Bible in a different translation this year. After reading the entire Bible through twice from 2016-20 in the NKJV, we bought the kids copies of the Holmen Christian Standard Bible and have begun reading together. My wife and I didn’t buy them for ourselves, because we had both been given a copy of the Christian Standard Bible, the 2017 revision of the HCSB, and we figure they’re close enough to read without confusion.
So far we have completed the books of Genesis and Exodus along with all four Gospels, and while there have been a few places where the texts were different, for the most part, it’s been harmonious. This week we encountered something interesting that prompted me to take a closer look at a detail of Scripture that we might otherwise ignore. The best way to explain it is simply to show a quotation from each translation and let you see the difference for yourself.
John 19:14 HCSB: It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about six in the morning. Then he told the Jews, “Here is your King!”
John 19:14 CSB: It was the preparation day for the Passover, and it was about noon. Then he told the Jews, “Here is your King!”
You might be able to tell why this disagreement stood out to us. A six-hour difference is no small thing! Thankfully, both versions include a footnote at the point of disagreement, but while these do clarify the issue a bit, they also present a question without answering it.
HCSB footnote at John 19:14: Lit the sixth hour; see note at Jn 1:39; an alt. time reckoning would be about noon
CSB footnote at John 19:14: Lit about the sixth hour
So the translators do at least clarify that a literal translation of John’s words would be “about the sixth hour.” Of course, in this situation, a literal translation isn’t really all that helpful to us, is it? The sixth hour from when? And that’s the point at issue here.
If we begin the day at sunrise as the Jews apparently did, then we would measure from about six in the morning, so the sixth hour would be about noon. In that case, John would be telling us that Pilate presented Jesus to the Jews for crucifixion by about mid-day on Friday. On the other hand, if we begin the day at midnight as some say the Romans did, the sixth hour would be early morning about sunrise. This explains why the HCSB and CSB translators speak of six in the morning and noon.
This is mentioned by the HCSB translators in the footnote at John 1:39 to which the footnote at 19:14 points. It says in part, “Various methods of reckoning time were used in the ancient world. John probably used a different method from the other 3 Gospels.” So now we are aware of this issue of using different methods to reckon time, but how can we know which one John is using and what time Pilate actually delivered Jesus up to be crucified? Is there any way to choose between six in the morning and noon in this verse?
The only way we can clarify this is by comparing what John says to the crucifixion accounts in the other Gospels. Do they give us any details about the timeline which will tell us when exactly Jesus was led out to be crucified?
Starting in Matthew 27 we find the only reference to the time of day in vv.45-46. He says, “Now from the sixth hour until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land.” It was in the ninth hour that Jesus cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” But again we must ask where Matthew begins his measurement. One thing we know is that between Pilate handing Jesus over to be crucified (v.26) and the spreading of darkness over the land (v.45) a number of other events took place, and these events would have required some time. So it is unlikely that Matthew means six in the morning and nine, respectively, but rather it became dark from noon until three in the afternoon when Jesus cried out and gave up his spirit.
Luke 23:44 tells us the very same thing as Matthew. He writes that after Jesus assured the repentant thief on the cross that he would be with him in paradise that very day, “Now it was about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour.” Like Matthew, Luke seems to indicate that several key events happen between Pilate releasing Jesus to be crucified (v.25) and the sixth hour when it became dark (v.44).
Now Mark gives us the key detail that helps us fill in our understanding of the sequence of events and also of John’s reckoning of their timing. After having been questioned by Pilate and scourged in a vain attempt to appease the crowd and their blood lust, Jesus was delivered to the soldiers for crucifixion. And Mark 15:24 says very plainly, “Now it was the third hour, and they crucified Him.” If we are to compare our two possible methods of time reckoning this means that Jesus was placed on the cross at either three in the morning (by the Roman method) or nine (by the Jewish). Three in the morning does not fit the statement in Mark 15:1 that Jesus was brought to Pilate “in the morning,” a term which means literally “at dawn,” so it is reasonable to conclude that his crucifixion proper began around nine in the morning.
This means that we have very good reason to believe that John was using the Roman method of calculating the time, while the other Gospel writers were following the Jewish method. Jesus appeared before Pilate around six in the morning, was handed over to the soldiers for crucifixion after a fairly brief questioning and ended up on the cross by about nine. Three hours later the sky became dark and remained that way for three more hours until, around three in the afternoon, Jesus cried out and then gave up his spirit in death.
Can we be absolutely certain of this? Probably not. A quick survey of the commentaries shows at least two or three other solutions have been proposed to this apparent discrepancy. What is most interesting in this is that the Bible gives us these details which cry out to be harmonized. In this instance, we would likely not have even known about the issue if we had not been reading and comparing these two translations, and most of us would not think of digging into the significance of the time references in John’s account. But once again we must remember that God’s word is worthy of our careful attention to detail.