35 καὶ εἱστήκει ὁ λαὸς θεωρῶν. ἐξεμυκτήριζον δὲ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες λέγοντες· Ἄλλους ἔσωσεν, σωσάτω ἑαυτόν, εἰ οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ Χριστὸς τοῦ θεοῦ ὁ ἐκλεκτός. 36 ἐνέπαιξαν δὲ αὐτῷ καὶ οἱ στρατιῶται προσερχόμενοι, ὄξος προσφέροντες αὐτῷ 37 καὶ λέγοντες· Εἰ σὺ εἶ ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων, σῶσον σεαυτόν. 38 ἦν δὲ καὶ ἐπιγραφὴ ἐπʼ αὐτῷ· Ὁ βασιλεὺς τῶν Ἰουδαίων οὗτος.
35 And the people stood watching. And the leaders were ridiculing him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if this man is the chosen Christ of God.” 36 And the soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the king of the Judeans, save yourself.” 38 And an epigraph was also above him, “This man is the king of the Judeans.”
with ἵστημι (v. 35), the pluperfect (εἱστήκει) is translated as a simple past tense.
θεωρῶν is a participle of manner modifying εἱστήκει.
ἐκμυκτηρίζω, “ridicule, sneer”, is from ἐκ + μυκτηρίζω (“to turn up one's nose”). It occurs 2x in the NT, here and in 16:14 when Jesus teaches that you can't love both God and money, and the Pharisees react with ridicule.
Most translations take καὶ as, “even”, or omit it, since the context seems to contrast the demeanor of the people with that of the leaders. On the other hand, Luke's word choice may be meant to allude to Psalm 21:8 LXX: πάντες οἱ θεωροῦντές με ἐξεμυκτήρισάν με, “all those watching me ridiculed me”. NIGTC says, ‘the people are not excluded from mocking Jesus, even if Luke plays this fact down.’
τοῦ θεοῦ could go with ὁ Χριστὸς or ὁ ἐκλεκτός. Most translations go with the former. In the sense it goes with both.
We saw ἐμπαίζω (v. 36), “make fun of, mock”, in 22:63, of the guards mocking Jesus before the meeting of the Sanehdrin. These events are the fulfillment of Jesus' prediction in 18:32.
Here καὶ is, “also”, since the soldiers are engaging in similar activity to the Jewish leaders.
The presents προσερχόμενοι, προσφέροντες (v. 36) and λέγοντες (v. 37) are participles of manner, describing how they mocked Jesus.
τό ὄξος (6x), is, “sour wine, wine vinegar”. Strong's says, ‘sour wine mixed with water, a common drink of Roman soldiers.’ BDAG: ‘it relieved thirst more effectively than water and, being cheaper than regular wine, it was a favorite beverage of the lower ranks of society.’ HELPS says, ‘low-grade, sour wine, given as a cheap painkiller to people condemned to crucifixion.’ Thus the act could be seen as one of kindness, but the idea is probably that it was an act of mockery in offering a cheap drink to a king.
For προσφέρω, “I bring to”, most translations have, “offer”.
ἡ ἐπιγραφή (v. 38; 5x), ἐπί + γραφή, is, “epigraph”; latin: “inscription”. This is where the charge against the criminal would be written.
Here ἐπί is, “over, above”.
After ἐπ’ αὐτῷ, the words γράμμασιν Ἑλληνικοῖς καὶ Ῥωμαϊκοῖς καὶ Ἑβραϊκοῖς, “in letters Greek and Roman and Hebrew”, are missing from several of the earliest and best witnesses, and were probably taken from John 19:20. Their omission is rated an {A} (Metzger).
