Illustration created for this project.
Barabbas
A prisoner and insurrectionist released by Pilate in place of Jesus at the crowd's demand.
What we know — and how we know it
Bible — stated in scripture (with verse) · 1
Ancient writers — non-biblical testimony · 1
Scholarly — supported scholarly belief · 1
Origin & birthplace
Name & titles
ScholarlyThe name Barabbas is the Aramaic patronymic Bar-Abba, 'son of the father' (bar = son, abba = father); the sense sharpens the Gospel scene in which the crowd chooses this 'son of the father' over Jesus.
Aramaic onomastic analysis of bar-abba; standard commentary observation.
Ancient writersA number of manuscripts give the prisoner the fuller name 'Jesus Barabbas,' and the third-century writer Origen records that copies in his day read this way, though he judged the reading troubling; the variant survives in the Caesarean text and family 1 witnesses at Matthew 27:16-17.
Origen, Commentary on Matthew, scholion on Matt 27:16-17, preserving the reading 'Iesoun ton Barabban'; variant attested in Codex Koridethi (Theta, 038) and family 1; B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (Stuttgart: UBS/Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1994), ad Matt 27:16-17.
Where in scripture
MatthewMarkLukeJohn
Matthew 27:16Matthew 27:17Matthew 27:20Matthew 27:21Matthew 27:26Mark 15:7Mark 15:11Mark 15:15Luke 23:18John 18:40
Places in their life
Photo: Godot13 — CC BY-SA 4.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)
In art
