Matthew 27:47

47 And some of those who were standing there, [when they] heard [it], said, "This man is summoning Elijah!"

Matthew 27:47 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 27:47

Some of them that stood there
Near the cross, looking on, and mocking at him,

when they heard that;
the words, "Eli, Eli", spoken by Christ,

said, this man calleth for Elias.
These could not be the Roman soldiers that said so, who had no notion of Elias; rather the Hellenistic Jews, who not so well understanding the Hebrew language, hearing the above words, and having some notion of the prophet Elias, fancied he was calling for him; though it seems most likely to be the Jews, who either through the nearness of the sound of the words, and mistake of them, and not near enough to hear and distinguish them, really thought he called for that prophet; or rather wilfully mistook him, with an intent to banter and ridicule him.

Matthew 27:47 In-Context

45 Now from the sixth hour, darkness came over all the land until the ninth hour.

46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?")

47 And some of those who were standing there, [when they] heard [it], said, "This man is summoning Elijah!"

48 And immediately one of them ran and took a sponge and filled [it] with sour wine and put [it] on a reed [and] gave [it] to him to drink.

49 But the others said, "Leave [him] alone! let us see if Elijah is coming to save him."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("heard") which is understood as temporal
• [b]. *Here the direct object is supplied from context in the English translation