Now at that feast he released unto them one prisoner, whomsoever they desired.
Read Chapter 15
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
This practice of releasing to the people any prisoner they might think proper, was instituted in order to captivate the will of the people; which was most commonly done on the festival day, when the Jews were assembled from the different provinces to Jerusalem. But that the blindness and malice of this people might be more apparent, the evangelist here describes the atrocious wickedness of the man they preferred to the Son of God. (Gloss.)
