Then Pilate said unto them,.... The third time,
why, what evil hath he done? worthy of death. They had charged him with many things, but proved nothing against him. Pilate could find no fault in him, and judged him an innocent person, and therefore was loth to condemn him:
and they cried out the more exceedingly; with louder voices, and greater vehemency, the more they found he was inclined to save him:
crucify him; nothing short of death would satisfy them, and no other death but that of the cross; Matthew 27:22,