And they smote him on the head with a reed,.... Or cane, a walking stick which they had put into his hands for a sceptre: this they took out again, and struck him on the head with it, which drove the sharp pointed thorns into his temples:
and did spit upon him; "upon his face", as the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read:
and bowing their knees, as to a sovereign prince,
worshipped him; saying the above words, hail, king of the Jews?