But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
But ye, х humeis (G5210) de (G1161)] - "Ye," in emphatic control to Plate,
Denied the Holy One and the Just, х ton (G3588) hagion (G40) kai (G2532) dikaion (G1342)] - rather, 'the Holy and Just One.' The language emphatically holds up One Person, to whom those two epithets exclusively apply; at the same time, it implies that the audience themselves either were or should be familiar with it, as characteristic of the predicted Messiah (Psalms 16:10; Isaiah 53:9; Isaiah 53:11; Luke 4:34: cf. John 8:46; John 10:36).
And desired a murderer to be granted unto you - demanding not only the sacrifice of the pre-eminently innocent, but the acquittal of the atrociously guilty.