Luke 23

33 When they arrived at the place called ‘The Skull’, they crucified Him there; also the criminals, one on His right, the other on His left.

34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing";*The eclectic text currently in vogue (following less than 1% of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality) places within double brackets the first half of verse 34: "Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing’ ". In this way they deny that Luke wrote it, surely a perverse proceeding. while they were dividing up His clothes by casting a lot. 35 Meanwhile the people stood looking on. And especially the rulers among them were sneering, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself, if such is the Christ, the chosen of God!" 36 Yes, even the soldiers mocked Him, approaching and offering Him sour wine, 37 and saying, "If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself!"

38 In fact, above Him there was a written notice, in Greek, Latin and Hebrew letters:*A mere handful (0.5%) of the Greek manuscripts, of objectively inferior quality, omit "written in Greek, Latin and Hebrew letters" (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.).

THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.*The soldiers were just going along with the ‘game’; after all, His stated crime was that He was ‘the king of the Jews’.

39 Then one of the hanged criminals started berating Him, saying, "If you are the Christ, save yourself and us!"*According to Matthew 27:44 and Mark 15:32, both of them started out by reviling Him, but later one of them repented—they were on the cross for about three hours before the supernatural darkness, so there was time to observe Jesus, which caused one of them to change his mind. 40 But the other reacted and rebuked him, saying: "Don’t you even fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward for our deeds; but this man did nothing wrong." 42 Then he said to Jesus, "Please remember me, Lord,*Instead of "to Jesus, ‘Please remember me, Lord’ ", perhaps 3% of the manuscripts have ‘Jesus, remember me’ (as in NIV, NASB, LB, TEV, etc.), which seriously weakens the man’s statement. when you come in your kingdom."*I find this statement to be impressive: the man is declaring that Jesus is the Messiah and will indeed inaugurate His Kingdom. Evidently the man knew the Bible; and his request was honored! 43 Jesus said to him, "I tell you assuredly, today you will be with me in Paradise."*For Jesus to say ‘today’, He knew the man would die before sundown, so He knew the man’s legs would be broken—otherwise he would most likely have lasted well into the night, which would have been ‘tomorrow’. ‘Paradise’ here refers to that half of Hades (Sheol in the OT) reserved for the righteous dead. Hades is the ‘halfway house’ where departed spirits await the final judgment. In Luke 16:22 it is called "Abraham’s bosom".