King of the Jews
The phrase appears in the Bible in John 19:20–22. When Jesus was sent to be crucified, Pilate wrote the sign to be hung above Jesus on the cross. He wrote "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews" in Hebrew (or, more correctly, Aramaic), Latin and Greek. The Jewish priests voiced their objections of this to Pilate, stating that Jesus had only claimed the title and they did not recognise Him as such. They said to Pilate, "Do not write King of the Jews, but that he said: 'I am the King of the Jews'." Pilate responded to them sternly with "Quod scripsi, scripsi" (, "Ho gegrapha gegrapha"). This was interpreted by Jerome as an allusion to the headings of Psalm 56 and Psalm 57, which in the Vulgate seem to refer to an inscription that is not to be changed.