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Luke 24:20
ESV and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.
NIV The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him;
NASB and how the chief priests and our rulers handed Him over to be sentenced to death, and crucified Him.
CSB and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.
NLT But our leading priests and other religious leaders handed him over to be condemned to death, and they crucified him.
KJV And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
NKJV and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him.

What does Luke 24:20 mean?

Cleopas is telling a supposed stranger how Jesus died. He thinks the man is a visitor who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As such, this man wouldn't necessarily know much about the innocent man who was crucified (Luke 24:13–19). Cleopas doesn't realize the "stranger" is Jesus.

The way Cleopas frames Jesus' death is interesting. Pharisees and those loyal to Herod Antipas had wanted Jesus dead since near the beginning of His ministry (Mark 3:6). When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, the chief priests joined the Pharisees in their mission (John 11:53).

Despite their joint resolve, they were afraid. The people loved Him (Luke 20:19). Their fear of the people is why they enthusiastically paid Judas to betray Jesus (Luke 22:1–6). It's why they arrested Jesus at night, in the dark, where the people couldn't defend Him and not during the day in the temple (Luke 22:53). It explains why they held illegal trials to try to figure out the right charges to bring against Jesus. They had to find Him guilty of a crime against the Mosaic law to justify demanding His death and a capital crime against the Roman law to convince Pilate to kill Him. If Pilate killed Jesus, maybe the people wouldn't stone them.

In the end, Pilate did kill Jesus, but not before the chief priests and rulers committed heinous crimes. They threatened to tell Caesar that Pilate was committing treason by not crucifying a self-proclaimed king (John 19:12). And they broke the Mosaic law by claiming Caesar—a foreigner—was their king instead of the heir of David, the King God chose for them (Deuteronomy 17:15; John 19:15).

Despite all the Sanhedrin's machinations, the people know the truth: the chief priests and other Jewish rulers are responsible for Jesus' death.

Jesus isn't too concerned about that. He's more concerned that His followers don't trust the prophets (Luke 24:25–27). If Cleopas had understood and believed when the prophets said the Messiah must suffer, he would have understood that Jesus had risen from the dead.
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