They therefore being gathered together, Pilate said: Whom will you that I release to you, Barabbas, or Jesus that is called Christ?

Therefore when they were assembled, Pilate said to them, Whom will ye that I release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?

they therefore having been gathered together, Pilate said to them, 'Whom will ye I shall release to you? Barabbas or Jesus who is called Christ?'

So when they were now assembled Pilate appealed to them. "Whom shall I release to you," he said, "Barabbas, or Jesus the so-called Christ?"

So when they came together, Pilate said to them, Whom will you have? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is named Christ?

When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, 'Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Messiah?'

So, when the people had collected, Pilate said to them, "Which do you wish me to release for you? Barabbas? Or Jesus who is called 'Christ'?"

Whom will ye that I release - Pilate was satisfied of the innocence of Jesus, Luke 23:13-16
He was therefore desirous of releasing him. He expected to release one to the people. He knew that Jesus, though condemned by the chief priests, was yet popular among the people He therefore attempted in this manner to rescue him from the hands of the priests, and expected that the people would prefer Him to an odious and infamous robber and murderer. Had the people been left to themselves it would probably have been done.
Jesus, which is called Christ - That is, Jesus, who claims to be the Messiah. Pilate probably did not believe it, or care much for it. He used the name which Jesus had acquired among the people. Perhaps, also, he thought that they would be more likely to ask him to be released if he was presented to them as the Messiah. Mark Mark 15:9 adds that he asked them whether they would that he should release "the King of the Jews?" It is probable that he asked the question in both ways. Perhaps it was several times repeated, and Matthew has recorded one way in which it was asked, and Mark another. He asked them whether they would demand him who "was called the Christ," expecting that they would be moved by the claims of the Messiah - claims which, when he entered Jerusalem in triumph, and in the temple, they had acknowledged. He asked them whether they would have the "King of the Jews" probably to ridicule the priests who had delivered him on that charge. He did it to show the people how absurd the accusation was. There Jesus stood, apparently a poor, inoffensive, unarmed, and despised man. Herod had set him at naught and scourged him, and sent him back. The charge, therefore, of the priests, that he was a "king" opposed to the Roman emperor, was supremely ridiculous; and Pilate, expecting that the people would see it so, hoped also that they would ask that he might be released.

Therefore when they were gathered together,.... Meaning not the chief priests and elders; for these were together before, but the common people; and so the Persic version renders the words, when the people increased into a multitude: for it was to them the release of a prisoner was to be made, and so the proposal of one; and it was at their option, who should be the person; for it was "whom they would", as in Matthew 27:15, and where the Ethiopic version adds, "and should choose".
Pilate said unto them, whom will ye that I should release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus, which is called Christ? He puts it to them, whom they would choose to have released, Barabbas, the thief and robber, the seditious person and murderer, or Jesus, whom some called the Christ, the Messiah, the king of the Jews. Pilate on purpose proposed such an infamous person along with him, not doubting but they would have preferred him, whatever were their prejudices against him, before such a scandalous person as Barabbas; and whatever good will they might secretly have to put Jesus to death, and release Barabbas, yet he thought they could not, for shame, speak out their sense, and desire him, and not Jesus. His view was not to reproach Christ, by joining him with so wicked a man, but in order to save him.

When therefore they were gathered. After the first examination, Pilate, finding that Jesus was from Galilee, sent him to Herod, tetrarch of Galilee, then in Jerusalem, to be tried by him as belonging to his jurisdiction. Herod, however, after trying to induce him to work a miracle and mocking him, sent him back (Luke 23:6-11). Now they had gathered after his return.
Barabbas, or Christ? Pilate, desirous of releasing an innocent man, afraid to oppose the Sanhedrim, adopted this expedient in the hope that the increasing multitude of people would demand Christ rather than a blood-stained robber.