Legs

The legs of the crucified are named at the Johannine crucifixion in two consecutive verses, where the breaking of the legs is requested by the Jews and carried out by the soldiers as a Sabbath-eve measure to hasten death and clear the bodies from the cross before the festival day.

The Request to Break the Legs

The reason given for the request is the proximity of a high Sabbath: "The Jews therefore, because it was the Preparation, that the bodies should not stay on the cross on the Sabbath (for the day of that Sabbath was a high [day]), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and [that] they might be taken away" (Joh 19:31). The leg-breaking is the procedural means; the larger purpose is the removal of the crucified before the Sabbath begins.

The Soldiers Carry It Out

The execution of the request is reported in the next verse, with the leg-breaking applied to the two crucified beside Jesus: "The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him:" (Joh 19:32). The verse names only the two — "the first" and "the other" — and the colon at the end of the verse leaves the action open in mid-sentence, the narrative running directly forward into what the soldiers do next.