John 12:9-10

12:9 Now a large crowd of Judeans ¹  learned ²  that Jesus ³  was there, and so they came not only because of him ⁴  but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. 12:10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too, ⁵ 

John 11:43-44

11:43 When ⁶  he had said this, he shouted in a loud voice, ⁷  “Lazarus, come out!” 11:44 The one who had died came out, his feet and hands tied up with strips of cloth, ⁸  and a cloth wrapped around his face. ⁹  Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him ¹⁰  and let him go.”

¹ tn Grk “of the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem and the surrounding area who by this time had heard about the resurrection of Lazarus and were curious to see him.

² tn Grk “knew.”

³ tn Grk “he”; normal English clause structure specifies the referent first and substitutes the pronoun in subsequent references to the same individual, so the referent (Jesus) has been specified here.

⁴ tn Grk “Jesus”; normal English clause structure specifies the referent first and substitutes the pronoun in subsequent references to the same individual, so the pronoun (“him”) has been substituted here.

⁵ sn According to John 11:53 the Jewish leadership had already planned to kill Jesus. This plot against Lazarus apparently never got beyond the planning stage, however, since no further mention is made of it by the author.

⁶ tn Grk “And when.”

⁷ sn The purpose of the loud voice was probably to ensure that all in the crowd could hear (compare the purpose of the prayer of thanksgiving in vv. 41-42).

⁸ sn Many have wondered how Lazarus got out of the tomb if his hands and feet were still tied up with strips of cloth. The author does not tell, and with a miracle of this magnitude, this is not an important fact to know. If Lazarus’ decomposing body was brought back to life by the power of God, then it could certainly have been moved out of the tomb by that same power. Others have suggested that the legs were bound separately, which would remove the difficulty, but the account gives no indication of this. What may be of more significance for the author is the comparison which this picture naturally evokes with the resurrection of Jesus, where the graveclothes stayed in the tomb neatly folded (20:6-7). Jesus, unlike Lazarus, would never need graveclothes again.

⁹ tn Grk “and his face tied around with cloth.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “Loose him.”