John 7:45

Lack of Belief

7:45 Then the officers ¹  returned ²  to the chief priests and Pharisees, ³  who said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him back with you?” ⁴ 

John 10:6

10:6 Jesus told them this parable, ⁵  but they ⁶  did not understand ⁷  what he was saying to them.

John 11:13

11:13 (Now Jesus had been talking about ⁸  his death, but they ⁹  thought he had been talking about real sleep.) ¹⁰ 

John 20:13

20:13 They said ¹¹  to her, “Woman, ¹²  why are you weeping?” Mary replied, ¹³  “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!”

¹ tn Or “servants.” The “chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive term for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26. As “servants” or “officers” of the Sanhedrin, their representatives should be distinguished from the Levites serving as temple police (perhaps John 7:30 and 44; also John 8:20; 10:39; 19:6; Acts 4:3). Even when performing ‘police’ duties such as here, their “officers” are doing so only as part of their general tasks (See K. H. Rengstorf, TDNT 8:540).

² tn Grk “came.”

³ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

⁴ tn Grk “Why did you not bring him?” The words “back with you” are implied.

⁵ sn A parable is a fairly short narrative that has symbolic meaning. The Greek word παροιμίαν (paroimian) is used again in 16:25, 29. This term does not occur in the synoptic gospels, where παραβολή (parabolh) is used. Nevertheless it is similar, denoting a short narrative with figurative or symbolic meaning.

⁶ tn Grk “these.”

⁷ tn Or “comprehend.”

⁹ tn Or “speaking about.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “these.”

¹¹ tn Grk “the sleep of slumber”; this is a redundant expression to emphasize physical sleep as opposed to death.

¹³ tn The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here.

¹⁴ sn Woman was a polite form of address (see BDAG 208-9 s.v. γυνή 1), similar to “Madam” or “Ma’am” used in English in different regions. This occurs again in v. 15.

¹⁵ tn Grk “She said to them.”