John 12:9-11

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  12:11 for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem ⁶  were going away and believing in Jesus.

[12:9]  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.

[12:9]  ² tn Grk “knew.”

[12:9]  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.

[12:9]  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.

[12:10]  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.

[12:11]  ⁶ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem who had heard about the resurrection of Lazarus and as a result were embracing Jesus as Messiah. See also the note on the phrase “Judeans” in v. 9.