40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”(A)

41 Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?(B) 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants(C) and from Bethlehem,(D) the town where David lived?” 43 Thus the people were divided(E) because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.(F)

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Differing Opinions About Jesus

40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd[a] began to say, “This really[b] is the Prophet!”[c] 41 Others said, “This is the Christ!”[d] But still others said, “No,[e] for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he?[f] 42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant[g] of David[h] and comes from Bethlehem,[i] the village where David lived?”[j] 43 So there was a division in the crowd[k] because of Jesus.[l] 44 Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.[m]

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Footnotes

  1. John 7:40 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).
  2. John 7:40 tn Or “truly.”
  3. John 7:40 sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.
  4. John 7:41 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
  5. John 7:41 tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.
  6. John 7:41 tn Questions prefaced with μή () in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does he?”).
  7. John 7:42 tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).
  8. John 7:42 sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.
  9. John 7:42 sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.
  10. John 7:42 tn Grk “the village where David was.”
  11. John 7:43 tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).
  12. John 7:43 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  13. John 7:44 sn Cf. John 7:30 regarding the attempt to seize Jesus.