9:24 Then they summoned 4 the man who used to be blind 5 a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth. 6 We know that this man 7 is a sinner.”
12:34 Then the crowd responded, 8 “We have heard from the law that the Christ 9 will remain forever. 10 How 11 can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
1 tn Grk “the blind man.”
2 tn Grk “since he opened your eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
3 tn Grk “And he said, ‘He is a prophet.’”
sn At this point the man, pressed by the Pharisees, admitted there was something special about Jesus. But here, since prophet is anarthrous (is not accompanied by the Greek article) and since in his initial reply in 9:11-12 the man showed no particular insight into the true identity of Jesus, this probably does not refer to the prophet of Deut 18:15, but merely to an unusual person who is capable of working miracles. The Pharisees had put this man on the spot, and he felt compelled to say something about Jesus, but he still didn’t have a clear conception of who Jesus was, so he labeled him a “prophet.”
4 tn Grk “they called.”
5 tn Grk “who was blind.”
6 tn Grk “Give glory to God” (an idiomatic formula used in placing someone under oath to tell the truth).
7 tn The phrase “this man” is a reference to Jesus.
8 tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”
9 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.
10 tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).
11 tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.