Discovery BoxJohn 7:19-23 
Context7:19 Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps 1 the law! Why do you want 2 to kill me?”
7:20 The crowd 3 answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! 4 Who is trying to kill you?” 5 7:21 Jesus replied, 6 “I performed one miracle 7 and you are all amazed. 8 7:22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision 9 (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child 10 on the Sabbath. 7:23 But if a male child 11 is circumcised 12 on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, 13 why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well 14 on the Sabbath?
1 tn Or “accomplishes”; Grk “does.”
2 tn Grk “seek.”
3 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in 7:15).
4 tn Grk “You have a demon!”
5 tn Grk “Who is seeking to kill you?”
sn Who is trying to kill you? Many of the crowd (if they had come in from surrounding regions for the feast) probably were ignorant of any plot. The plot was on the part of the Jewish leaders. Note how carefully John distinguishes between the leadership and the general populace in their respective responses to Jesus.
6 tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”
7 tn Grk “I did one deed.”
8 sn The “one miracle” that caused them all to be amazed was the last previous public miracle in Jerusalem recorded by the author, the healing of the paralyzed man in John 5:1-9 on the Sabbath. (The synoptic gospels record other Sabbath healings, but John does not mention them.)
9 tn Grk “gave you circumcision.”
10 tn Grk “a man.” While the text literally reads “circumcise a man” in actual fact the practice of circumcising male infants on the eighth day after birth (see Phil 3:5) is primarily what is in view here.
11 tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.
12 tn Grk “receives circumcision.”
13 sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca.
14 tn Or “made an entire man well.”
