Discovery BoxJohn 7:41-43 
Context7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” 1 But still others said, “No, 2 for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 3 7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant 4 of David 5 and comes from Bethlehem, 6 the village where David lived?” 7 7:43 So there was a division in the crowd 8 because of Jesus. 9
1 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.
2 tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.
3 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) 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?”).
4 tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).
map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.
7 tn Grk “the village where David was.”
8 tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).
9 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
