John 8:22

So the Jewish leaders ¹  began to say, ²  “Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”

This made the Jews ask, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘Where I go, you cannot come’?"

So the Jews were saying, "Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?"

The Jewish leaders asked, "Is he planning to commit suicide? What does he mean, ‘You cannot come where I am going’?"

The Jews said, "So, is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by 'You can't come with me'?"

So the Jews said, Will he take his life? Is that why he says, Where I go it is not possible for you to come?

Then the Jews said, "Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?"

So the Jews said, "Will He kill Himself, because He says, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?"

So the Jewish leaders ¹  began to say, ²  “Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”

¹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, 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 Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. It was the Pharisees who had begun this line of questioning in John 8:13, and there has been no clear change since then in the identity of Jesus’ opponents.

² tn The imperfect verb has been translated with ingressive force (“began to say”) because the comments that follow were occasioned by Jesus’ remarks in the preceding verse about his upcoming departure.