John Chapter 9 verse 22 Holy Bible

ASV John 9:22

These things said his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man should confess him `to be' Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
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BBE John 9:22

They said this because of their fear of the Jews: for the Jews had come to an agreement that if any man said that Jesus was the Christ he would be put out of the Synagogue.
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DARBY John 9:22

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one confessed him [to be the] Christ, he should be excommunicated from the synagogue.
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KJV John 9:22

These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.
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WBT John 9:22


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WEB John 9:22

His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.
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YLT John 9:22

These things said his parents, because they were afraid of the Jews, for already had the Jews agreed together, that if any one may confess him -- Christ, he may be put out of the synagogue;
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Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 22. - The evangelist accounts for the reticence of the parents by their fear of consequences. These things said his parents, because they feared the Jews. This passage provides strong evidence of the technical use of the term "the Jews." Doubtless these parents were Israelites, but they were not "Jews" in the Johannine sense. The "Jews" were the hierarchical and ecclesiastico-political authorities. For they had already come to the agreement (Luke 22:5; Acts 23:20; 1 Macc. 9:70); had mutually determined - it does not follow that the Sanhedrin had issued a public order, but that a formidable party of "Jews" had made a συνθήκη, had pledged each other and made it sufficiently known even to such persons as the poverty-stricken parents of the blind beggar, that it would be carried out by the adequate authority in such a matter - that if any man should confess that he was Christ ("he" (αὐτὸν) is remarkable - it shows how full the thoughts of the evangelist were of the Personality of Jesus), he should be put out of the synagogue; or, become unsynagoqued. The Talmud speaks of three kinds of excommunication (cf. also Matthew 5:22), of which the first two were disciplinary; the third answers to complete and final expulsion (in 'Jeremiah Moed. K.,' 81, d, הוא יבדל מקהל, Edersheim). The general designation was shammata, from ךשמַד, to destroy. The first form of it was called nesephah, and did not amount to more than severe rebuke. It would exclude from religious privileges for seven or thirty days, according to the dignity of the authority by whom it was pronounced (cf. 1 Timothy 5:1). The second form of shammata was called niddui, which lasted for thirty days at the least, and might be repeated at the end of them. If these admonitions failed to produce their right effect, it might lead to the third and final excommunication, called cherem, or ban, whose duration was indefinite. The second of these forms was accompanied by blast of trumpet and terrible curses, which deprived the sufferer of all kinds of social intercourse. He was avoided as a leper; if he died, he was buried without funeral or mourning. The cherem was even a more terrible anathema, and might last for life. The parents of the blind man might easily fear such a curse. The ban to which this blind man was eventually exposed did not prevent him from moving about the city. The ban pronounced on Jesus led doubtless to the condemnation, issuing in his ignominy and trial for a capital offence. It was probably the second of the three forms of anathema to which he was ultimately condemned. It was quite sufficient temptation for these poor parents to have preserved an obstinate reticence.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(22) For the Jews had agreed already.--This does not imply a formal decree of the Sanhedrin, but an agreement on the part of the leaders which they had made known to the people, and which they would have had little difficulty in carrying into effect. The word rendered "agreed" occurs again in the New Testament only twice. It expresses the covenant made with Judas, in Luke 22:5, and the agreement of the Jews to kill Paul, in Acts 23:20.He should be put out of the synagogue.--Comp. John 16:2, and Note on Luke 6:22. The Jews at a later date distinguished three kinds of excommunication. (1) The lightest continued for thirty days, and prescribed four cubits as a distance within which the person may not approach any one, not even wife or children; with this limitation, it did not make exclusion from the synagogue necessary. (2) The severer included absolute banishment from all religious meetings, and absolute giving up of intercourse with all persons, and was formally pronounced with curses. (3) The severest was a perpetual banishment from all meetings, and a practical exclusion from the fellowship of God's people. It has been sometimes supposed that the words of Luke 6:22, (a) "separate you," (b) "reproach you," (c) "cast out your name," refer to these gradations, but probably the only practice known in the time of our Lord was that which was later regarded as the intermediate form, falling short of perpetual banishment, but being, while the ban lasted, exclusion from all the cherished privileges of an Israelite. . . .