John 7:20

THE MESSAGE

The crowd said, "You're crazy! Who's trying to kill you? You're demon-possessed."

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“You have a demon!” the crowd responded. “Who is trying to kill you?”

King James Version (1611)
The people answered, and sayd, Thou hast a deuill: Who goeth about to kill thee?

King James Version
The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?

English Standard Version
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"

New American Standard Bible
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill You?"

New Century Version
The people answered, "A demon has come into you. We are not trying to kill you."

Amplified Bible
The crowd answered, "You have a demon [You are out of Your mind]! Who wants to kill You?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?"

Legacy Standard Bible
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?"

Berean Standard Bible
"You have a demon," the crowd replied. "Who is trying to kill You?"

Contemporary English Version
The crowd replied, "You're crazy! What makes you think someone wants to kill you?"

Complete Jewish Bible
"You have a demon!" the crowd answered. "Who's out to kill you?"

Darby Translation
The crowd answered [and said], Thou hast a demon: who seeks to kill thee?

Easy-to-Read Version
The people answered, "A demon is making you crazy! We are not trying to kill you."

Geneva Bible (1587)
The people answered, and said, Thou hast a deuil: who goeth about to kill thee?

George Lamsa Translation
The people answered, saying, You are crazy; who wants to kill you?

Good News Translation
"You have a demon in you!" the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"

Lexham English Bible
The crowd replied, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"

Literal Translation
The crowd answered and said, You have a demon. Who seeks to kill You?

American Standard Version
The multitude answered, Thou hast a demon: who seeketh to kill thee?

Bible in Basic English
The people said in answer, You have an evil spirit: who has any desire to put you to death?

Hebrew Names Version
The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?"

International Standard Version
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?"John 8:48,52; 8:20;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
The people answered, saying, Thou hast a demon: who seeketh to kill thee ?

Murdock Translation
Why do ye seek to kill me? The multitude answered and said: Thou hast a demon: who seeketh to kill thee?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The people aunswered and sayde: Thou hast the deuyll, who goeth about to kyll thee?

English Revised Version
The multitude answered, Thou hast a devil: who seeketh to kill thee?

World English Bible
The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?"

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Yet none of you keepeth the law. Why seek ye to kill me? The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil. Who seeketh to kill thee?

Weymouth's New Testament
"You are possessed by a demon," replied the crowd; "no one wants to kill you."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
What seken ye to sle me? And the puple answerde, and seide, Thou hast a deuel; who sekith to sle thee?

Update Bible Version
The multitude answered, You have a demon: who seeks to kill you?

Webster's Bible Translation
The people answered and said, Thou hast a demon: who goeth about to kill thee?

New English Translation
The crowd answered, "You're possessed by a demon! Who is trying to kill you?"

New King James Version
The people answered and said, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?"

New Living Translation
The crowd replied, "You're demon possessed! Who's trying to kill you?"

New Life Bible
The people said, "You have a demon in You. Who is trying to kill You?"

New Revised Standard
The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The multitude answered - A demon, thou hast: Who, is seeking, to slay, thee?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Why seek you to kill me? The multitude answered and said: Thou hast a devil. Who seeketh to kill thee?

Revised Standard Version
The people answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
The people answered and sayde: thou hast the devyll: who goeth aboute to kyll the?

Young's Literal Translation
The multitude answered and said, `Thou hast a demon, who doth seek to kill thee?'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The people answered, and sayde: Thou hast the deuell, who goeth aboute to kyll the?

Mace New Testament (1729)
for what do ye attempt to kill me? the people answered, saying, you are mad: who attempts to kill you?

Simplified Cowboy Version
This riled everyone up, and people started yelling, "A demon has you hog-tied! Who is trying to kill you?"

Contextual Overview

¹⁴With the Feast already half over, Jesus showed up in the Temple, teaching. The Jews were impressed, but puzzled: "How does he know so much without being schooled?" ¹⁶Jesus said, "I didn't make this up. What I teach comes from the One who sent me. Anyone who wants to do his will can test this teaching and know whether it's from God or whether I'm making it up. A person making things up tries to make himself look good. But someone trying to honor the one who sent him sticks to the facts and doesn't tamper with reality. It was Moses, wasn't it, who gave you God's Law? But none of you are living it. So why are you trying to kill me?" ²⁰ The crowd said, "You're crazy! Who's trying to kill you? You're demon-possessed." ²¹Jesus said, "I did one miraculous thing a few months ago, and you're still standing around getting all upset, wondering what I'm up to. Moses prescribed circumcision—originally it came not from Moses but from his ancestors—and so you circumcise a man, dealing with one part of his body, even if it's the Sabbath. You do this in order to preserve one item in the Law of Moses. So why are you upset with me because I made a man's whole body well on the Sabbath? Don't be nitpickers; use your head—and heart!—to discern what is right, to test what is authentically right." ²⁵That's when some of the people of Jerusalem said, "Isn't this the one they were out to kill? And here he is out in the open, saying whatever he pleases, and no one is stopping him. Could it be that the rulers know that he is, in fact, the Messiah? And yet we know where this man came from. The Messiah is going to come out of nowhere. Nobody is going to know where he comes from." ²⁸That provoked Jesus, who was teaching in the Temple, to cry out, "Yes, you think you know me and where I'm from, but that's not where I'm from. I didn't set myself up in business. My true origin is in the One who sent me, and you don't know him at all. I come from him—that's how I know him. He sent me here." ³⁰They were looking for a way to arrest him, but not a hand was laid on him because it wasn't yet God's time. Many from the crowd committed themselves in faith to him, saying, "Will the Messiah, when he comes, provide better or more convincing evidence than this?" ³²The Pharisees, alarmed at this seditious undertow going through the crowd, teamed up with the high priests and sent their police to arrest him. Jesus rebuffed them: "I am with you only a short time. Then I go on to the One who sent me. You will look for me, but you won't find me. Where I am, you can't come." ³⁵The Jews put their heads together. "Where do you think he is going that we won't be able to find him? Do you think he is about to travel to the Greek world to teach the Jews? What is he talking about, anyway: ‘You will look for me, but you won't find me,' and ‘Where I am, you can't come'?"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thou: John 8:48, John 8:52, John 10:20, Matthew 10:25, Matthew 11:18, Matthew 11:19, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:21, Mark 3:22, Mark 3:30, Acts 26:24

Reciprocal: Psalms 22:6 - a reproach Matthew 5:22 - Whosoever Luke 11:15 - He John 5:16 - and sought John 7:25 - Is not John 8:22 - Will

Cross-References

Jeremiah 3:22
"We're here! We've come back to you. You're our own true God ! All that popular religion was a cheap lie, duped crowds buying up the latest in gods. We're back! Back to our true God , the salvation of Israel. The Fraud picked us clean, swindled us of what our ancestors bequeathed us, Gypped us out of our inheritance— God-blessed flocks and God-given children. We made our bed and now lie in it, all tangled up in the dirty sheets of dishonor. All because we sinned against our God , we and our fathers and mothers. From the time we took our first steps, said our first words, we've been rebels, disobeying the voice of our God ."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The people answered and said,.... These seem to be the country people, who came from Galilee and other parts, who knew nothing of the designs of the Jerusalem Jews upon him; nor were they his downright enemies at least, but rather seemed to favour him, and were on his side, though greatly provoked to hear him talk after this manner:

thou hast a devil; or art possessed with one; thou talkest like one of the demoniacs, like a madman, one beside thyself; whom the devil has so much power over, and has so deprived of thy senses, that thou knowest not what thou sayest:

who goeth about to kill thee? no man; for they could not believe that any man, or body of men, would be so wicked, as to attempt to take away the life of so harmless a person, and who did so much good both to the bodies and souls of men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The people - Perhaps some of the people who were not aware of the designs of the rulers.

Thou hast a devil - Thou art deranged or mad. See John 10:20. As they saw no effort to kill him, and as they were ignorant of the designs of the rulers, they supposed that this was the effect of derangement.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 7:20. Thou hast a devil — The crowd, who made this answer, were not in the secret of the chief priests. They could not suppose that any person desired to put him to death for healing a diseased man; and therefore, in their brutish manner, they say, Thou hast a demon-thou art beside thyself, and slanderest the people, for none of them desires to put thee to death. The Codex Cyprius (K,) four others, and the margin of the later Syriac, attribute this answer to the Jews, i.e. those who were seeking his life. If the reading, therefore, of οι Ιουδαιοι, the Jews, be received instead of ο οχλος, the multitude, it serves to show the malice of his enemies in a still stronger light: for, fearing lest their wish to put him to death might not be gratified, and that his teaching should prevail among the common people; to ruin his credit, and prevent his usefulness, they give out that he was possessed by a demon; and that, though he might be pitied as a miserable man, yet he must not be attended to as a teacher of righteousness. Malice and envy are ever active and indefatigable, leaving no stone unturned, no mean unused, that they may win the object of their resentment. John 7:26.