John 10:24

Here the Jews ἐκύκλωσαν αὐτόν, “ringed Him round,” preventing His escape and with hostile purpose; cf. Plutarch's Them., xii. 3. Their attitude corresponded to the peremptory character of their demand: Ἕως πότε τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν αἴρεις; Beza renders αἴρεις by “suspendis, i.e., anxiam et suspensam tenes?” For which Elsner blames him and prefers “why do you kill us with delay?” But αἴρω occurs not infrequently in the sense of “disturb”. Soph., Oed. Tyr., 914, αἴρει θυμὸν Οἰδίπους, Oedipus excites his soul; Eurip., Hecuba, 69, τί ποτʼ αἴρομαι ἔννυχος οὕτω δείμασι; cf. Virgil, Aeneid, iv. 9, “quae me suspensam insomnia terrent?” “Why do you keep us in suspense?” is a legitimate translation. “If Thou art the Christ tell us plainly.” παρρησίᾳ, in so many words, devoid of all ambiguity; cf. John 16:29. This request has a show of reasonableness and honesty, as if they only needed to hear from Himself that He was the Christ. But it is never honest to ask for further explanation after enough has been given. Nothing more surely evinces unwillingness to believe. Besides, there was always the difficulty that, if He categorically said He was the Christ, they would understand Him to mean the Christ of their expectation.