John 10:31

Ver. 31. “ The Jews therefore brought stones again to stone him. ”

Οὖν, therefore, by reason of the blasphemy (John 10:30); comp. John 10:33. Weiss claims that, even understanding the words of John 10:30 in the sense which he gives to them, the Jews may have found therein a blasphemy. But, taken in the sense of a common action of God and Jesus, this thought certainly did not go beyond what in their view the Christ might legitimately say. But they had just asked Him whether He was the Christ. What was there in it, then, which could so violently offend them? Πάλιν, again, alludes to John 8:59. Only ἦραν, they took up, was used in the former case, while John now says ἐβάστασαν, they brought. Probably they did not have the stones at hand in the porch; it was necessary to go some distance to find them in the court. There was here, no longer a mere demonstration, as in chap. 8, but a serious attempt. The question was of accomplishing at length the act of stoning, which had several times been threatened. Shades of expression like this reveal the eye-witness, whose eyes followed anxiously this progress of hatred.