John Chapter 12 verse 10 Holy Bible
But the chief priests took counsel that they might put Lazarus also to death;
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Now there was talk among the chief priests of putting Lazarus to death;
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But the chief priests took counsel that they might kill Lazarus also,
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But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;
read chapter 12 in KJV
read chapter 12 in WBT
But the chief priests conspired to put Lazarus to death also,
read chapter 12 in WEB
and the chief priests took counsel, that also Lazarus they may kill,
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerses 10, 11. - (2) On the chief priests. The chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death; because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus. They deliberated to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. It was not enough that one man should die; another and another must follow if their plan is to succeed. And now the hour had come (John 2:4; John 7:30), but not until our Lord once more warned the disciples with intense significance and explicitness of his approaching death and burial. Thus another striking illustration is given of the judgment, the crisis, the sifting process, which is always going on in the presence of Christ. His greatest signs, his wisest teachings, his most amazing love, bring out the twofold result. Some receive, some reject, some burst into louder acclaim, some try to slay. As with the history of this "Gospel," some hear in it the very voice of the Eternal, but there are others who would grind it to powder. Because Ignatius and Polycarp bear witness to the existence of the Gospel, these Lazaruses must be put to death, or banished to a later period out of harm's way. Even the genuineness of the Apocalypse, so long a tower of defense for the Tübingen school, is too powerful a proof of St. John's residence in Asia to be accepted with equanimity or left in possession, and some of the later critics have taken counsel to repudiate its Johannine authorship.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(10) But the chief priests consulted.--The chief priests were for the most part Sadducees (Acts 5:17). They have been acting with the Pharisees from John 11:47 onwards. Their animus is shown in that, while no charge is brought against Lazarus, his life is a witness to the divinity of Him whom they have condemned to death, and a denial of their own doctrine that there is no resurrection (Acts 23:8). The words do not mean that they came to a final decision to put him to death, but that they took counsel on the matter, and watched their opportunity.
