John Chapter 5 verse 12 Holy Bible
They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up `thy bed', and walk?
read chapter 5 in ASV
Then they put to him the question: Who is the man who said to you, Take it up and go?
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They asked him [therefore], Who is the man who said to thee, Take up thy couch and walk?
read chapter 5 in DARBY
Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
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read chapter 5 in WBT
Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'?"
read chapter 5 in WEB
they questioned him, then, `Who is the man who is saying to thee, Take up thy couch and be walking?'
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Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 12. - [Then] they asked him, Who is the man (contemptuous use of ἄνθρωπος, as distinct from God's great messengers, or the legislators and prophets of the olden time, who have laid down the eternal Law of God) that said unto thee, Take up [thy bed], and walk? "The Jews" here ignore the work of healing and mercy, and seek to fasten a charge of overt criminality against some person unknown. A technical offence has been clone against the honour of their sacred place. The work of healing is an insignificant compensation for such a disgrace. They would be even with the heretical healer. Saving men by questionable methods is not to be endured. "Who is the man?" "Men and women lying in moral helplessness, not helped by God's priests and rulers, are now standing and moving in the strength their new Teacher has given. They cannot deny it; but can they prevent it? The rabbinic precept which he has crossed shall be applied to stamp out his work and kill him" (Watkins).
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(12) What man is that which said unto thee . . .?--They pass over the giving of the power, and quote only the command which comes under their technical prohibition. The life and strength of once-palsied limb is as nothing; the fact that this man was breaking their tradition is secondary. The real motive is a charge against Him whose power the body of the Jewish people was feeling as a life-current, quickening deadened energies, and rousing men to a sense of God's presence in their midst. Aye, and these Jews of Judaism feel the thrill of this current all around them, though their will tries to isolate them by the coldness of unbelief from a power which they have not directed, and which they refuse to be directed by. Men and women who have been all their lives lying in moral helplessness, waiting and looking for God, yet never helped by God's priests and rulers, are now standing and moving in the strength that their new Teacher gives. They cannot deny it, but can they prevent it? This spirit is life, but there is still the letter which killeth. It cuts them to the heart to see His power in their midst, but there is the body of Rabbinic precept and oral law. He has now crossed that. They will apply it to stamp out His work and kill Him.Take up thy bed, and walk.--Omit "thy bed," with the best MSS. It is inserted from the previous verse. Their passionate question expresses itself in the fewest words.
