John Chapter 9 verse 13 Holy Bible
They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
read chapter 9 in ASV
They took him before the Pharisees--this man who had been blind.
read chapter 9 in BBE
They bring him who was before blind to the Pharisees.
read chapter 9 in DARBY
They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind.
read chapter 9 in KJV
read chapter 9 in WBT
They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees.
read chapter 9 in WEB
They bring him to the Pharisees who once `was' blind,
read chapter 9 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 13. - They bring to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. The "Pharisees" is not a conclusive definition of the Sanhedrin itself, which is generally denoted by the addition of the phrase, "the chief priests" (John 7:32 or 45). The Pharisees were a highly organized society, and some well-known gathering of them may have been easily accessible. They were the generally accredited religious guides of the people. One thing militates against such a casual gathering. In ver. 18 the term, "the Jews," the synonym of the ruling ecclesiastical powers in the city, is once more introduced. Moreover, the authorities before whom the discussion and examination were taken appear to possess the power of excommunication from the synagogue. It appears that, in Jerusalem, there existed two minor councils or synagogue-courts, of twenty-three assessors each, corresponding with the similar courts in the Jewish cities, standing in relation to the Sanhedrim and possessing the faculty of delivering the minor degrees of excommunication from the congregation of Israel. It cannot be said that this presentation of the case to an ecclesiastical court of more or less authority necessarily took place on the day of the healing. It is an open question whether the courts sat on the sabbath. There is nothing to prove immediate trial of the matter.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(13) They brought to the Pharisees.--More exactly, They bring . . . The present tense speaks of what they did, as the writer thinks of it in actual occurrence. Their question in the previous verse, and the fact stated in the following verse, seem to indicate that they did this in the spirit of opposition to our Lord. They may have been influenced also, as the parents were, by the agreement of the Jews to excommunicate any who should confess Christ (John 9:22). By the term, "to the Pharisees," we are not to understand the Sanhedrin, which did not meet on the Sabbath, and which is not spoken of by St. John as simply "the Pharisees," but a body of the leading Pharisees who were the most bitter foes of Christ, and who seem at this time to have formed practically a permanent committee of the Sanhedrin, always ready to take counsel or action against Him. (Comp. Notes on John 7:32; John 7:45; John 7:48.)
