If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
Parallel translations
- WEB If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
- KJV If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.
- NKJV If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
- NASB If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take over both our place and our nation.”
- NLT If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The leaders fear that Jesus' growing following will provoke Roman intervention against their nation. Self-preservation drives their hostility.
Overview
The council worries that widespread belief in Jesus will bring Roman reprisal, costing them temple and nation. Their reasoning is political and ironic, for rejecting him will not prevent the very destruction they fear. Their concern exposes hearts ruled by power and unbelief rather than truth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- 1 Th 2:15–16who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out as well. They are displeasing to God and hostile to all men,
- Acts 5:28“We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us responsible for this man’s blood.”
- Matt 27:25All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
- Zech 14:1–2Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
- Dan 9:26–27Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
- Matt 23:35–38And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
- Luke 11:52Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
- Zech 13:7–8Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.
- Luke 21:20–24But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that her desolation is near.
- Luke 23:28–31But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.
- Matt 22:7The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.
- Matt 21:40–42Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those tenants?”
- Deut 28:50–68a ruthless nation with no respect for the old and no pity for the young.
- Luke 8:12The seeds along the path are those who hear, but the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
- John 1:7He came as a witness to testify about the Light, so that through him everyone might believe.
- Luke 19:41–44As Jesus approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it
- Acts 5:38–40So in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone. Let them go! For if their purpose or endeavor is of human origin, it will fail.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 11:48 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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