The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”
Parallel translations
- WEB The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”
- KJV The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee?
- BSB “You have a demon,” the crowd replied. “Who is trying to kill You?”
- NASB The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill You?”
- NLT The crowd replied, “You’re demon possessed! Who’s trying to kill you?”
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 crowd accuses Jesus of being demon-possessed and denies anyone is trying to kill Him. Their reaction shows ignorance of the leaders' plot and hostility toward Jesus' words.
Overview
Some in the multitude, perhaps unaware of the authorities' intentions, dismiss Jesus' claim with the slander that He has a demon. This charge of demon possession recurs in John (8:48; 10:20) as a way of discrediting Him. Their blindness illustrates how unbelief twists Jesus' truthful words into accusations against Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- John 10:20Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?”
- John 8:48Then the Jews answered him, “Don’t we say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a demon?”
- Mark 3:21–22When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, “He is insane.”
- John 8:52Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’
- Mark 3:30— because they said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
- Matt 12:24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”
- Acts 26:24As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
- Matt 10:25It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
- Matt 11:18–19For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’
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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 7:20 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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