Paragraph 11:36–37

The mourners who were present saw how much Jesus had loved Lazarus. Some of them wondered why Jesus did not heal Lazarus.

11:36

Then: This word introduces the result of Jesus’ tears, so many English versions translate this word as “So.”

the Jews said: The phrase the Jews refers to the people who had come to comfort Mary and Martha. These are the same Jews that were mentioned in 11:19, 31 and 33. They spoke to each other. For example:

The Judeans said to one another…

See how He loved him!: This clause is a command. It gives the statement emphasis. The people were saying that Jesus had loved Lazarus very much. They saw his tears and realized that he had loved Lazarus. There are two ways to translate this clause:

• Use a command. For example:

See how much he loved him! (Good News Translation)
-or-
See how much he loved Lazarus. (Contemporary English Version)

• Use a strong statement. For example:

⌊You⌋ can see that he loved Lazarus a lot.
-or-
Jesus certainly loved Lazarus.

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