No one talked about him openly may be rendered “no one spoke loudly about him” or “no one spoke up so that many could hear.”

Because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities is literally “because of the fear of the Jews.” It is obvious that “the Jews” is here an open reference to the Jewish authorities, because the crowds who feared “the Jews” were themselves certainly Jewish. They were afraid of the Jewish authorities may be expressed effectively in some languages as “they were afraid of what the Jewish officials would do to them” or “they were afraid the Jewish officials would punish them.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .