Paragraph 7:50–52

One of the council members, Nicodemus, defended Jesus. He said that they should not condemn a man without letting him explain himself.

7:50a

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier: The clause who had gone to Jesus earlier tells what Nicodemus did before. It refers back to John 3:1–21. It may be good to include a footnote with a reference to John 3.

7:50b

and who himself was one of them: This clause indicates that Nicodemus was also a ruler of Israel, probably a member of the ruling council called the Sanhedrin. In John 3:1 it says that he was one of the Pharisees. It is good to make this explicit so that people will not think that he was one of the crowd. For example:

one of the rulers (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
One of the Pharisees (Good News Translation)

asked: The Greek verb that the Berean Standard Bible translates as asked here introduces a rhetorical question that made a statement. Translate it in a way that is suitable for this context. If you do not use a rhetorical question in 7:51, you will need to use a word other than asked here. For example:

said to them (New Jerusalem Bible)

General Comment on 7:50a–b

In some languages it may be natural to put the information about who Nicodemus was in a separate sentence. For example:

50a Nicodemus, who had gone to see Jesus before, 50b was in that group. He said…. (New Century Version)
-or-

50b One of the Pharisees there was 50a Nicodemus, the man who had gone to see Jesus before. 50b He said to the others…. (Good News Translation)

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