In the Greek structure of this verse the people ask only one question; it is made into two questions by Good News Translation. New American Bible translates it as a statement followed by a question: “He opened the eyes of that blind man. Why could he not have done something to stop this man from dying?” It may be noted here that the people in this verse express no doubt regarding the reality of Jesus’ healing of the blind man, as did the Pharisees of Chapter 9.

Some of them said may be better expressed in some languages as “some of them said to one another.”

The relation between the two questions in verse 37 may be better expressed in some languages as a condition, for example, “If he could give sight to the blind man, could he not have kept Lazarus from dying?” Under such circumstances the conditional clause would not suggest any doubt as to Jesus’ ability to give sight to the blind; it is, rather, a means of linking a known fact about Jesus’ ability to their presumption of what he could have done had he been present when Lazarus was ill. The relation between these two clauses may be expressed somewhat differently, for example, “He gave sight to the blind man, then surely he could have kept Lazarus from dying” or “… he could have caused Lazarus not to die.”

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 .