There is some difficulty in the phrase rendered by Good News Translation many Jews were rejecting them. The Greek phrase itself may be taken in one of three ways: (1) “Many of the Jews were going over/away (to Bethany).” Although supported by some commentators, this interpretation is apparently not accepted by any translators. (2) “Many of the Jews were going over (to Jesus).” This exegesis reads the expression “of the Jews” as a partitive genitive, indicating that part of the Jews were going over, and it understands the verb (Greek hupagō) to have the meaning of “to go over.” This exegesis is followed by New English Bible and New American Bible. New American Bible translates “many Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.” (3) The Good News Translation rendering represents a third possible exegesis. It understands “from the Jews” to be a genitive of separation, and the verb to have the meaning of “to leave,” a meaning which it has in 6.67, where Jesus said to his twelve disciples, And you—would you like to leave also? This definitely seems to be the meaning in the present context, and Goodspeed, Jerusalem Bible, Phillips, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, La Sainte Bible: Nouvelle version Segond révisée, and Revised Standard Version make it explicit. For example, Goodspeed reads “many of the Jews were leaving them,” in which “them” refers to the chief priests of verse 10. The wording of Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Jerusalem Bible is almost precisely that of Goodspeed.

There is a problem involved in the translation of verse 11, since there are two elements expressing cause, one introduced by because and the other by on his account, that is, the chief priests had plans to kill Lazarus because many Jews were rejecting them. At the same time, they were rejecting them because of what happened to Lazarus. These two causes must be made explicit in some languages, for example, “The chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus also because many Jews were rejecting the chief priests; they were doing this because of Lazarus” or “… because of what happened to Lazarus.” Such renderings, however, are not fully acceptable, since they tend to disregard the relation between the rejection of the chief priests and the believing in Jesus. Therefore, it may be necessary to say “The chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus also, because the Jews were rejecting them and believing in Jesus.” They were doing so because of what happened to Lazarus.

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 .