In Greek the pronoun you is emphatic, and so Good News Translation translates You yourselves (note Moffatt and Jerusalem Bible “Take him yourselves”).

The Greek expression “the Jews” is rendered they since they were mentioned only three verses earlier as the Jewish authorities in Good News Translation.

Try him according to your own law may be rendered “judge him according to your own laws” or “judge what should be done to him using your own laws to decide.”

In Matthew and Mark no clear indication is given why the Jews brought Jesus to Pilate, instead of putting him to death themselves for blasphemy, a religious crime which carried the death penalty. John tells us they brought Jesus to Pilate because they themselves did not have the authority to put a person to death. There is much controversy among biblical scholars as to whether the Jews at that time did in fact have the authority to inflict the death penalty, even on religious charges. But, even if the Roman government had given the Jews this authority, each case probably required the approval of the Roman government. The overall evidence suggests probably the Roman authorities guarded rather closely the matter of capital punishment, since the Jews might otherwise have put to death persons favorable to the Roman government.

The passive expression we are not allowed must be changed into an active form in some languages. An equivalent might be “The Roman government will not allow us,” but it is also possible to make this statement more specific by identifying Pilate as a representative of the Roman power, for example, “You Romans will not allow us” or “You Romans will not say to us, ‘You can put someone to death’ ” or “… You can try someone and put him to death.”

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 .