“Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
Parallel Translations
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“Does our law judge a man, unless it first hears from him personally and knows what he does?”
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Doth oure lawe iudge eny man before it heare him and knowe what he hath done?
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Doth our Law iudge a man before it heare him, and knowe what he hath done?
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to John 7:51 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Proverbs 18:13 He who answers before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.
- Deuteronomy 1:17 You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”
- Deuteronomy 19:15-19 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established. If an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who shall be in those days; and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother, then you shall do to him as he had thought to do to his brother. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
- Acts 23:3 Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Do you sit to judge me according to the law, and command me to be struck contrary to the law?”
- Deuteronomy 17:6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
- Deuteronomy 17:8-11 If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within your gates, then you shall arise, and go up to the place which Yahweh your God chooses. You shall come to the priests who are Levites and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict. You shall do according to the decisions of the verdict which they shall give you from that place which Yahweh chooses. You shall observe to do according to all that they shall teach you. According to the decisions of the law which they shall teach you, and according to the judgment which they shall tell you, you shall do. You shall not turn away from the sentence which they announce to you, to the right hand, nor to the left.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (9 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain What he hath committed, who is accused.
What he hath committed, who is accused.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 51 Doth our law judge any man, before it…
51 Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
Ver. 51. Doth our law condemn any man] This was no great matter to say, and yet it did the deed; so God would have it. Now, he is ever like himself; and whensoever he pleaseth, he both can and will dissipate all our enemies’ endeavours, and that in the very nick of time. This we have had plain and plentiful experience of in this land lately, when we were at such an under, that our enemies seemed to be above fear, and we below hope: when there was not faith in earth to believe, then were there bowels in heaven to turn our captivity like streams in the south.
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Before it hear him, and know what he doth?] Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, was condemned before heard; and murdered by the Popish bishop. So was the Lord Cromwell, whose enemies dared not bring him to his answer, nor try him by his peers, but procured an act of attainder, and so put him to death unheard.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain That no law of God or nature condemneth any…
That no law of God or nature condemneth any man before they had heard him speak, or had what he did deposed by witnesses before them, that they might know what he did.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 51. Doth our law judge any man] τον…
Verse 51. Doth our law judge any man] τον ανθρωπον, the man, i.e. who is accused. Perhaps Nicodemus did not refer so much to any thing in the law of Moses, as to what was commonly practiced among them. Josephus says, Ant. b. xiv. c. 9. s. 3, That the law has forbidden any man to be put to death, though wicked, unless he be first condemned to die by the Sanhedrin. It was probably to this law, which is not expressly mentioned in the five books of Moses, that Nicodemus here alludes. See laws relative to this point, De 17:8, c. De 19:15.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Doth our law ... - The law required justice…
Doth our law ... - The law required justice to be done, and gave every man the right to claim a fair and impartial trial, Lev 19:15-16; Exo 23:1-2; Deu 19:15, Deu 19:18. Their condemnation of Jesus was a violation of every rule of right. He was not arraigned; he was not heard in self-defense, and not a single witness was adduced. Nicodemus demanded that justice should be done, and that he should, not be condemned until he had had a fair trial. Every man should be presumed to be innocent until he is proved to be guilty. This is a maxim of law, and a most just and proper precept in our judgments in private life.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Doth our law, &c.--a very proper, but all too…
Doth our law, &c.--a very proper, but all too tame rejoinder, and evidently more from pressure of conscience than any design to pronounce positively in the case. "The feebleness of his defense of Jesus has a strong contrast in the fierceness of the rejoinders of the Pharisees" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 51. Doth our law—The law prescribed that the accused…
51. Doth our law—The law prescribed that the accused should be heard before judges. Deu_17:8. Nicodemus does not, indeed, defend Jesus; he only puts in an estopment upon their procedure against him.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 51. Doth our law] ‘Law’ is emphatic. ‘You condemn…
51. Doth our law] ‘Law’ is emphatic. ‘You condemn the multitude for not knowing the law; but are we not forgetting the law in condemning a man unheard?’ These learned theologians and lawyers were forgetting such plain and simple texts as Deu_1:16-17; Deu_17:8; Deu_19:15; involving the most elementary principles of justice.
any man, before it hear him] Literally, the man (prosecuted) except it first hear from himself.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (51) Doth our law judge any man?—He identifies Himself…
(51) Doth our law judge any man?—He identifies Himself with them. He, like they, is an expounder of the Law. The force of the question is in the word “Law,” which they had used but the moment before in their scorn for the people who knew not the Law. “Well, this Law, which we do know and understand, doth it judge without open investigation?” Did they in their blind zeal forget such passages as Exo_23:1; Deu_1:16-17; Deu_19:15? They had determined a death, and were seeking to carry their sentence into effect in direct contravention of the Law. This holy people, instructed in the Law—they were the Law-breakers.
Before it hear him.—The better reading is, unless it hear first from him.
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And know what he doeth—i.e., know the deed for which he is tried.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.