John 10:20

Greek (Tischendorf 8th ed.)

English Translation

Many of them said, "He has a demon, and is insane! Why do you listen to him?"

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 first appearance in the Greek New Testament

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μαίνεται

maínomai

G3105

“to be mad”

Verb, Present, Middle or Passive deponent, Indicative, 3rd person, Singular

Appears 5× in the Greek New Testament
First appears here

Full Thayer's Definition

Origin: middle voice from a primary mao (to long for, through the idea of insensate craving)

TDNT: 10:00,5

1. to be mad, to rave a. of one who so speaks that he seems not to be in his right mind

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

12: words
11: distinct lemmas
Gospels: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is μαίνεται to be mad G3105 — appearing just 5 times in the whole Greek New Testament.

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Greek New Testament here:

μαίνεται to be mad G3105

Shared distinctive vocabulary

μαίνεται to be mad G3105 occurs in 5 verses of the Greek New Testament. Also found in:

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse:

αὐτῶν he G846 ×2

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to John 10:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

John 7:20 The multitude answered, "You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?"
Mark 3:21 When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, "He is insane."
John 8:47–48 He who is of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don't hear, because you are not of God."
John 8:52 Then the Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, 'If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.'
Isaiah 53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who [among them] considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living for the disobedience of my people to whom the stroke [was due]?
Matthew 9:34 But the Pharisees said, "By the prince of the demons, he casts out demons."
Matthew 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
John 7:46–52 The officers answered, "No man ever spoke like this man!"

John 9:28–29 They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
Acts 18:14–15 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, "If indeed it were a matter of wrong or of wicked crime, you Jews, it would be reasonable that I should bear with you;
Acts 25:19–20 but had certain questions against him about their own religion, and about one Jesus, who was dead, whom Paul affirmed to be alive.
Acts 26:24 As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!"
Acts 26:30–32 The king rose up with the governor, and Bernice, and those who sat with them.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Commentary

Notes on John 10:20 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Commentary source

Bengel's Gnomon

Johann Albrecht Bengel

Joh 10:20. Πολλοί, many) They were wont to take in the worst light His most lofty and sweetest discourses.[283][283] τὶ αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε, why hear ye Him?) It is a case full of danger, when even hearing is refused.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20. He hath a devil, and is mad] So, then, a demoniac and a madman were not exactly the same in the apprehension of the Jews; no more than the effect is the same with the cause which produces it. Some will have it that, when the Jews told our Lord that he had a demon, they meant no more than that he was deranged; but here these matters are evidently distinguished. They believed him to be possessed by a demon, who deranged his faculties, and that he must have been a wicked man, and a deceiver, thus to be put under the power of such a spirit.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Calvin's Commentaries

20. He hath a devil. They employ the most offensive reproach which they can devise, in slandering Christ, that all may shudder at the thought of hearing him. For wicked men, that they may not be forced to yield to God, in a furious manner, and with closed eyes, break out into proud contempt of him, and excite others to the same rage, so that not a single word of Christ is heard in silence. But the doctrine of Christ has sufficient power in itself to defend it against slanders. And this is what believers mean by their reply,

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(20) He hath a devil, and is mad.—Comp. Note on Joh_8:48. The words “and is mad” are explanatory of the possession by a demon.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

20. He hath a devil] See last note on Joh_8:48, and comp. Joh_7:20.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

And many of them said, he hath a devil, and is mad,.... It was a notion of the Jews, that madness or distraction was from the devil, and therefore these two are here joined together, having a devil, and being mad: there is a spirit which they call Tazazith, and which, they say (z), is an evil spirit that takes away the understanding of men; and under the influence of such a "demon", the Jews thought Christ to be: and therefore say,

why hear ye him? he is a lunatic, he is distracted, he is a madman; how can you bear to hear such ranting blasphemous stuff, which no man in his, senses would ever utter? nor is anything he says to be regarded, since he is not in his right mind; but is under the power and influence of some evil spirit, which instills these wild and frantic notions into him, and puts him upon venting them; but surely no sober man will ever heed to them.

(z) R. David Kimchi, Sepher Shorash rad.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

Ver. 20. He hath a devil, and is mad] It was a wonder if the heavens did not sweat, the earth melt, and hell gape at the hearing of these horrid blasphemies. Tigers rage at the fragrance of sweet spices; so did these monsters at our Saviour’s sweet sermons.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He hath a devil - Joh 7:20.

Is mad - Is deranged, or a maniac. His words are incoherent and unintelligible.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Some of the people said, He hath a devil, and is mad; for (as was said before) this was the opinion of the Jews concerning all that were mad and distracted, that it was by the influence of the devil, and they were infested with an evil spirit.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Scofield Reference Notes

C. I. Scofield

devil

demon. (See Scofield "Mat 7:22").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges

20. δαιμ. ἔχει. See last note on Joh 8:48 and comp. Joh 7:20.

τί αὐ. ἀκ. They are uneasy at the impression produced by these discourses and seek to discredit their Author,—‘poisoning the wells.’

δαιμονιζ. Of one possessed with a demon. see on Joh 3:34.

μὴ δ. δ. Surely a demon cannot: comp. Joh 10:40. A demon might work a miracle, like the Egyptian magicians, but not so great and so beneficent a miracle as this (comp. Joh 9:16). But here they stop: they declare what He cannot be; they do not see, or will not admit, what He must be.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

International Critical Commentary

20. δαιμόνιον ἔχει. This was an easy way of accounting for the strangeness of the teaching of Jesus, and we have had it before 7:20, 8:48; cf. Wisd. 5:4, and see Introd., p. clxxvii.

μαίνεται. This verb occurs only here in Jn.

τί αὐτοῦ ἀκούετε; “Why do you heed Him?” ἀκούειν with the gen. always indicating in Jn. a hearing with attention and appreciation (see on 3:8). The question betrays a certain uneasiness on the part of the questioners.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

John, in the Gospels, opens this verse with 12 words (11 distinct Greek lemmas). Its most distinctive word is maínomai (“to be mad”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to be mad” (maínomai) shape what this verse is saying?
The word “to be mad” first appears here in Scripture. What is being introduced at this debut?
Acts 12:15 shares the word «to be mad» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“he” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
Reading how Bengel's Gnomon and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
These translations choose different wording for 12 words in this verse.
“he” occurs 2× in this single verse.
11 distinct Greek lemmas span 12 words in this verse.