In 11.47 and in 11.57 the Pharisees and the chief priests appear together; here only the Pharisees are mentioned.

You see is the rendering of most translations, though these words may be taken as an imperative (“see”).

We are not succeeding at all (so also Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch; Phillips “There’s nothing one can do!”) is actually a second person reference in Greek: “You can do nothing.” Good News Translation shifts from second person “you” to first person “we,” since the Pharisees are speaking to one another. This is the normal way to handle the construction in English. We are not succeeding at all may be rendered negatively as “we have completely failed.” One can also render this clause “we have not realized our purposes” or “we have not fulfilled our plans” or “we have not accomplished what we set out to do.”

The whole world (so also New American Bible; New English Bible “all the world”) is literally “the world,” but, as the New American Bible footnote indicates, “the sense is that everyone is following Jesus….”

The various translations render is following him in several different ways, but the meaning is the same in all.

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 .