5 The term translated watched … closely is emotive, since it carries negative connotations. It means they were watching him out of the corner of their eye or spying on him.
6 Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 The background for this is the view that only if life was endangered should one attempt to heal on the Sabbath (see the , Shabbat 6.3; 12.1; 18.3; 19.2; Yoma 8.6).

In other versions

And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath.

In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath.

Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

And they were watching him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath, in order that they could accuse him.

And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.

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