Charles Ellicott Commentary John 9:8

"The neighbors therefore, and they that saw him aforetime, that he was a beggar, said, Is not this he that sat and begged?" — John 9:8 (ASV)

They which before had seen him that he was blind.—The better reading is, that he was a beggar. The persons are the neighbours, who from living near him knew all about him, and those who used to see him at the spot where he sat begging. Both classes, of course, knew that he was blind.

Is not this he that sat and begged?—Better, Is not this he that sits and begs? The tenses are present, marking his usual custom.