The multitude; οἱὀ ìχλοι: the multitudes. These were the people who took part in the procession; they kept repeating ( ἐ ìλεγον, imperfect) to all inquiries, This is Jesus the Prophet of Nazareth.
They give his name, title, and dwelling place. They call him "the Prophet," either as being the One that was foretold (John 1:21; John 6:14), or as being inspired and commissioned by God (John 9:1-41.
17). The appellation, "of Nazareth," clung to our Lord through all his earthly life. St. Matthew (Matthew 2:23) notes that the prophets had foretold that he was to be called a Nazarene, and that this prediction was in some sort fulfilled by his dwelling at Nazareth.
We know not who were the prophets to whom the evangelist refers, and in this obscurity the attempted explanations of exegetes are far from satisfactory; so it is safer to fall back upon the inspired historian's verdict, and to mark the providential accomplishment of the prediction in the title by which Jesus was generally known.
Says Isaac Williams, "Friends and foes, chief priests in hate, Pilate in mockery, angels in adoration, disciples in love, Christ himself in lowliness (Acts 22:8), and now the multitudes in simplicity, all proclaim him 'of Nazareth.'