Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets.

Others asserted that He was Elijah. Others again said, "He is a Prophet, like one of the great Prophets."

Or, as one of the prophets - η, or, is omitted by ABCEGHKLMS - BHV, and one hundred others, Syriac, all the Arabic, all the Persic, Coptic, Ethiopic, Gothic, Slavonic, Vulgate, two Itala, Origen, Victor, and Theophylact. Bengel, Wetstein, and Griesbach leave it out of the text: the omission of it mends the sense much.

Others said, That it is Elias. And others said, That it is a prophet, or as one of (k) the prophets.
(k) Of the old prophets.

Others said that it is Elias,.... This was the opinion, either of many of the Jews, who expected that Elias the Tishbite would come in person, before the coming of the Messiah; and thought by the appearance and wonderful works of Jesus, that he was now come: or of Herod's courtiers, who said this to divert him from his notion of John the Baptist, which they might perceive was very distressing to him; though the former seems rather to be the sense:
others said, that it is a prophet: or "the prophet", that was to come, whom Moses had spoken of, and the Jews expected; this was the opinion of others of them: or
as one of the prophets. The word "or", is left out in some copies; and so it is in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; and then the sense is, this new prophet lately raised up, is as one of the old prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others; or one of them had risen up.

Others said, That it is Elias. And others, That it is a prophet, or as one of the prophets--(See on Matthew 16:14).

A prophet, as one of the prophets - Not inferior to one of the ancient prophets.