Was this a rebuke or command? KJV and Pilgrims bible GNV pay attention to the grammar the phrase contains an imperative, but does the context might better fit that is a statement of rebuke of their blindness
this verse in a slightly different form, which can be translated, “And turning to the rulers, he said this word, ‘You search the Scriptures, in which you think you have life; these are [they] which testify concerning me.’ ” A few Old Latin manuscripts and one Syriac manuscript read essentially, “You search the Scriptures; these writings in which you think to have life are those which bear testimony of me.”
Thus, four witnesses provide this variation on 5:39, all of which exclude the word (“eternal”) that appears in all other witnesses after(“life”). Perhaps the word “eternal” was dropped by the scribe of the Egerton Papyrus because it was customary to think that Jews would have considered that Scripture reading would enrich one’s spiritual life on earth, not give everlasting life. But several rabbis claimed that everlasting life could be found by studying the Scriptures. For example, Hillel said, “The more study of the law the more life, … if one has gained for himself words of the law he has gained for himself life in the age to come” (’Abot 2.7). It was perfectly fitting for Jesus to have used “eternal life” in his reproach to the religious leaders who thought biblical studies gave them an entrance into eternity.