John 11:5

11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) ¹ 

John 11:1

The Death of Lazarus

11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ² 

John 11:19-21

11:19 so many of the Jewish people of the region ³  had come to Martha and Mary to console them ⁴  over the loss of their brother.) ⁵  11:20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. ⁶  11:21 Martha ⁷  said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

John 11:24

11:24 Martha said, ⁸  “I know that he will come back to life again ⁹  in the resurrection at the last day.”

John 11:30

11:30 (Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had come out to meet him.)

John 11:39

11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” ¹⁰  Martha, the sister of the deceased, ¹¹  replied, “Lord, by this time the body will have a bad smell, ¹²  because he has been buried ¹³  four days.” ¹⁴ 

John 12:2

12:2 So they prepared a dinner for Jesus ¹⁵  there. Martha ¹⁶  was serving, and Lazarus was among those present at the table ¹⁷  with him.

¹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It was necessary for the author to reaffirm Jesus’ love for Martha and her sister and Lazarus here because Jesus’ actions in the following verse appear to be contradictory.

² tn Grk “from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”

³ tn Or “many of the Judeans” (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e); Grk “many of the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem and the surrounding area in general (those who had been friends or relatives of Lazarus or his sisters would mainly be in view) since the Jewish religious authorities (“the chief priests and the Pharisees”) are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8.

⁴ tn Or “to comfort them” or “to offer them sympathy.”

⁵ tn Grk “to comfort them concerning their brother”; the words “loss of” are not in the Greek text but are implied.

⁴ sn Notice the difference in the response of the two sisters: Martha went out to meet Jesus, while Mary remains sitting in the house. It is similar to the incident in Luke 10:38-42. Here again one finds Martha occupied with the responsibilities of hospitality; she is the one who greets Jesus.

⁵ tn Grk “Then Martha.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

⁶ tn Grk “Martha said to him.”

⁷ tn Or “will rise again.”

⁷ tn Or “Remove the stone.”

⁸ tn Grk “the sister of the one who had died.”

⁹ tn Grk “already he stinks.”

¹⁰ tn Or “been there” (in the tomb – see John 11:17).

¹¹ sn He has been buried four days. Although all the details of the miracle itself are not given, those details which are mentioned are important. The statement made by Martha is extremely significant for understanding what actually took place. There is no doubt that Lazarus had really died, because the decomposition of his body had already begun to take place, since he had been dead for four days.

⁸ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity and to conform with contemporary English style.

⁹ tn Grk “And Martha.” The connective καί (kai, “and”) has been omitted in the translation because it would produce a run-on sentence in English.

¹⁰ tn Grk “reclining at the table.”