John 2:3

2:3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.” ¹ 

John 4:32

4:32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

John 4:44

4:44 (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) ² 

John 5:2

5:2 Now there is ³  in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate ⁴  a pool called Bethzatha ⁵  in Aramaic, ⁶  which has five covered walkways. ⁷ 

John 5:5

5:5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. ⁸ 

John 6:68

6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

John 8:49

8:49 Jesus answered, “I am not possessed by a demon, ⁹  but I honor my Father – and yet ¹⁰  you dishonor me.

John 8:57

8:57 Then the Judeans ¹¹  replied, ¹²  “You are not yet fifty years old! ¹³  Have ¹⁴  you seen Abraham?”

John 10:20

10:20 Many of them were saying, “He is possessed by a demon and has lost his mind! ¹⁵  Why do you listen to him?”

John 11:17

Speaking with Martha and Mary

11:17 When ¹⁶  Jesus arrived, ¹⁷  he found that Lazarus ¹⁸  had been in the tomb four days already. ¹⁹ 

John 13:35

13:35 Everyone ²⁰  will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.”

John 15:13

15:13 No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life ²¹  for his friends.

John 21:5

21:5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, ²²  do you?” ²³  They replied, ²⁴  “No.”

¹ tn The word “left” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

³ tn Regarding the use of the present tense ἐστιν (estin) and its implications for the dating of the Gospel of John, see the article by D. B. Wallace, “John 5,2 and the Date of the Fourth Gospel,” Bib 71 (1990): 177-205.

⁴ tn The site of the miracle is also something of a problem: προβατικῇ (probatikh) is usually taken as a reference to the Sheep Gate near the temple. Some (R. E. Brown and others) would place the word κολυμβήθρα (kolumbhqra) with προβατικῇ to read “in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Pool, there is (another pool) with the Hebrew name.” This would imply that there is reference to two pools in the context rather than only one. This does not seem necessary (although it is a grammatical possibility). The gender of the words does not help since both are feminine (as is the participle ἐπιλεγομένη [epilegomenh]). Note however that Brown’s suggestion would require a feminine word to be supplied (for the participle ἐπιλεγομένη to modify). The traditional understanding of the phrase as a reference to the Sheep Gate near the temple appears more probably correct.

⁵ tc Some mss (א [L] 33 it) read Bethzatha, while others read Bethsaida (Ì^[66],75 B T W^s [Ψ] pc vg); codex D has Belzetha. A lot of controversy has surrounded the name of the pool itself: The reading of the Byzantine (or majority) text (A C Θ 078 Ë^1,13 Ï), Bethesda, has been virtually discarded by scholars in favor of what is thought to be the more primitive Bethzatha, even though many recent translations continue to employ Bethesda, the traditional reading. The latter is attested by Josephus as the name of a quarter of the city near the northeast corner of the temple area. He reports that the Syrian Legate Cestius burned this suburb in his attack on Jerusalem in October a.d. 68 (J. W. 2.19.4 [2.530]). However, there is some new archaeological evidence for this problem. 3Q15 (Copper Scroll) from Qumran seems to indicate that in the general area of the temple, on the eastern hill of Jerusalem, a treasure was buried in Bet áEsdatayin, in the pool at the entrance to the smaller basin. The name of the region or pool itself seems then to have been Bet ᾿Esda, “house of the flowing.” It appears with the dual ending in the scroll because there were two basins. Bethesda seems to be an accurate Greek rendition of the name, while J. T. Milik suggests Bethzatha is a rendition of the Aramaic intensive plural Bet áEsdata (DJDJ 3, 271). As for the text of John 5:2, the fundamental problems with the Bethesda reading are that it looks motivated (with an edifying Semitic etymology, meaning “House of Mercy” [TCGNT 178]), and is minimally attested. Apart from the Copper Scroll, the evidence for Bethesda is almost entirely shut up to the Byzantine text (C being the most notable exception, but it often has Byzantine encroachments). On the one hand, this argues the Byzantine reading here had ancient, semitic roots; on the other hand, since both readings are attested as historically accurate, a decision has to be based on the better witnesses. The fact that there are multiple readings here suggests that the original was not well understood. Which reading best explains the rise of the others? It seems that Bethzatha is the best choice.

⁶ tn Grk “in Hebrew.”

⁷ tn Or “porticoes,” or “colonnades”; Grk “stoas.”

⁴ tn Grk “who had had thirty-eight years in his disability.”

⁵ tn Grk “I do not have a demon.”

⁶ tn “Yet” is supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

⁶ tn Grk “Then the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31, 48, and 52, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31). They have now become completely hostile, as John 8:59 clearly shows.

⁷ tn Grk “said to him.”

⁸ tn Grk ‘You do not yet have fifty years” (an idiom).

⁹ tn Grk “And have.”

⁷ tn Or “is insane.” To translate simply “he is mad” (so KJV, ASV, RSV; “raving mad” NIV) could give the impression that Jesus was angry, while the actual charge was madness or insanity.

⁸ tn Grk “Then when.”

⁹ tn Grk “came.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Lazarus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹¹ tn Grk “he had already had four days in the tomb” (an idiom).

⁹ tn Grk “All people,” although many modern translations have rendered πάντες (pantes) as “all men” (ASV, RSV, NASB, NIV). While the gender of the pronoun is masculine, it is collective and includes people of both genders.

¹⁰ tn Or “one dies willingly.”

¹¹ tn The word προσφάγιον (prosfagion) is unusual. According to BDAG 886 s.v. in Hellenistic Greek it described a side dish to be eaten with bread, and in some contexts was the equivalent of ὄψον (oyon), “fish.” Used in addressing a group of returning fishermen, however, it is quite clear that the speaker had fish in mind.

¹² tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “do you?”).

¹³ tn Grk “They answered him.”