21:1 After this 1 Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. 2 Now this is how he did so. 3 21:2 Simon Peter, Thomas 4 (called Didymus), 5 Nathanael 6 (who was from Cana 7 in Galilee), the sons 8 of Zebedee, 9 and two other disciples 10 of his were together. 21:3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. 11 They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
21:4 When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 21:5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, 12 do you?” 13 They replied, 14 “No.”
1 tn The time reference indicated by μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is indefinite, in comparison with the specific “after eight days” (μεθ᾿ ἡμέρας ὀκτώ, meq’ Jhmera" oktw) between the two postresurrection appearances of Jesus in 20:26.
2 sn The Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee (see 6:1).
3 tn Grk “how he revealed himself.”
4 tn Grk “and Thomas.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
5 sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.
6 tn Grk “and Nathanael.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
7 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
8 tn Grk “and the sons.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
9 sn The sons of Zebedee were James and John.
10 sn The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned together in John 6:7-8 and 12:22.
11 tn Grk “they said to him.”
12 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.
13 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?”).
14 tn Grk “They answered him.”