5:1 After this 1 there was a Jewish feast, 2 and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 3 5:2 Now there is 4 in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate 5 a pool called Bethzatha 6 in Aramaic, 7 which has five covered walkways. 8 5:3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways. 5:4 [[EMPTY]] 9 5:5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 10 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized 11 that the man 12 had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to become well?” 5:7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, 13 I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, 14 someone else 15 goes down there 16 before me.” 5:8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat 17 and walk.” 5:9 Immediately the man was healed, 18 and he picked up his mat 19 and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.) 20
5:10 So the Jewish leaders 21 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” 22 5:11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat 23 and walk.’” 5:12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat 24 and walk’?” 25 5:13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place.
5:14 After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more, 26 lest anything worse happen to you.”
1 sn The temporal indicator After this is not specific, so it is uncertain how long after the incidents at Cana this occurred.
2 tc The textual variants ἑορτή or ἡ ἑορτή (Jeorth or Jh Jeorth, “a feast” or “the feast”) may not appear significant at first, but to read ἑορτή with the article would almost certainly demand a reference to the Jewish Passover. The article is found in א C L Δ Ψ Ë1 33 892 1424 pm, but is lacking in {Ì66,75 A B D T Ws Θ Ë13 565 579 700 1241 pm}. Overall, the shorter reading has somewhat better support. Internally, the known proclivity of scribes to make the text more explicit argues compellingly for the shorter reading. Thus, the verse refers to a feast other than the Passover. The incidental note in 5:3, that the sick were lying outside in the porticoes of the pool, makes Passover an unlikely time because it fell toward the end of winter and the weather would not have been warm. L. Morris (John [NICNT], 299, n. 6) thinks it impossible to identify the feast with certainty.
3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
4 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.
5 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.
6 tc Some
7 tn Grk “in Hebrew.”
8 tn Or “porticoes,” or “colonnades”; Grk “stoas.”
9 tc The majority of later
10 tn Grk “who had had thirty-eight years in his disability.”
11 tn Or “knew.”
12 tn Grk “he.” The referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Or “Lord.” The Greek κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage the paralytic who was healed by Jesus never acknowledges Jesus as Lord – he rather reports Jesus to the authorities.
14 tn Grk “while I am going.”
15 tn Grk “another.”
16 tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
17 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” Some of these items, however, are rather substantial (e.g., “mattress”) and would probably give the modern English reader a false impression.
18 tn Grk “became well.”
19 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in the previous verse.
20 tn Grk “Now it was Sabbath on that day.”
21 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9).
22 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.
23 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.
24 tc While a number of
25 tn Grk “Pick up and walk”; the object (the mat) is implied but not repeated.
26 tn Since this is a prohibition with a present imperative, the translation “stop sinning” is sometimes suggested. This is not likely, however, since the present tense is normally used in prohibitions involving a general condition (as here) while the aorist tense is normally used in specific instances. Only when used opposite the normal usage (the present tense in a specific instance, for example) would the meaning “stop doing what you are doing” be appropriate.