Mark 6:45

Walking on Water

6:45 Immediately Jesus ¹  made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.

Matthew 11:21

11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ²  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ³  the miracles ⁴  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁵  and Sidon, ⁶  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Luke 9:10

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

9:10 When ⁷  the apostles returned, ⁸  they told Jesus ⁹  everything they had done. Then ¹⁰  he took them with him and they withdrew privately to a town ¹¹  called Bethsaida. ¹² 

Luke 10:13

10:13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹³  Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if ¹⁴  the miracles ¹⁵  done in you had been done in Tyre ¹⁶  and Sidon, ¹⁷  they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

John 1:44

1:44 (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, ¹⁸  the town of ¹⁹  Andrew and Peter.)

John 12:21

12:21 So these approached Philip, ²⁰  who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested, ²¹  “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

³ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

⁴ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

⁵ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁶ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”

⁷ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁸ tn The participle ὑποστρέψαντες (Jupostreyante") has been taken temporally.

⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹¹ tc There is a seeming myriad of variants for this text. Many mss read εἰς τόπον ἔρημον (ei" topon erhmon, “to a deserted place”; א*^,2 [1241]) or εἰς τόπον ἔρημον πόλεως καλουμένης Βηθσαϊδά (ei" topon erhmon polew" kaloumenh" Bhqsai>da, “to a deserted place of a town called Bethsaida”; [A] C W Ξ^mg [Ë^1,13] [565] Ï) here, while others have εἰς κώμην λεγομένην Βηδσαϊδά (ei" kwmhn legomenhn Bhdsai>da, “to a village called Bedsaida”; D), εἰς κώμην καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά εἰς τόπον ἔρημον (ei" kwmhn kaloumenhn Bhqsai>da ei" topon erhmon, “to a village called Bethsaida to a deserted place”; Θ), or εἰς τόπον καλουμένον Βηθσαϊδά (ei" topon kaloumenon Bhqsaida, “to a place called Bethsaida”; Ψ). The Greek behind the translation (εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά, ei" polin kaloumenhn Bhqsai>da) is supported by (Ì⁷⁵) א¹ B L Ξ* 33 2542 pc co. The variants can be grouped generally into those that speak of a “deserted place” and those that speak of a place/city/town called Bethsaida. The Byzantine reading is evidently a conflation of the earlier texts, and should be dismissed as secondary. The variants that speak of a deserted place are an assimilation to Mark 6:32, as well a harmonization with v. 12, and should also be regarded as secondary. The reading that best explains the rise of the others – both internally and externally – is the one that stands behind the translation and is found in the text of NA²⁷.

¹² sn Bethsaida was a town on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee. Probably this should be understood to mean a place in the vicinity of the town. It represents an attempt to reconcile the location with the place of the miraculous feeding that follows.

¹³ sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

¹⁴ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

¹⁵ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

¹⁶ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

¹⁷ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”

¹⁸ sn Although the author thought of the town as in Galilee (12:21), Bethsaida technically was in Gaulanitis (Philip the Tetrarch’s territory) across from Herod’s Galilee. There may have been two places called Bethsaida, or this may merely reflect popular imprecision – locally it was considered part of Galilee, even though it was just east of the Jordan river. This territory was heavily Gentile (which may explain why Andrew and Philip both have Gentile names).

¹⁹ tn Probably ἀπό (apo) indicates “originally from” in the sense of birthplace rather than current residence; Mark 1:21, 29 seems to locate the home of Andrew and Peter at Capernaum. The entire remark (v. 44) amounts to a parenthetical comment by the author.

²⁰ sn These Greeks approached Philip, although it is not clear why they did so. Perhaps they identified with his Greek name (although a number of Jews from border areas had Hellenistic names at this period). By see it is clear they meant “speak with,” since anyone could “see” Jesus moving through the crowd. The author does not mention what they wanted to speak with Jesus about.

²¹ tn Grk “and were asking him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.