Genesis 18:4

18:4 Let a little water be brought so that ¹  you may all ²  wash your feet and rest under the tree.

Genesis 18:1

Three Special Visitors

18:1 The Lord appeared to Abraham ³  by the oaks ⁴  of Mamre while ⁵  he was sitting at the entrance ⁶  to his tent during the hottest time of the day.

Genesis 25:1-2

The Death of Abraham

25:1 Abraham had taken ⁷  another ⁸  wife, named Keturah. 25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.

Genesis 11:8

11:8 So the Lord scattered them from there across the face of the entire earth, and they stopped building ⁹  the city.

Luke 7:44

7:44 Then, ¹⁰  turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house. You gave me no water for my feet, ¹¹  but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.

John 13:4-5

13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ¹²  his outer clothes, ¹³  took a towel and tied it around himself. ¹⁴  13:5 He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. ¹⁵ 

John 13:14-15

13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. 13:15 For I have given you an example ¹⁶  – you should do just as I have done for you.

John 13:1

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ¹⁷  had come to depart ¹⁸  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ¹⁹ 

John 5:10

5:10 So the Jewish leaders ²⁰  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ²¹ 

[18:4]  ¹ tn The imperative after the jussive indicates purpose here.

[18:4]  ² tn The word “all” has been supplied in the translation because the Hebrew verb translated “wash” and the pronominal suffix on the word “feet” are plural, referring to all three of the visitors.

[18:1]  ³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:1]  ⁴ tn Or “terebinths.”

[18:1]  ⁵ tn The disjunctive clause here is circumstantial to the main clause.

[18:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun translated “entrance” is an adverbial accusative of place.

[25:1]  ⁷ tn Or “took.”

[25:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “And Abraham added and took.”

[11:8]  ⁹ tn The infinitive construct לִבְנֹת (livnot, “building”) here serves as the object of the verb “they ceased, stopped,” answering the question of what they stopped doing.

[7:44]  ¹⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[7:44]  ¹¹ sn It is discussed whether these acts in vv. 44-46 were required by the host. Most think they were not, but this makes the woman’s acts of respect all the more amazing.

[13:4]  ¹² tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ¹³ tn The plural τὰ ἱμάτια (ta Jimatia) is probably a reference to more than one garment (cf. John 19:23-24). If so, this would indicate that Jesus stripped to a loincloth, like a slave. The translation “outer clothes” is used to indicate that Jesus was not completely naked, since complete nudity would have been extremely offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context.

[13:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “taking a towel he girded himself.” Jesus would have wrapped the towel (λέντιον, lention) around his waist (διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν, diezwsen Jeauton) for use in wiping the disciples’ feet. The term λέντιον is a Latin loanword (linteum) which is also found in the rabbinic literature (see BDAG 592 s.v.). It would have been a long piece of linen cloth, long enough for Jesus to have wrapped it about his waist and still used the free end to wipe the disciples’ feet.

[13:5]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:15]  ¹⁶ sn I have given you an example. Jesus tells his disciples after he has finished washing their feet that what he has done is to set an example for them. In the previous verse he told them they were to wash one another’s feet. What is the point of the example? If it is simply an act of humble service, as most interpret the significance, then Jesus is really telling his disciples to serve one another in humility rather than seeking preeminence over one another. If, however, the example is one of self-sacrifice up to the point of death, then Jesus is telling them to lay down their lives for one another (cf. 15:13).

[13:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “that he should depart.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause in Koine Greek frequently encroached on the simple infinitive (for the sake of greater clarity).

[13:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “he now loved them completely,” or “he now loved them to the uttermost” (see John 19:30). All of John 13:1 is a single sentence in Greek, although in English this would be unacceptably awkward. At the end of the verse the idiom εἰς τέλος (eis telos) was translated literally as “to the end” and the modern equivalents given in the note above, because there is an important lexical link between this passage and John 19:30, τετέλεσται (tetelestai, “It is ended”).

[5:10]  ²⁰ 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).

[5:10]  ²¹ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.