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.

John 13:3-5

13:3 Because Jesus ³  knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, ⁴  and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ⁵  his outer clothes, ⁶  took a towel and tied it around himself. ⁷  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. ⁸ 

John 13:1

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ⁹  had come to depart ¹⁰  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ¹¹ 

John 5:10

5:10 So the Jewish leaders ¹²  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ¹³ 

[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.

[13:3]  ³ tn Grk “Because he knew”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “had given all things into his hands.”

[13:4]  ⁵ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:1]  ⁹ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.