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.

Joshua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

Joshua 1:1

The Lord Commissions Joshua

1:1 After Moses the Lord’s servant died, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:

Joshua 19:21

19:21 Remeth, En Gannim, En Haddah and Beth Pazzez.

Luke 22:26-27

22:26 Not so with you; ³  instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader ⁴  like the one who serves. ⁵  22:27 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, ⁶  or the one who serves? Is it not ⁷  the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one ⁸  who serves.

John 13:4-5

13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ⁹  his outer clothes, ¹⁰  took a towel and tied it around himself. ¹¹  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. ¹² 

John 13:13-14

13:13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, ¹³  for that is what I am. ¹⁴  13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet.

John 13:1

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ¹⁵  had come to depart ¹⁶  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ¹⁷ 

John 5:10

5:10 So the Jewish leaders ¹⁸  said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” ¹⁹ 

Philippians 2:22

2:22 But you know his qualifications, that like a son working with his father, he served with me in advancing the gospel.

[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.

[22:26]  ³ tn Grk “But you are not thus.”

[22:26]  ⁴ tn Or “the ruler.”

[22:26]  ⁵ sn And the leader like the one who serves. Leadership was not to be a matter of privilege and special status, but of service. All social status is leveled out by these remarks. Jesus himself is the prime example of the servant-leader.

[22:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “who reclines at table,” as 1st century middle eastern meals were not eaten while sitting at a table, but while reclining on one’s side on the floor with the head closest to the low table and the feet farthest away.

[22:27]  ⁷ tn The interrogative particle used here in the Greek text (οὐχί, ouci) expects a positive reply.

[22:27]  ⁸ sn Jesus’ example of humble service, as one who serves, shows that the standard for a disciple is different from that of the world. For an example see John 13:1-17.

[13:4]  ⁹ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:13]  ¹³ tn Or “rightly.”

[13:13]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and I am these things.”

[13:1]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.