John 1:43-46

The Calling of More Disciples

1:43 On the next day Jesus ¹  wanted to set out for Galilee. ²  He ³  found Philip and said ⁴  to him, “Follow me.” 1:44 (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, ⁵  the town of ⁶  Andrew and Peter.) 1:45 Philip found Nathanael ⁷  and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also ⁸  wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 1:46 Nathanael ⁹  replied, ¹⁰  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ¹¹  Philip replied, ¹²  “Come and see.”

[1:43]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Jesus is best taken as the subject of εὑρίσκει (Jeuriskei), since Peter would scarcely have wanted to go to Galilee.

[1:43]  ² sn No explanation is given for why Jesus wanted to set out for Galilee, but probably he wanted to go to the wedding at Cana (about a two day trip).

[1:43]  ³ tn Grk “and he.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[1:43]  ⁴ tn Grk “and Jesus said.”

[1:44]  ⁵ 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).

[1:44]  ⁶ 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.

[1:45]  ⁷ sn Nathanael is traditionally identified with Bartholomew (although John never describes him as such). He appears here after Philip, while in all lists of the twelve except in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew follows Philip. Also, the Aramaic Bar-tolmai means “son of Tolmai,” the surname; the man almost certainly had another name.

[1:45]  ⁸ tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[1:46]  ⁹ tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

[1:46]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “said to him.”

[1:46]  ¹¹ sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

[1:46]  ¹² tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”