John 11:55

11:55 Now the Jewish feast of Passover ¹  was near, and many people went up to Jerusalem ²  from the rural areas before the Passover to cleanse themselves ritually. ³ 

John 2:13

2:13 Now the Jewish feast of Passover ⁴  was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ⁵ 

John 6:4

6:4 (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover ⁶  was near.) ⁷ 

John 12:1

Jesus’ Anointing

12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he ⁸  had raised from the dead.

John 18:39

18:39 But it is your custom that I release one prisoner ⁹  for you at the Passover. ¹⁰  So do you want me to release for you the king of the Jews?”

John 19:14

19:14 (Now it was the day of preparation ¹¹  for the Passover, about noon. ¹² ) ¹³  Pilate ¹⁴  said to the Jewish leaders, ¹⁵  “Look, here is your king!”

John 2:23

Jesus at the Passover Feast

2:23 Now while Jesus ¹⁶  was in Jerusalem ¹⁷  at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ¹⁸ 

John 18:28

Jesus Brought Before Pilate

18:28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. ¹⁹  (Now it was very early morning.) ²⁰  They ²¹  did not go into the governor’s residence ²²  so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.

John 13:1

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ²³  had come to depart ²⁴  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ²⁵ 

[11:55]  ¹ tn Grk “the Passover of the Jews.” This is the final Passover of Jesus’ ministry. The author is now on the eve of the week of the Passion. Some time prior to the feast itself, Jerusalem would be crowded with pilgrims from the surrounding districts (ἐκ τῆς χώρας, ek th" cwra") who had come to purify themselves ceremonially before the feast.

[11:55]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:55]  ³ tn Or “to purify themselves” (to undergo or carry out ceremonial cleansing before participating in the Passover celebration).

[2:13]  ⁴ tn Grk “the Passover of the Jews.” This is first of at least three (and possibly four) Passovers mentioned in John’s Gospel. If it is assumed that the Passovers appear in the Gospel in their chronological order (and following a date of a.d. 33 for the crucifixion), this would be the Passover of the spring of a.d. 30, the first of Jesus’ public ministry. There is a clear reference to another Passover in 6:4, and another still in 11:55, 12:1, 13:1, 18:28, 39, and 19:14. The latter would be the Passover of a.d. 33. There is a possibility that 5:1 also refers to a Passover, in which case it would be the second of Jesus’ public ministry (a.d. 31), while 6:4 would refer to the third (a.d. 32) and the remaining references would refer to the final Passover at the time of the crucifixion. It is entirely possible, however, that the Passovers occurring in the Fourth Gospel are not intended to be understood as listed in chronological sequence. If the material of the Fourth Gospel originally existed in the form of homilies or sermons by the Apostle John on the life and ministry of Jesus, the present arrangement would not have to be in strict chronological order (it does not explicitly claim to be). In this case the Passover mentioned in 2:13, for example, might actually be later in Jesus’ public ministry than it might at first glance appear. This leads, however, to a discussion of an even greater problem in the passage, the relationship of the temple cleansing in John’s Gospel to the similar account in the synoptic gospels.

[2:13]  ⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:4]  ⁷ sn Passover. According to John’s sequence of material, considerable time has elapsed since the feast of 5:1. If the feast in 5:1 was Pentecost of a.d. 31, then this feast would be the Passover of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion.

[6:4]  ⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:1]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “whom Jesus,” but a repetition of the proper name (Jesus) here would be redundant in the English clause structure, so the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.

[18:39]  ¹³ tn The word “prisoner” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[18:39]  ¹⁴ sn Pilate then offered to release Jesus, reminding the Jewish authorities that they had a custom that he release one prisoner for them at the Passover. There is no extra-biblical evidence alluding to the practice. It is, however, mentioned in Matthew and Mark, described either as a practice of Pilate (Mark 15:6) or of the Roman governor (Matt 27:15). These references may explain the lack of extra-biblical attestation: The custom to which Pilate refers here (18:39) is not a permanent one acknowledged by all the Roman governors, but one peculiar to Pilate as a means of appeasement, meant to better relations with his subjects. Such a limited meaning is certainly possible and consistent with the statement here.

[19:14]  ¹⁶ sn The term day of preparation (παρασκευή, paraskeuh) appears in all the gospels as a description of the day on which Jesus died. It could refer to any Friday as the day of preparation for the Sabbath (Saturday), and this is the way the synoptic gospels use the term (Matt 27:62, Mark 15:42, and Luke 23:54). John, however, specifies in addition that this was not only the day of preparation of the Sabbath, but also the day of preparation of the Passover, so that the Sabbath on the following day was the Passover (cf. 19:31).

[19:14]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “about the sixth hour.”

[19:14]  ¹⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:14]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:14]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin, and their servants (mentioned specifically as “the chief priests and their servants” in John 19:6). See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[2:23]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:23]  ²¹ sn Because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.

[18:28]  ²² tn Grk “to the praetorium.”

[18:28]  ²³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[18:28]  ²⁴ tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[18:28]  ²⁵ tn Grk “into the praetorium.”

[13:1]  ²⁵ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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”).