John 13:18

The Announcement of Jesus’ Betrayal

13:18 “What I am saying does not refer to all of you. I know the ones I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture, ¹  ‘The one who eats my bread ²  has turned against me.’ ³ 

John 13:21

13:21 When he had said these things, Jesus was greatly distressed ⁴  in spirit, and testified, ⁵  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁶  one of you will betray me.” ⁷ 

John 13:26

13:26 Jesus replied, ⁸  “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread ⁹  after I have dipped it in the dish.” ¹⁰  Then he dipped the piece of bread in the dish ¹¹  and gave it to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son.

John 2:25

2:25 He did not need anyone to testify about man, ¹²  for he knew what was in man. ¹³ 

John 6:64-71

6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ¹⁴  6:65 So Jesus added, ¹⁵  “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.” ¹⁶ 

Peter’s Confession

6:66 After this many of his disciples quit following him ¹⁷  and did not accompany him ¹⁸  any longer. 6:67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” ¹⁹  6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 6:69 We ²⁰  have come to believe and to know ²¹  that you are the Holy One of God!” ²²  6:70 Jesus replied, ²³  “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?” ²⁴  6:71 (Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, ²⁵  for Judas, ²⁶  one of the twelve, was going to betray him.) ²⁷ 

John 17:12

17:12 When I was with them I kept them safe ²⁸  and watched over them ²⁹  in your name ³⁰  that you have given me. Not one ³¹  of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, ³²  so that the scripture could be fulfilled. ³³ 

Matthew 26:24-25

26:24 The Son of Man will go as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for him if he had never been born.” 26:25 Then ³⁴  Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus ³⁵  replied, “You have said it yourself.”

[13:18]  ¹ tn Grk “But so that the scripture may be fulfilled.”

[13:18]  ² tn Or “The one who shares my food.”

[13:18]  ³ tn Or “has become my enemy”; Grk “has lifted up his heel against me.” The phrase “to lift up one’s heel against someone” reads literally in the Hebrew of Ps 41 “has made his heel great against me.” There have been numerous interpretations of this phrase, but most likely it is an idiom meaning “has given me a great fall,” “has taken cruel advantage of me,” or “has walked out on me.” Whatever the exact meaning of the idiom, it clearly speaks of betrayal by a close associate. See E. F. F. Bishop, “‘He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me’ – Jn xiii.18 (Ps xli.9),” ExpTim 70 (1958-59): 331-33.

[13:21]  ⁴ tn Or “greatly troubled.”

[13:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “and testified and said.”

[13:21]  ⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:21]  ⁷ tn Or “will hand me over.”

[13:26]  ⁸ tn Grk “Jesus answered.”

[13:26]  ⁹ sn The piece of bread was a broken-off piece of bread (not merely a crumb).

[13:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “after I have dipped it.” The words “in the dish” are not in the Greek text, but the presence of a bowl or dish is implied.

[13:26]  ¹¹ tn The words “in the dish” are not in the Greek text, but the presence of a bowl or dish is implied.

[2:25]  ¹² tn The masculine form has been retained here in the translation to maintain the connection with “a man of the Pharisees” in 3:1, with the understanding that the reference is to people of both genders.

[2:25]  ¹³ tn See previous note on “man” in this verse.

[6:64]  ¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical comment by the author.

[6:65]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And he said”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:65]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “unless it has been permitted to him by the Father.”

[6:66]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “many of his disciples went back to what lay behind.”

[6:66]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “were not walking with him.”

[6:67]  ¹⁹ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “do you?”).

[6:69]  ²⁰ tn Grk “And we.”

[6:69]  ²¹ sn See 1 John 4:16.

[6:69]  ²² tc The witnesses display a bewildering array of variants here. Instead of “the Holy One of God” (ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ, Jo {agio" tou qeou), Tertullian has ὁ Χριστός (Jo Cristo", “the Christ”); C³ Θ* ˹ 33 565 lat read ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (Jo Cristo" Jo Juio" tou qeou, “the Christ, the Son of God”); two versional witnesses (b sy^c) have ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (“the Son of God”); the Byzantine text as well as many others (Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï) read ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος (Jo Cristo" Jo Juio" tou qeou tou zwnto", “the Christ, the Son of the living God”); and Ì⁶⁶ as well as a few versions have ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ (“the Christ, the Holy One of God”). The reading ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ is, however, well supported by Ì⁷⁵ א B C* D L W as well as versional witnesses. It appears that Peter’s confession in the Synoptic Gospels (especially Matt 16:16) supplied the motivation for the variations. Although the witnesses in Matt 16:16; Mark 8:29; and Luke 9:20 vary considerably, the readings are all intra-synoptic, that is, they do not pull in “the Holy One of God” but reflect various permutations of “Christ”/“Christ of God”/“Christ, the Son of God”/“Christ, the Son of the living God.” The wording “the Holy One of God” (without “Christ”) in important witnesses here is thus unique among Peter’s confessions, and best explains the rise of the other readings.

[6:70]  ²³ tn Grk “Jesus answered them.”

[6:70]  ²⁴ tn Although most translations render this last phrase as “one of you is a devil,” such a translation presupposes that there is more than one devil. This finds roots in the KJV in which the Greek word for demon was often translated “devil.” In fact, the KJV never uses the word “demon.” (Sixty-two of the 63 NT instances of δαιμόνιον [daimonion] are translated “devil” [in Acts 17:18 the plural has been translated “gods”]. This can get confusing in places where the singular “devil” is used: Is Satan or one of the demons in view [cf. Matt 9:33 (demon); 13:39 (devil); 17:18 (demon); Mark 7:26 (demon); Luke 4:2 (devil); etc.]?) Now regarding John 6:70, both the construction in Greek and the technical use of διάβολος (diabolos) indicate that the one devil is in view. To object to the translation “the devil” because it thus equates Judas with Satan does not take into consideration that Jesus often spoke figuratively (e.g., “destroy this temple” [John 2:19]; “he [John the Baptist] is Elijah” [Matt 11:14]), even equating Peter with the devil on one occasion (Mark 8:33). According to ExSyn 249, “A curious phenomenon has occurred in the English Bible with reference to one particular monadic noun, διάβολος. The KJV translates both διάβολος and δαιμόνιον as ‘devil.’ Thus in the AV translators’ minds, ‘devil’ was not a monadic noun. Modern translations have correctly rendered δαιμόνιον as ‘demon’ and have, for the most part, recognized that διάβολος is monadic (cf., e.g., 1 Pet 5:8; Rev 20:2). But in John 6:70 modern translations have fallen into the error of the King James translators. The KJV has ‘one of you is a devil.’ So does the RSV, NRSV, ASV, NIV, NKJV, and the JB [Jerusalem Bible]. Yet there is only one devil…The legacy of the KJV still lives on, then, even in places where it ought not.”

[6:71]  ²⁵ sn At least six explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). See D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[6:71]  ²⁶ tn Grk “this one”; the referent (Judas) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:71]  ²⁷ sn This parenthetical statement by the author helps the reader understand Jesus’ statement one of you is the devil in the previous verse. This is the first mention of Judas in the Fourth Gospel, and he is immediately identified (as he is in the synoptic gospels, Matt 10:4, Mark 3:19, Luke 6:16) as the one who would betray Jesus.

[17:12]  ²⁸ tn Or “I protected them”; Grk “I kept them.”

[17:12]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and guarded them.”

[17:12]  ³⁰ tn Or “by your name.”

[17:12]  ³¹ tn Grk And not one.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:12]  ³² tn Grk “the son of destruction” (a Semitic idiom for one appointed for destruction; here it is a reference to Judas).

[17:12]  ³³ sn A possible allusion to Ps 41:9 or Prov 24:22 LXX. The exact passage is not specified here, but in John 13:18, Ps 41:9 is explicitly quoted by Jesus with reference to the traitor, suggesting that this is the passage to which Jesus refers here. The previous mention of Ps 41:9 in John 13:18 probably explains why the author felt no need for an explanatory parenthetical note here. It is also possible that the passage referred to here is Prov 24:22 LXX, where in the Greek text the phrase “son of destruction” appears.

[26:25]  ³⁴ tn Grk “answering, Judas.” This is somewhat redundant and has been simplified in the translation. Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to reflect the sequence of events in the narrative.

[26:25]  ³⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.