John 13:3-8

13:3 Because Jesus ¹  knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, ²  and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ³  his outer clothes, ⁴  took a towel and tied it around himself. ⁵  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. ⁶ 

13:6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter ⁷  said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash ⁸  my feet?” 13:7 Jesus replied, ⁹  “You do not understand ¹⁰  what I am doing now, but you will understand ¹¹  after these things.” 13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” ¹²  Jesus replied, ¹³  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ¹⁴ 

[13:3]  ¹ tn Grk “Because he knew”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ² tn Grk “had given all things into his hands.”

[13:4]  ³ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁵ tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:6]  ⁷ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Peter) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ⁸ tn Grk “do you wash” or “are you washing.”

[13:7]  ⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[13:7]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “You do not know.”

[13:7]  ¹¹ tn Grk “you will know.”

[13:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “You will never wash my feet forever.” The negation is emphatic in Greek but somewhat awkward in English. Emphasis is conveyed in the translation by the use of an exclamation point.

[13:8]  ¹² tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[13:8]  ¹³ tn Or “you have no part in me.”