John 13:4

13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ¹  his outer clothes, ²  took a towel and tied it around himself. ³ 

John 2:10

2:10 and said to him, “Everyone ⁴  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ⁵  wine when the guests ⁶  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!”

John 10:11

10:11 “I am the good ⁷  shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life ⁸  for the sheep.

[13:4]  ¹ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[2:10]  ⁴ tn Grk “every man” (in a generic sense).

[2:10]  ⁵ tn Or “poorer.”

[2:10]  ⁶ tn Grk “when they”; the referent (the guests) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[10:11]  ⁷ tn Or “model” (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:386, who argues that “model” is a more exact translation of καλός [kalos] here).

[10:11]  ⁸ tn Or “The good shepherd dies willingly.”