John 21:1-6

Jesus’ Appearance to the Disciples in Galilee

21:1 After this ¹  Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. ²  Now this is how he did so. ³  21:2 Simon Peter, Thomas ⁴  (called Didymus), ⁵  Nathanael ⁶  (who was from Cana ⁷  in Galilee), the sons ⁸  of Zebedee, ⁹  and two other disciples ¹⁰  of his were together. 21:3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. ¹¹  They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

21:4 When it was already very early morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. 21:5 So Jesus said to them, “Children, you don’t have any fish, ¹²  do you?” ¹³  They replied, ¹⁴  “No.” 21:6 He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” ¹⁵  So they threw the net, ¹⁶  and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.

[21:1]  ¹ tn The time reference indicated by μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is indefinite, in comparison with the specific “after eight days” (μεθ᾿ ἡμέρας ὀκτώ, meq’ Jhmera" oktw) between the two postresurrection appearances of Jesus in 20:26.

[21:1]  ² sn The Sea of Tiberias is another name for the Sea of Galilee (see 6:1).

[21:1]  ³ tn Grk “how he revealed himself.”

[21:2]  ⁴ tn Grk “and Thomas.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.

[21:2]  ⁵ sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Grk “and Nathanael.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.

[21:2]  ⁷ map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[21:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “and the sons.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.

[21:2]  ⁹ sn The sons of Zebedee were James and John.

[21:2]  ¹⁰ sn The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned together in John 6:7-8 and 12:22.

[21:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “they said to him.”

[21:5]  ¹² tn The word προσφάγιον (prosfagion) is unusual. According to BDAG 886 s.v. in Hellenistic Greek it described a side dish to be eaten with bread, and in some contexts was the equivalent of ὄψον (oyon), “fish.” Used in addressing a group of returning fishermen, however, it is quite clear that the speaker had fish in mind.

[21:5]  ¹³ 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 the tag is “do you?”).

[21:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “They answered him.”

[21:6]  ¹⁵ tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[21:6]  ¹⁶ tn The words “the net” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.