John 21:3-5

21:3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. ¹  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, ²  do you?” ³  They replied, ⁴  “No.”

[21:3]  ¹ tn Grk “they said to him.”

[21:5]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “They answered him.”