John 6:51

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread ¹  that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 9:16

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ²  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ³  the Sabbath.” ⁴  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ⁵  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ⁶  among them.

John 19:31

19:31 Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath ⁷  (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), ⁸  the Jewish leaders ⁹  asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs ¹⁰  broken ¹¹  and the bodies taken down. ¹² 

John 20:19

Jesus’ Appearance to the Disciples

20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together ¹³  and locked the doors ¹⁴  of the place ¹⁵  because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. ¹⁶  Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”

[6:51]  ¹ tn Grk “And the bread.”

[9:16]  ² tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).

[9:16]  ³ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ⁴ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ⁵ tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ⁶ tn Or “So there was discord.”

[19:31]  ³ sn The Jewish authorities, because this was the day of preparation for the Sabbath and the Passover (cf. 19:14), requested Pilate to order the legs of the three who had been crucified to be broken. This would hasten their deaths, so that the bodies could be removed before the beginning of the Sabbath at 6 p.m. This was based on the law of Deut 21:22-23 and Josh 8:29 that specified the bodies of executed criminals who had been hanged on a tree should not remain there overnight. According to Josephus this law was interpreted in the 1st century to cover the bodies of those who had been crucified (J. W. 4.5.2 [4.317]). Philo of Alexandria also mentions that on occasion, especially at festivals, the bodies were taken down and given to relatives to bury (Flaccus 10 [83]). The normal Roman practice would have been to leave the bodies on the crosses, to serve as a warning to other would-be offenders.

[19:31]  ⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:31]  ⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:31]  ⁶ tn Grk “asked Pilate that the legs of them might be broken.” The referent of “them” (the three individuals who were crucified, collectively referred to as “the victims”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:31]  ⁷ sn To have the legs…broken. Breaking the legs of a crucified person was a way of speeding up his death, since the victim could no longer use his legs to push upward in order to be able to draw a breath. This breaking of the legs was called in Latin crurifragium, and was done with a heavy mallet.

[19:31]  ⁸ tn Grk “asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and they might be taken down.” Here because of the numerous ambiguous third person references it is necessary to clarify that it was the crucified men whose legs were to be broken and whose corpses were to be removed from the crosses.

[20:19]  ⁴ tn Although the words “had gathered together” are omitted in some of the earliest and best mss, they are nevertheless implied, and have thus been included in the translation.

[20:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “the doors were shut”; “locked” conveys a more appropriate idea for the modern English reader.

[20:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “where they were.”

[20:19]  ⁷ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders.