Discovery BoxJohn 7:23
Context7:23 But if a male child 1 is circumcised 2 on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, 3 why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well 4 on the Sabbath?
John 5:16
Context5:16 Now because Jesus was doing these things 5 on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders 6 began persecuting 7 him.
John 5:10
Context5:10 So the Jewish leaders 8 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” 9
John 9:14
Context9:14 (Now the day on which Jesus made the mud 10 and caused him to see 11 was a Sabbath.) 12
John 5:9
Context5:9 Immediately the man was healed, 13 and he picked up his mat 14 and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.) 15
John 7:22
Context7:22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision 16 (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child 17 on the Sabbath.
John 19:31
Context19:31 Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath 18 (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), 19 the Jewish leaders 20 asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs 21 broken 22 and the bodies taken down. 23
John 5:18
Context5:18 For this reason the Jewish leaders 24 were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.
John 20:1
Context20:1 Now very early on the first day of the week, 25 while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene 26 came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been moved away from the entrance. 27
John 9:16
Context9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, 28 “This man is not from God, because he does not observe 29 the Sabbath.” 30 But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform 31 such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division 32 among them.
John 20:19
Context20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together 33 and locked the doors 34 of the place 35 because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. 36 Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
[7:23] 1 tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.
[7:23] 2 tn Grk “receives circumcision.”
[7:23] 3 sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca.
[7:23] 4 tn Or “made an entire man well.”
[5:16] 5 sn Note the plural phrase these things which seems to indicate that Jesus healed on the Sabbath more than once (cf. John 20:30). The synoptic gospels show this to be true; the incident in 5:1-15 has thus been chosen by the author as representative.
[5:16] 6 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 10.
[5:10] 9 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. Here the author refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9).
[5:10] 10 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.
[9:14] 13 tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency).
[9:14] 14 tn Grk “and opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
[9:14] 15 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
[5:9] 17 tn Grk “became well.”
[5:9] 18 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in the previous verse.
[5:9] 19 tn Grk “Now it was Sabbath on that day.”
[7:22] 21 tn Grk “gave you circumcision.”
[7:22] 22 tn Grk “a man.” While the text literally reads “circumcise a man” in actual fact the practice of circumcising male infants on the eighth day after birth (see Phil 3:5) is primarily what is in view here.
[19:31] 25 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] 26 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
[19:31] 27 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] 28 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] 29 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] 30 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.
[5:18] 29 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 10.
[20:1] 33 sn The first day of the week would be early Sunday morning. The Sabbath (and in this year the Passover) would have lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 p.m. Saturday. Sunday would thus mark the first day of the following week.
[20:1] 34 sn John does not mention that Mary Magdalene was accompanied by any of the other women who had been among Jesus’ followers. The synoptic accounts all mention other women who accompanied her (although Mary Magdalene is always mentioned first). Why John does not mention the other women is not clear, but Mary probably becomes the focus of the author’s attention because it was she who came and found Peter and the beloved disciple and informed them of the empty tomb (20:2). Mary’s use of the plural in v. 2 indicates there were others present, in indirect agreement with the synoptic accounts.
[20:1] 35 tn Grk “from the tomb.”
[9:16] 37 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] 38 tn Grk “he does not keep.”
[9:16] 39 sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.
[9:16] 41 tn Or “So there was discord.”
[20:19] 41 tn Although the words “had gathered together” are omitted in some of the earliest and best
[20:19] 42 tn Grk “the doors were shut”; “locked” conveys a more appropriate idea for the modern English reader.
[20:19] 43 tn Grk “where they were.”
[20:19] 44 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.
