John 7:8

7:8 You go up ¹  to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast ²  because my time ³  has not yet fully arrived.” ⁴ 

John 5:1

Healing a Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda

5:1 After this ⁵  there was a Jewish feast, ⁶  and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ⁷ 

John 6:4

6:4 (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover ⁸  was near.) ⁹ 

John 7:2

7:2 Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles ¹⁰  was near. ¹¹ 

John 7:14

Teaching in the Temple

7:14 When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts ¹²  and began to teach. ¹³ 

John 12:20

Seekers

12:20 Now some Greeks ¹⁴  were among those who had gone up to worship at the feast.

John 4:45

4:45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him because they had seen all the things he had done in Jerusalem ¹⁵  at the feast ¹⁶  (for they themselves had gone to the feast). ¹⁷ 

John 7:10-11

7:10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then Jesus ¹⁸  himself also went up, not openly but in secret. 7:11 So the Jewish leaders ¹⁹  were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” ²⁰ 

John 12:12

The Triumphal Entry

12:12 The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. ²¹ 

John 11:56

11:56 Thus they were looking for Jesus, ²²  and saying to one another as they stood in the temple courts, ²³  “What do you think? That he won’t come to the feast?”

John 2:23

Jesus at the Passover Feast

2:23 Now while Jesus ²⁴  was in Jerusalem ²⁵  at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ²⁶ 

John 7:37

Teaching About the Spirit

7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, ²⁷  Jesus stood up and shouted out, ²⁸  “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and

John 13:29

13:29 Some thought that, because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him to buy whatever they needed for the feast, ²⁹  or to give something to the poor.) ³⁰ 

John 13:1

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ³¹  had come to depart ³²  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ³³ 

[7:8]  ¹ sn One always speaks of “going up” to Jerusalem in Jewish idiom, even though in western thought it is more common to speak of south as “down” (Jerusalem lies south of Galilee). The reason for the idiom is that Jerusalem was identified with Mount Zion in the OT, so that altitude was the issue.

[7:8]  ² tc Most mss (Ì^66,75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupw) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 al lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw oupw wrote ouk. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.

[7:8]  ³ tn Although the word is καιρός (kairos) here, it parallels John’s use of ὥρα (Jwra) elsewhere as a reference to the time appointed for Jesus by the Father – the time of his return to the Father, characterized by his death, resurrection, and ascension (glorification). In the Johannine literature, synonyms are often interchanged for no apparent reason other than stylistic variation.

[7:8]  ⁴ tn Or “my time has not yet come to an end” (a possible hint of Jesus’ death at Jerusalem); Grk “my time is not yet fulfilled.”

[5:1]  ⁵ sn The temporal indicator After this is not specific, so it is uncertain how long after the incidents at Cana this occurred.

[5:1]  ⁶ tc The textual variants ἑορτή or ἡ ἑορτή (Jeorth or Jh Jeorth, “a feast” or “the feast”) may not appear significant at first, but to read ἑορτή with the article would almost certainly demand a reference to the Jewish Passover. The article is found in א C L Δ Ψ Ë¹ 33 892 1424 pm, but is lacking in {Ì^66,75 A B D T W^s Θ Ë¹³ 565 579 700 1241 pm}. Overall, the shorter reading has somewhat better support. Internally, the known proclivity of scribes to make the text more explicit argues compellingly for the shorter reading. Thus, the verse refers to a feast other than the Passover. The incidental note in 5:3, that the sick were lying outside in the porticoes of the pool, makes Passover an unlikely time because it fell toward the end of winter and the weather would not have been warm. L. Morris (John [NICNT], 299, n. 6) thinks it impossible to identify the feast with certainty.

[5:1]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[6:4]  ⁹ sn Passover. According to John’s sequence of material, considerable time has elapsed since the feast of 5:1. If the feast in 5:1 was Pentecost of a.d. 31, then this feast would be the Passover of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion.

[6:4]  ¹⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[7:2]  ¹³ tn Or “feast of the Tents” (the feast where people lived in tents or shelters, which was celebrated in the autumn after harvest). John’s use of σκηνοπηγία (skhnophgia) for the feast of Tabernacles constitutes the only use of this term in the New Testament.

[7:2]  ¹⁴ sn Since the present verse places these incidents at the feast of Tabernacles (a.d. 29 or 32, depending on whether one dates the crucifixion in a.d. 30 or 33) there would have been a 6-month interval during which no events are recorded. The author is obviously selective in his approach; he is not recording an exhaustive history (as he will later tell the reader in John 21:25). After healing the paralytic on the Sabbath in Jerusalem (John 5:1-47), Jesus withdrew again to Galilee because of mounting opposition. In Galilee the feeding of the 5,000 took place, which marked the end of the Galilean ministry for all practical purposes. John 7:1-9 thus marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee.

[7:14]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “to the temple.”

[7:14]  ¹⁸ tn Or “started teaching.” An ingressive sense for the imperfect verb (“began to teach” or “started teaching”) fits well here, since the context implies that Jesus did not start his teaching at the beginning of the festival, but began when it was about half over.

[12:20]  ²¹ sn These Greeks (῞Ελληνές τινες, {ellhne" tine") who had come up to worship at the feast were probably “God-fearers” rather than proselytes in the strict sense. Had they been true proselytes, they would probably not have been referred to as Greeks any longer. Many came to worship at the major Jewish festivals without being proselytes to Judaism, for example, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:27, who could not have been a proselyte if he were physically a eunuch.

[4:45]  ²⁵ sn All the things he had done in Jerusalem probably refers to the signs mentioned in John 2:23.

[4:45]  ²⁶ sn See John 2:23-25.

[4:45]  ²⁷ sn John 4:44-45. The last part of v. 45 is a parenthetical note by the author. The major problem in these verses concerns the contradiction between the proverb stated by Jesus in v. 44 and the reception of the Galileans in v. 45. Origen solved the problem by referring his own country to Judea (which Jesus had just left) and not Galilee. But this runs counter to the thrust of John’s Gospel, which takes pains to identify Jesus with Galilee (cf. 1:46) and does not even mention his Judean birth. R. E. Brown typifies the contemporary approach: He regards v. 44 as an addition by a later redactor who wanted to emphasize Jesus’ unsatisfactory reception in Galilee. Neither expedient is necessary, though, if honor is understood in its sense of attributing true worth to someone. The Galileans did welcome him, but their welcome was to prove a superficial response based on what they had seen him do at the feast. There is no indication that the signs they saw brought them to place their faith in Jesus any more than Nicodemus did on the basis of the signs. But a superficial welcome based on enthusiasm for miracles is no real honor at all.

[7:10]  ²⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:11]  ³³ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

[7:11]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Where is that one?”

[12:12]  ³⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[11:56]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “they were seeking Jesus.”

[11:56]  ⁴² tn Grk “in the temple.”

[2:23]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁴⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:23]  ⁴⁷ sn Because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.

[7:37]  ⁴⁹ sn There is a problem with the identification of this reference to the last day of the feast, the greatest day: It appears from Deut 16:13 that the feast went for seven days. Lev 23:36, however, makes it plain that there was an eighth day, though it was mentioned separately from the seven. It is not completely clear whether the seventh or eighth day was the climax of the feast, called here by the author the “last great day of the feast.” Since according to the Mishnah (m. Sukkah 4.1) the ceremonies with water and lights did not continue after the seventh day, it seems more probable that this is the day the author mentions.

[7:37]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “Jesus stood up and cried out, saying.”

[13:29]  ⁵³ tn Grk “telling him, ‘Buy whatever we need for the feast.’” The first clause is direct discourse and the second clause indirect discourse. For smoothness of English style, the first clause has been converted to indirect discourse to parallel the second (the meaning is left unchanged).

[13:29]  ⁵⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[13:1]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “that he should depart.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause in Koine Greek frequently encroached on the simple infinitive (for the sake of greater clarity).

[13:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “he now loved them completely,” or “he now loved them to the uttermost” (see John 19:30). All of John 13:1 is a single sentence in Greek, although in English this would be unacceptably awkward. At the end of the verse the idiom εἰς τέλος (eis telos) was translated literally as “to the end” and the modern equivalents given in the note above, because there is an important lexical link between this passage and John 19:30, τετέλεσται (tetelestai, “It is ended”).