John 13:4

he got up from the meal, removed ¹  his outer clothes, ²  took a towel and tied it around himself. ³ 

biblegateway Joh 13:4

so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist.

biblegateway Joh 13:4

*got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

biblegateway Joh 13:4

So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,

biblegateway Joh 13:4

So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron.

SABDAweb Joh 13:4

Got up from table, put off his robe and took a cloth and put it round him.

bibleoremus Joh 13:4

got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

biblegateway Joh 13:4

rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

biblegateway Joh 13:4

he got up from the meal, removed ¹  his outer clothes, ²  took a towel and tied it around himself. ³ 

¹ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

² tn The plural τὰ ἱμάτια (ta Jimatia) is probably a reference to more than one garment (cf. John 19:23-24). If so, this would indicate that Jesus stripped to a loincloth, like a slave. The translation “outer clothes” is used to indicate that Jesus was not completely naked, since complete nudity would have been extremely offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context.

³ tn Grk “taking a towel he girded himself.” Jesus would have wrapped the towel (λέντιον, lention) around his waist (διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν, diezwsen Jeauton) for use in wiping the disciples’ feet. The term λέντιον is a Latin loanword (linteum) which is also found in the rabbinic literature (see BDAG 592 s.v.). It would have been a long piece of linen cloth, long enough for Jesus to have wrapped it about his waist and still used the free end to wipe the disciples’ feet.