Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Parallel Translations
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Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
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After that poured he water into a basyn and beganne to wash his disciples fete and to wype them with the towell wherwith he was gyrde.
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After that, hee powred water into a basen, and began to wash the disciples feete, and to wipe them with the towell, wherewith he was girded.
Cross-references (27)
Passages linked to John 13:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Luke 7:44 Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head.
- Psalms 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
- 1 Timothy 5:10 being approved by good works, if she has brought up children, if she has been hospitable to strangers, if she has washed the saints’ feet, if she has relieved the afflicted, and if she has diligently followed every good work.
- Genesis 18:4 Now let a little water be fetched, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
- Genesis 19:2 and he said, “See now, my lords, please come into your servant’s house, stay all night, wash your feet, and you can rise up early, and go on your way.” They said, “No, but we will stay in the street all night.”
- Leviticus 14:8 “He who is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water; and he shall be clean. After that he shall come into the camp, but shall dwell outside his tent seven days.
- 1 Samuel 25:41 She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your servant is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”
- 2 Kings 3:11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Isn’t there a prophet of Yahweh here, that we may inquire of Yahweh by him?” One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Elijah, is here.”
- Acts 22:16 Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’
- 1 Corinthians 6:11 Some of you were such, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
- Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
- Titus 3:3-5 For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
- Hebrews 10:22 let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,
- Revelation 7:14 I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great suffering.They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.
- 2 Kings 5:10-13 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angry, and went away, and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of Yahweh his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leper.’ Aren’t Abanah and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them, and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. His servants came near, and spoke to him, and said, “My father, if the prophet had asked you do some great thing, wouldn’t you have done it? How much rather then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean?’ ”
- Ezekiel 36:25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols.
- Zechariah 13:1 “In that day there will be a spring opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
- Luke 7:38 Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.
- John 13:12-14 So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
- John 19:34 However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
- 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
- 1 John 5:6 This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
- Exodus 29:4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water.
- Isaiah 1:16 Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
- Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood—
- John 13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
- John 13:10 Jesus said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 5. And began to wash the feet of his…
5. And began to wash the feet of his disciples. These words express the design of Christ, rather than the outward act; for the Evangelist adds, that he began with Peter.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 5 After that he poureth water into a bason,…
5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Ver. 5. After that he poureth water, &c.] So doth the pope once a year in an apish imitation of our Saviour. As likewise, when he is new elected, in his solemn Lateran procession, he takes copper out of his chamberlain’s lap, and scatters it among the people, and (lie and all) saith, "Silver and gold have I none." (Dr Hall on Mat 5:20)
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Poureth water into a bason; begins first to wash…
Poureth water into a bason; begins first to wash his disciples feet, then to wipe them with the linen cloth he had taken. All this was done in the form of a servant; so they used to do, as to guests that came to dine or sup with their lords or masters.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain After that be poureth water into a bason,.... This…
After that be poureth water into a bason,.... This also was a servile work, and what properly belonged to servants to do; see Joh 2:5. The bason to wash the feet in, called by the Jews was fixed by their doctors to hold, "from two logs to nine kabs" (t); not "from two logs to ten", as Dr. Lightfoot has rendered the passage referred to. A "kab" held about a quart of our measure, and a "log" was the fourth part of a "kab".
And began to wash the disciples feet. This custom of washing the feet was not used by the Jews at their passover, nor at their private entertainments, or common meals, but at the reception of strangers or travellers, which were just come off of a journey, whereby they had contracted dirt and filth, and was a servile work, never performed by superiors to their inferiors, but by inferiors to superiors; as by the wife to the husband, by the son to the father, and by the servant to his master; and was an instance of great humility in any others, as in Abigail, who said to David, "let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my Lord", Sa1 25:41, upon which place some Jewish Rabbins (u) have this note:
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"this she said, , "by way of humility", to show, that it would have been sufficient to her, if she became a wife to one of the servants of David, and washed his feet, as was the custom of a wife to her husband.''
But what a surprising instance of humility and condescension is this, that Christ, the Lord and master, should wash the feet of his disciples, when it was their proper work and business to have washed his? Though Dr. Lightfoot says, he does not remember that this was expected from the disciple toward his master, unless included in that rule, "that the disciple is to honour his master, more than his father"; whereas it was a fixed point (w) with the Jews,
"that all works which a servant does to his master, a disciple does to his master, except unloosing his shoe.''
Since therefore it was the work of a servant to wash his master's feet, a disciple was obliged to do this to his master likewise:
and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded; as he began he went through with his work; and having washed their feet, he wipes them clean; which may design the purity of the lives and conversations of the saints in general, and of the ministers of the Gospel in particular, whose feet are beautiful when shod with the preparation of the Gospel of peace, and their conversations are as become the Gospel they preach; both which they have from Christ.
(t) Misn. Yadaim, c. 4. sect. 1. Vid. Misn. Celim, c. 20. sect. 2. (u) R. Levi ben Gersom & R. Samuel Laniado in I Sam. xxv. 41. Vid. T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 96. 1. & Maimon. Hilch. Ishot, c. 21. sect. 7. (w) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 96. 1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Into the basin - A large vessel was usually…
Into the basin - A large vessel was usually placed for this very purpose, wherever the Jews supped.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Poureth water into a bason, c.] This…
Verse 5. Poureth water into a bason, c.] This was the office of the meanest slaves. When David sent to Abigail, to inform her that he had chosen her for wife, she arose and said: Behold, let thy handmaid be a SERVANT, to WASH the FEET of the SERVANTS of my lord, 1Sa 25:41. Some of the ancients have supposed that our Lord began with washing the feet of Judas, to inspire him with sentiments of compunction and remorse, to melt him down with kindness, and to show all his disciples how they should act towards their enemies. Dr. Lightfoot supposes he washed the feet of Peter, James, and John only but this is not likely: the verb αρχεσθαι in the sacred writings, signifies, not only to commence, but to finish an act, Ac 1:1; and in the Septuagint, Ge 2:3. There is every reason to believe that he washed the feet of all the twelve. See Clarke on Joh 13:9.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Began to wash ... - It was uniformly the…
Began to wash ... - It was uniformly the office of a servant to wash the feet of guests, 1Sa 25:41. It became a matter of necessity where they traveled without shoes, and where they reclined on couches at meals. It should be remembered here that the disciples were not sitting at the table, as we do, but were lying with their feet extended from the table, so that Jesus could easily have access to them. See the notes at Mat 23:6.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain St. Ambrose and St. Bernard shew that this washing…
St. Ambrose and St. Bernard shew that this washing was mysterious, and significative of the very great purity expected of those that receive the blessed Eucharist.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain began to wash--proceeded to wash. Beyond all doubt the…
began to wash--proceeded to wash. Beyond all doubt the feet of Judas were washed, as of all the rest.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Began to wash—The act of washing is a…
5. Began to wash—The act of washing is a double emblem, symbolizing first, the duty of humble service to our brother, and second, the purification of the soul from sin. Both these solemn meanings are supremely combined in the great act of Jesus, by which he humbles himself unto death for our sakes, and purifies our souls by his blood. Different parts of the dialogue now ensuing refer to these two meanings.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. into a bason] Better, into the bason, which…
5. into a bason] Better, into the bason, which stood there for such purposes, the large copper bason commonly found in oriental houses.
began to wash] Began is not a mere amplification as in the other Gospels (Mat_11:7; Mat_26:22; Mat_26:37; Mat_26:74; Mar_4:1; Mar_6:2; Mar_6:7; Mar_6:34; Mar_6:55; Luk_7:15; Luk_7:24; Luk_7:38; Luk_7:49; &c. &c.), and in the Acts (Act_1:1, Act_2:4; Act_2:18; Act_2:26, &c.). The word occurs nowhere else in S. John, and here is no mere periphrasis for ‘washed.’ He began to wash, but was interrupted by the incident with S. Peter. With whom He began is not mentioned: from very early times some have conjectured Judas.
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Contrast the mad insolence of Caligula—quosdam summis honoribus functos … ad pedes stare succinctos linteo passus est. Suet. Calig. xxvi. Linteum in a Greek form is the very word here used for towel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) After that he poureth water into a bason.—Better,…
(5) After that he poureth water into a bason.—Better, . . . into the bason. It was the bason in the room, commonly used, and now ready for suck purposes. The water was at hand. All suggested then that one of the disciples might have performed this act which the Lord now performs. That it was commonly regarded as an act of reverence from an inferior to a superior is made clear by the Rabbinical passages quoted here by Schottgen and Lightfoot. (Comp. Note on Luk_7:44.)
And began to wash the disciples’ feet.—The exactness of the narrative notes that the act was only begun, and was interrupted by the objection of Peter. This word “began” is frequent in the earlier Gospels, but it is only in this touch of accuracy that St. John uses it.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.