and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.

  • TYNDALE Tyndale New Testament (1534)

    and sayde vnto him: Goo wesshe the in the pole of Syloe which by interpretacion signifieth sent. He went his waye and wasshed and cam agayne seinge.

  • GNV Geneva Bible (1599)

    And sayd vnto him, Go wash in the poole of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came againe seeing.

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Cross-references (20)

Passages linked to John 9:7 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.

  • Isaiah 35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
  • John 9:11 He answered, “A man called Jesus made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
  • John 11:37 Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
  • Psalms 146:8 Yahweh opens the eyes of the blind. Yahweh raises up those who are bowed down. Yahweh loves the righteous.
  • Isaiah 8:6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;
  • Acts 26:18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
  • Exodus 4:11 Yahweh said to him, “Who made man’s mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn’t it I, Yahweh?
  • Nehemiah 3:15 Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah repaired the spring gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king’s garden, even to the stairs that go down from David’s city.
  • Isaiah 42:7 to open the blind eyes, to bring the prisoners out of the dungeon, and those who sit in darkness out of the prison.
  • Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
  • 2 Kings 5:10-14 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?’ ” Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.
  • Isaiah 29:18-19 In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also will increase their joy in Yahweh, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
  • Isaiah 32:3 The eyes of those who see will not be dim, and the ears of those who hear will listen.
  • Isaiah 42:16-18 I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know. I will lead them in paths that they don’t know. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. I will do these things, and I will not forsake them. “Those who trust in engraved images, who tell molten images, ‘You are our gods,’ will be turned back. They will be utterly disappointed. “Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see.
  • Isaiah 43:8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.
  • Luke 2:32 a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”
  • John 9:39 Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who don’t see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
  • John 10:36 do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
  • Romans 8:3 For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh;
  • Galatians 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

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Explain this verse (15 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 7. Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Unquestionably,…

7. Go, wash in the pool of Siloam. Unquestionably, there was not, either in the clay, or in the water of Siloam, any power or fitness for curing the eyes; but Christ freely made use of those outward symbols, on various occasions, for adorning his miracles, either to accustom believers to the use of signs, or to show that all things were at his disposal, or to testify that every one of the creatures has as much power as he chooses to give them. But some inquire what is meant by the clay composed of dust and spittle, and they explain it to have been a figure of Christ, because the dust denotes the earthly nature of the flesh, and the spittle, which came from his mouth, denotes the Divine essence of the Word. For my part, I lay aside this allegory as being more ingenious than solid, and am satisfied with this simple view, that as man was at first made of clay, so in restoring the eyes Christ made use of clay, showing that he had the same power over a part of the body which the Father had displayed in forming the whole man. Or, perhaps, he intended to declare, by this sign, that it was not more difficult for him to remove the obstruction, and to open the eyes of the blind man, than to wash away clay from any man whatever; and, on the other hand, that it was as much in his power to restore sight to the man as it was to anoint his eyes with clay I prefer the latter interpretation.

As to the pool of Siloam, he perhaps ordered the blind man to wash in it, in order to reprove the Jews for not being able to discern the power of God when present; as Isaiah reproaches the men of his time, that they

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despise the waters of Siloam, which flow softly, (Isaiah 8:6,)

and prefer rapid and impetuous streams. This was also the reason, I think, why Elisha ordered Naaman the Syrian to go and wash in Jordan, (2 Kings 5:10.) This pool, if we may believe Jerome, was formed by waters which flowed at certain hours from Mount Zion.

Which, if you interpret it, means Sent. The Evangelist purposely adds the interpretation of the word Siloam; because that fountain, which was near the temple, daily reminded the Jews of Christ who was to come, but whom they despised when he was exhibited before them. The Evangelist, therefore, magnifies the grace of Christ, because he alone enlightens our darkness, and restores sight to the blind. For the condition of our nature is delineated in the person of one man, that we are all destitute of light and understanding from the womb, and that we ought to seek the cure of this evil from Christ alone.

Let it be observed that, though Christ was present then, yet he did not wish to neglect signs; and that for the sake of reproving the stupidity of the nation, which laid aside the substance, and retained only an empty shadow of signs. Besides, the astonishing goodness of God is displayed in this respect, that he comes of his own accord to cure the blind man, and does not wait for his prayers to bestow help. And, indeed, since we are by nature averse to him, if he do not meet us before we call on him, and anticipate by his mercy us who are plunged in the forgetfulness of light and life, we are ruined.

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 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain He doth not only anoint his eyes, but sendeth…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And said unto him, go wash in the Pool…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Go, wash at the pool of Siloam - Perhaps…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 7. Siloam] Called also Shiloah, Silos, or Siloa,…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Wash in the pool - In the fountains.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain The fountain of Siloe was at the foot of…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, . .…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 7. Go, wash—An act of faith is the condition…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 7. wash in the pool] Literally, wash into the…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (7) Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.—Comp. Notes…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And, having done this, he said to him, Go…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Go wash in the pool of Siloam.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 9:7 Siloam, a pool at the south end of…

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