John 12

Six days before the Passover festival, Jesus came to Bethany. That was where Lazarus lived, the man who had died and whom Jesus had raised from the dead.

1Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.

NotePassover was the yearly festival that recalled Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt. Pilgrims poured into Jerusalem for it, and the city's population swelled enormously for the week. Bethany was a village about two miles east of Jerusalem, on the far side of the Mount of Olives.

2There they made a dinner for him. Martha served the food, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him.

2There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.

NotePeople at a formal meal did not sit on chairs. They lay on their left sides on low couches arranged around the food, propped on an elbow, with their feet pointing away from the table. That layout is what makes the next verse physically possible: Mary can reach Jesus' feet without crawling under anything.

3Then Mary took about a pint of very expensive perfume made from nard. She poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair, and the whole house was filled with the smell of it.

3Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.

NoteNard, which the King James calls "spikenard," was a fragrant oil pressed from the root of a plant grown in the Himalayas and shipped west at enormous expense. The quantity is a Roman pound, about eleven or twelve ounces, so roughly a pint. Two details here would have startled the first readers. Feet were washed by servants, never by the head of the household or an honored guest; and a respectable woman kept her hair bound up in public, so letting it down to wipe his feet was an act of striking self abasement.

4Then one of his disciples spoke up. It was Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, the one who was going to hand Jesus over to his enemies. He said,

4Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, which should betray him,

Note"Iscariot" is probably a place name rather than a description, most often explained as "man of Kerioth," a town in southern Judah. If so, Judas was the one member of the group who was not a Galilean.

5"Why wasn't this perfume sold for three hundred silver coins, with the money given to poor people?"

5Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?

NoteThe King James "pence" translates the Roman denarius, the standard silver coin and the usual day's pay for an ordinary laborer. Three hundred of them is close to a year's wages for a working man.

6He did not say this because he cared about the poor. He said it because he was a thief. He kept the money bag, and he used to take what was put in it.

6This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

NoteThe King James "bare what was put therein" is deliberately slippery in the Greek as well. The verb means to carry, but it can also mean to carry off. The sentence can be read as "he looked after the contents" or as "he helped himself to the contents," and the word "thief" just before it tells you which way to lean.

7Then Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She has kept this perfume for the day when I am buried.

7Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.

Note"Against the day" is older English for "in preparation for the day." Bodies were washed and packed with perfumed oils and spices before burial, so Jesus is describing her act in funeral terms. The Greek of his sentence is compressed and can be taken either as "she has been keeping it for that day" or as "let her keep it for that day."

8You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me."

8For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

NoteThe wording echoes a line of the law of Moses, "the poor shall never cease out of the land," which introduces a command to give generously. To a listener who knew the passage, the phrase would not have sounded like a dismissal of the poor.

9A large crowd of the Jews found out that Jesus was there. They came not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.

9Much people of the Jews therefore knew that he was there: and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might see Lazarus also, whom he had raised from the dead.

NoteIn John's Gospel the phrase "the Jews" shifts meaning with context. Sometimes it means Judeans as opposed to Galileans, sometimes ordinary crowds, and often the Jerusalem authorities specifically. Jesus, his disciples and the crowd here are all Jewish, so the phrase is not marking off one religion from another.

10So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus too,

10But the chief priests consulted that they might put Lazarus also to death;

NoteThe chief priests were the heads of the leading priestly families, the men who controlled the temple and its revenues and who formed the core of the ruling council. They held their positions with the approval of the Roman governor, which is why public disorder was a direct threat to them.

11because it was on account of him that many of the Jews were leaving their leaders and believing in Jesus.

11Because that by reason of him many of the Jews went away, and believed on Jesus.

12The next day the big crowd that had come for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem.

12On the next day much people that were come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,

13They took branches from palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessed is the King of Israel, who comes in the name of the Lord!"

13Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.

NotePalm branches were a national symbol of victory and deliverance. They had been carried in triumph after earlier Jewish military successes and later appeared on coins struck during revolts against Rome, so waving them at an arriving figure was a loaded, patriotic act. "Hosanna" is Hebrew for "save now," a cry taken from Psalm 118 that had worn down into a shout of welcome and praise, rather like "hurrah." The line that follows, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord," is the next verse of that same psalm, ordinarily sung to greet pilgrims arriving at the temple. The crowd adds "the King of Israel," which the psalm does not say.

14Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as the Scriptures say:

14And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written,

NoteThe King James "ass" simply means donkey; the word has since picked up other uses. A ruler entering a city on a donkey rather than a warhorse was a recognized picture of a king coming in peace.

15"Do not be afraid, city of Zion. Look, your King is coming, seated on a donkey's colt."

15Fear not, daughter of Sion: behold, thy King cometh, sitting on an ass’s colt.

NoteThe quotation is from the prophet Zechariah. "Daughter of Sion" is a Hebrew way of personifying a city as a woman, so it addresses Jerusalem and its people, not an individual. Zion was originally the name of one hill in the city and came to stand for the whole of it.

16His disciples did not understand any of this at the time. But after Jesus was raised to glory, they remembered that these things had been written about him, and that people had done these very things for him.

16These things understood not his disciples at the first: but when Jesus was glorified, then remembered they that these things were written of him, and that they had done these things unto him.

Note"Glorified" in this Gospel is a single package: Jesus' death, his resurrection and his return to the Father are all covered by the one word. It does not mean simply that he became famous.

17The people who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead kept telling others what they had seen.

17The people therefore that was with him when he called Lazarus out of his grave, and raised him from the dead, bare record.

Note"Bare record" is older English for "gave testimony." It is legal language, the word for a witness stating what he personally saw.

18That is why the crowd went out to meet him, because they had heard that he had done this miracle.

18For this cause the people also met him, for that they heard that he had done this miracle.

NoteWhere other Gospels say "miracle," John's word is normally "sign," meaning an act that points beyond itself to who Jesus is. The King James translates it "miracle" here, but the emphasis in the Greek falls on what the act reveals rather than on the wonder of it.

19So the Pharisees said to each other, "You can see that we are getting nowhere. Look, the whole world has gone after him."

19The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, Perceive ye how ye prevail nothing? behold, the world is gone after him.

NoteThe Pharisees were a movement, largely lay rather than priestly, devoted to exact observance of the law and to the traditions built up around it. They carried great influence in the synagogues and with ordinary people, though they were not the group that ran the temple. "Prevail nothing" is older English for "you are achieving nothing." "The world is gone after him" is exasperated hyperbole, not a head count.

20Among the people who had come up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.

20And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:

NoteThese "Greeks" are almost certainly Gentiles, non Jews who were drawn to the worship of Israel's God and came up to the festival to worship, since a full convert would not usually be described this way. The Greek word is not the one John uses elsewhere for Greek speaking Jews, though the line between the categories was blurry in practice.

21They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

21The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

NotePhilip and Andrew are the only two of the twelve with Greek names, and Bethsaida sat in a region with a mixed Jewish and Gentile population. Greek speaking visitors approaching Philip rather than one of the others is probably a practical detail, not a random one.

22Philip went and told Andrew, and then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.

22Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.

23Jesus answered them, "The time has come for the Son of Man to be given glory.

23And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.

Note"The hour" is a fixed expression in this Gospel for the appointed moment of Jesus' death and exaltation, which up to this point has repeatedly been said not to have arrived yet. "Son of man" is the title Jesus uses of himself throughout the Gospels. In ordinary Hebrew and Aramaic the phrase just means "a human being," but it is also the phrase in Daniel's vision of a figure "like a son of man" who is given authority and an everlasting kingdom, and the crowd in verse 34 clearly hears it as a title they cannot place.

24I tell you the truth: unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it stays just one seed. But if it dies, it produces a large crop.

24Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

Note"Corn" in 1611 English meant grain of any kind, whatever the local staple happened to be. It never meant maize, which is an American plant. So "a corn of wheat" is a single grain of wheat.

25Anyone who loves his own life will lose it. Anyone who hates his life in this world will keep it for life that lasts forever.

25He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

NoteIn Hebrew and Aramaic speech, "hate" beside "love" is often a way of stating a comparison rather than an emotion, meaning to prefer one thing far less than another. The word translated "life" here is the same word rendered "soul" in verse 27: it means the self, the whole living person, not one part of a person.

26If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, my servant will be there too. If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him.

26If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

Note"Serve" and "servant" here translate the ordinary words for waiting at table and for a household attendant, the same role Martha is filling in verse 2.

27"Right now I am deeply troubled. What should I say? Should I say, 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, this is the very reason I came to this hour.

27Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.

Note"Soul" is not a separate inner part of a person in this language. It means the self, and "my soul is troubled" means what we would say with "I am shaken to the core." The verb is a strong one, used elsewhere of water being churned up.

28Father, bring glory to your name." Then a voice came from heaven, saying, "I have brought glory to it, and I will bring glory to it again."

28Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

29The crowd standing there heard it. Some said it was thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to him.

29The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.

NoteA voice heard from the sky was a recognized category in Jewish thought of the period, and thunder was a traditional image for the sound of God speaking. The disagreement in the crowd is between two explanations of the same noise, not between hearing something and hearing nothing.

30Jesus answered, "That voice came for your sake, not for mine.

30Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

31Now is the time for this world to be judged. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out.

31Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

Note"Prince of this world" means ruler of this world. It was a standard way of speaking in this period about the hostile power understood to stand behind the world's opposition to God, that is, the devil. "Prince" in older English means a chief or ruler generally, not a king's son.

32And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."

32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Note"Lifted up" carries two senses at once in the Greek, and the double meaning is the point: the verb is used both for hoisting a body onto a cross and for raising someone to a position of honor. Verse 33 makes clear that the crowd was meant to catch only the second sense.

33He said this to show what kind of death he was going to die.

33This he said, signifying what death he should die.

34The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the Law that the Christ stays forever. So how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?"

34The people answered him, We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?

Note"The law" here means the Scriptures as a whole, not only the five books of Moses; Jewish writers of the time used the word both ways. "Christ" is the Greek for the Hebrew "Messiah," meaning "anointed one," the promised king from David's line. The crowd's objection is that their Scriptures say this figure remains forever, so talk of being lifted up and taken away does not fit, and they do not recognize "Son of man" as a title for him at all.

35Then Jesus said to them, "The light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not catch you. A person who walks in the dark does not know where he is going.

35Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.

36While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become people who belong to the light." After Jesus said these things, he left and hid himself from them.

36While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.

Note"Children of light," or in some translations "sons of light," is a Hebrew idiom in which "son of" means belonging to or being characterized by something. The same construction produces phrases like "son of peace" and "sons of thunder." The expression was in active use at the time; the community that left the Dead Sea Scrolls called themselves by it.

37Even though he had done so many miracles right in front of them, they still did not believe in him.

37But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:

38This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah said would come true: "Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the Lord's mighty arm been shown?"

38That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

Note"Esaias" is simply the Greek spelling of Isaiah. The quotation is the opening of Isaiah 53, the passage about a servant who suffers and is rejected. "The arm of the Lord" is a standard Hebrew idiom for God's power put into action, the way we might say a strong hand.

39They were not able to believe, because Isaiah also said,

39Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias said again,

40"He has blinded their eyes and made their hearts hard, so that they would not see with their eyes or understand with their hearts, and turn back to me, and I would heal them."

40He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them.

NoteThis quotes Isaiah 6, from the account of the prophet's commissioning, where he is told his message will meet a wall. Hebrew habitually states an outcome as something God directly does, without the qualifications an English speaker would add, so "he hath blinded their eyes" is the idiom's normal shape. "Converted" in 1611 English means simply "turned back," with no sense of changing religions.

41Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke about him.

41These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him.

Note"When he saw his glory" points back to Isaiah 6, where the prophet describes seeing the Lord seated on a throne in the temple. In John's Greek the pronouns "his" and "him" are not specified, which is why translations differ over whom the glory belongs to.

42Even so, many of the leaders did believe in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not say so openly, in case they were put out of the synagogue.

42Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:

Note"Chief rulers" means members of the ruling council in Jerusalem. Being "put out of the synagogue" was not just a religious penalty: the synagogue was the center of a town's community life, so exclusion cut a person off from neighbors, trade and family standing.

43They loved praise from people more than praise from God.

43For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

NoteThe word translated "praise" here is the same Greek word translated "glory" throughout the chapter. The sentence is a deliberate echo: they chose one kind of glory over another.

44Jesus called out, "Whoever believes in me is not believing in me only, but in the One who sent me.

44Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.

45And whoever sees me sees the One who sent me.

45And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me.

46I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me stays in the dark.

46I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

47If anyone hears my words and does not believe them, I am not the one who judges him. I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

47And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

NoteThe King James reads "believe not" where most Greek manuscripts read "keep not," meaning does not hold to or obey them. The two words look and sound similar, and translations divide depending on which manuscripts they follow.

48Whoever turns me away and will not accept my words already has a judge. The message I have spoken will judge him on the last day.

48He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Note"The last day" is the final day at the end of the present age, when the dead are raised and judgment is given. The phrase appears repeatedly in this Gospel.

49I have not spoken on my own. The Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it.

49For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.

Note"I have not spoken of myself" uses "of" in its older sense of "from" or "out of." The meaning is "on my own authority," not "about myself." The two clauses at the end distinguish the content of the message from the manner of delivering it.

50And I know that his command brings life that lasts forever. So whatever I say is exactly what the Father told me to say."

50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.