John 20

On the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been moved away from the tomb.

1The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre.

NoteThe Jewish week ended with the Sabbath, Saturday, so the first day of the week is Sunday. The tomb was a chamber cut into rock and closed by a large stone rolled or levered across its mouth; shifting one was heavy work, not something a single person did quietly.

2So she ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have put him."

2Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the LORD out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him.

Note"The other disciple, whom Jesus loved" is how this gospel refers to one particular follower all the way through, never giving his name. Notice also that Mary says "we know not": the plural hints that she was not at the tomb alone, though John names only her.

3So Peter and that other disciple started out and went to the tomb.

3Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulchre.

4They both ran together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb first.

4So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulchre.

5He bent down and looked in and saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

5And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

NoteBodies were wrapped in linen cloths or strips packed with spices, as described in John 19:40. The Greek word covers cloths, bandages and wrappings; it does not mean clothing that was worn.

6Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,

6Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie,

7and he saw the cloth that had been around Jesus' head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up in a place by itself.

7And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

NoteThe KJV's "napkin" means a face cloth, nothing to do with a dining napkin. The Greek word is soudarion, a cloth for wiping sweat from the face, used here over the head of the corpse. The verb behind "wrapped together" and "rolled up" can mean folded, rolled, or still wound in its original coils, so the picture may be a tidily folded cloth or a wrapping left lying in the shape of the head it had covered.

8Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, went in too. He saw, and he believed.

8Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed.

9Up to that point they still did not understand from the Scriptures that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

9For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

Note"The scripture" means the Hebrew scriptures, what Christians later called the Old Testament. No part of the New Testament existed yet.

10Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

10Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.

11But Mary stood outside the tomb, crying. As she cried, she bent down and looked into the tomb,

11But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre,

12and she saw two angels dressed in white. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet.

12And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.

13They said to her, "Woman, why are you crying?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him."

13And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my LORD, and I know not where they have laid him.

Note"Woman" was an ordinary and not a rude way to address someone in Greek, closer to "madam" than to anything abrupt. Jesus uses the same word to his own mother in John 2:4 and 19:26.

14When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

14And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.

15Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?" She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him."

15Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

NoteJesus had been buried in a tomb set in a garden (John 19:41), so a gardener is the obvious person to meet there at dawn. The word Mary uses for "Sir" is kyrios, the same word translated "Lord" everywhere else in this chapter; spoken to a stranger it simply meant "sir".

16Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and said, "Rabboni!" which means "Teacher."

16Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

NoteRabboni is Aramaic, an intensified form of rabbi, roughly "my master" or "my teacher". John elsewhere calls such words Hebrew, which in his usage covers the Aramaic that people in Judea actually spoke day to day.

17Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet gone up to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"

17Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

NoteThe KJV's "Touch me not" misleads. The Greek verb is in a form used to stop an action already under way, so the sense is "stop holding on to me", not "do not make contact with me"; in verse 27 Jesus invites Thomas to touch him. "My brethren" here means his followers, not his blood relatives.

18Mary Magdalene went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and she told them the things he had said to her.

18Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the LORD, and that he had spoken these things unto her.

19That same day, in the evening of the first day of the week, the disciples were together with the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

19Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.

NoteIn John, "the Jews" usually means the Judean authorities who had moved against Jesus rather than the Jewish people at large: Jesus and every disciple behind those locked doors were themselves Jews. "Peace be unto you" is the ordinary Hebrew and Aramaic greeting, shalom, the everyday word for hello, though the circumstances here give it weight.

20After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord.

20And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad, when they saw the LORD.

NoteHis hands and side carried the marks of the execution: nails driven through the hands or wrists, and the spear wound described in John 19:34. Showing them identified him as the same man who had been killed.

21Then Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."

21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

22When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.

22And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost:

Note"Holy Ghost" is simply the KJV's term for the Holy Spirit; in 1611 "ghost" meant spirit or breath, with none of the modern sense of a haunting. The Greek word pneuma means breath, wind and spirit all at once, so breathing on them and telling them to receive the Spirit are one image in Greek, not two. The verb used for the breathing is the one the Greek Old Testament uses when God breathes life into the first human.

23If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

23Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.

Note"Remit" is the KJV's word for forgive, and "retain" means keeping hold of the sins instead of letting them go. In Greek the second verb in each clause stands in a tense that can be read either as "they have already been forgiven" or as "they stand forgiven from this point on", and translators divide over which is meant.

24But Thomas, one of the twelve, who was called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

24But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.

NoteThomas is an Aramaic name meaning twin; Didymus is simply the Greek word for twin. The verse gives the same name twice, once in each language. "The twelve" is the standing label for the inner group of disciples, still used here even though the group was one short.

25So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

25The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the LORD. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

NoteThomas's refusal is blunter in Greek than in English: the phrase uses a double negative, closer to "I will absolutely never believe".

26Eight days later his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

26And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you.

NoteAncient counting included both the day you started from and the day you arrived at, so "after eight days" means the following Sunday, a week after the evening of verse 19.

27Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."

27Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

NoteThe KJV's "be not faithless" does not mean disloyal, which is what the English word suggests now. The Greek pair is apistos and pistos, unbelieving and believing, so the sense is "stop disbelieving and believe".

28Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"

28And Thomas answered and said unto him, My LORD and my God.

NoteThe Greek puts "my Lord and my God" in the nominative case with the article, which was the normal way of addressing someone directly in the Greek of this period. The words are spoken to Jesus, not exclaimed about him.

29Jesus said to him, "You have believed because you have seen me. Happy are those who have not seen me and yet have believed."

29Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

NoteGreek manuscripts carried no punctuation, so the first half can be read either as a statement, "you have believed because you have seen me", or as a question, "have you believed because you have seen me?". "Blessed" renders makarios, meaning fortunate or happy, the word that opens sayings of the kind found in the Beatitudes.

30Jesus did many other miracles in front of his disciples that are not written down in this book.

30And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book:

NoteJohn's own word for these acts is "signs", not "miracles". A sign is something done that points beyond itself to who the doer is, and it is the term he uses throughout for the wonders he reports.

31But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that by believing you may have life through his name.

31But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Note"Christ" is the Greek christos, a translation of the Hebrew "messiah", meaning anointed one. It is a title, not a surname. The Greek verb behind "ye might believe" appears in the manuscripts in two forms, one meaning "come to believe" and one meaning "go on believing", which changes whether the book is addressed to people making up their minds or to people already persuaded. "Through his name" renders a phrase that in Greek is "in his name", where the name stands for the person himself.