John 13:3–15
Jesus, knowing who he is, washes his disciples' feet
Study it word by word3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,
4gets up from supper and lays aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, he tied it around himself.
5Then he pours water into the basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.
6So he comes to Simon Peter; he says to him, “Lord, are you washing my feet?”
7Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not know now, but you will understand afterward.”
8Peter says to him, “You shall never wash my feet, ever!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
9Simon Peter says to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10Jesus says to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to wash the feet, but is entirely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
11For he knew the one who was handing him over; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer garments and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?
13You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, for so I am.
14So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15For I have given you an example, so that just as I have done to you, you also may do.
In its context
1Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come to pass out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end.
2And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart that Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, should hand him over,
…
16Truly, truly, I tell you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.
17If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.
Its words in the original
- εἰδὼςeidōs· see
See, look; notice.
- ἔδωκενedōken· give
Give.
- πατὴρpatēr· father, Father
Father; also ancestor.
- χεῖραςcheiras· hand
Hand.
- θεοῦtheou· God, god
God. In the plural or in another sense, "gods".
- ἐξῆλθενexēlthen· go out
Go out, come out.
- ὑπάγειhypagei· go away
Go away, leave; "go!".
- ἐγείρεταιegeiretai· raise
Raise, wake up; get up; raise from the dead.
- δείπνουdeipnou· supper, dinner
Supper, banquet.
- τίθησινtithēsin· put, lay
Put, place, lay down.
- ἱμάτιαhimatia· cloak, clothes
Cloak, the outer garment; in the plural, clothes.
- λαβὼνlabōn· take, receive
Take, receive.
- λέντιονlention· towel
Towel, linen cloth.
- διέζωσενdiezōsen· tie around
Tie something around one's waist.
- εἶταeita· then
Then, next.
- βάλλειballei· throw, put
Throw, cast; also put.
- ὕδωρhydōr· water
Water.
- νιπτῆραniptēra· basin
Basin, a bowl for washing.
- ἤρξατοērxato· begin
Begin.
- νίπτεινniptein· wash
Wash (the hands, the feet, the face).
- πόδαςpodas· foot
Foot.
- μαθητῶνmathētōn· disciple
Disciple: someone who learns from a teacher and follows him in order to live as he does.
- ἐκμάσσεινekmassein· wipe
Wipe, dry.
- ἦνēn· be
Be, exist.
- ἔρχεταιerchetai· come, go
Come, arrive; go.
- ΣίμωναSimōna· Simon
Simon: the name of several men in the New Testament. The most often named is Simon Peter; also Simon the Zealot, one of the Twelve; Simon, a brother of Jesus; Simon of Cyrene; Simon the leper; a Pharisee; the magician of Samaria; the tanner of Joppa; and the father of Judas Iscariot.
- ΠέτρονPetron· Peter
Peter, "rock": the name Jesus gave to Simon.
- λέγειlegei· say
Say, speak; in the passive, "be called".
- ΚύριεKyrie· Lord, lord
Lord, master, owner. Said of God, the Lord; in Old Testament quotations it stands for the name YHWH.
- ἀπεκρίθηapekrithē· answer
Answer, reply; speak up.
- ἸησοῦςIēsous· Jesus
Jesus, the Greek form of the Hebrew Yehoshua (Joshua), which means "YHWH saves". It is the name the angel told Joseph to give him (Matthew 1:21).
- ποιῶpoiō· do, make
Do, make, produce.
- οἶδαςoidas· know
Know, understand; also see.
- ἄρτιarti· now
Now, just now, at this moment.
- γνώσῃgnōsēi· know
Know, come to know, realize. Said of a man and a woman, have sexual relations.
- αἰῶναaiōna· age
Age: a long period of the world's time; "forever", literally "into the ages".
- ἔχειςecheis· have
Have, possess, hold.
- μέροςmeros· part
Part; in the plural, region, district.
- μόνονmonon· only, alone
Alone, only.
- κεφαλήνkephalēn· head
Head.
- λελουμένοςleloumenos· bathe
Bathe, wash the whole body (unlike nipto, washing one part, such as the feet or hands).
- χρείανchreian· need
Need; what is lacking.
- καθαρὸςkatharos· clean, pure
Clean, pure.
- ὅλοςholos· whole, all
Whole, entire, all.
- οὐχὶouchi· not
Not (in questions that expect "yes").
- παραδιδόνταparadidonta· hand over
Hand over: put into someone else's hands; also betray, or pass on a teaching.
- ἀνέπεσενanepesen· recline
Recline, sit down to eat.
- πάλινpalin· again
Again, once more; also "in turn".
- φωνεῖτέphōneite· call, call out
Call, call out; crow (of a rooster).
- διδάσκαλοςdidaskalos· teacher
Teacher, one who teaches.
- καλῶςkalōs· well
Well, rightly.
- ὀφείλετεopheilete· ought, owe
Owe; ought, be obliged.
- ἀλλήλωνallēlōn· one another
One another, each other.
- ὑπόδειγμαhypodeigma· example
Example, a model to be imitated.