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the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Read the Bible

English Standard Version

John 5:5

One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Jesus, the Christ;   Miracles;   Sabbath;   Thompson Chain Reference - Battle of Life;   Bible Stories for Children;   Children;   Chronic Ailments;   Diseases;   Health-Disease;   Home;   Infirmities;   Miracles;   Pleasant Sunday Afternoons;   Religion;   Stories for Children;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Diseases;   Miracles of Christ, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Miracle;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - John, gospel of;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Miracle;   Sabbath;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Palsy;   Perseverance of the Saints;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Jesus Christ;   Miracles;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Disabilities and Deformities;   Diseases;   Hour;   John, the Gospel of;   Sabbath;   Sign;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Jesus Christ;   Sabbath;   World;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Bath, Bathing;   Death of Christ;   Disease;   Impotence;   John Epistles of;   Mission;   Sabbath ;   Sinners;   Water (2);   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Bethesda;   Chief parables and miracles in the bible;   Palsy;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - Jesus of Nazareth;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Bath;   Infirmity;   Johannine Theology, the;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Bethesda;  

Devotionals:

- Every Day Light - Devotion for February 1;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.
King James Version (1611)
And a certaine man was there, which had an infirmitie thirtie and eight yeeres.
King James Version
And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
New American Standard Bible
Now a man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
New Century Version
A man was lying there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Amplified Bible
There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Legacy Standard Bible
And a man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Berean Standard Bible
One man there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
Contemporary English Version
Beside the pool was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Complete Jewish Bible
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Darby Translation
But there was a certain man there who had been suffering under his infirmity thirty and eight years.
Easy-to-Read Version
One of the men lying there had been sick for 38 years.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And a certaine man was there, which had bene diseased eight and thirtie yeeres.
George Lamsa Translation
A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Good News Translation
A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Lexham English Bible
And a certain man was there who had been thirty-eight years in his sickness.
Literal Translation
But a certain man was there, being in infirmity thirty eight years.
American Standard Version
And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity.
Bible in Basic English
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Hebrew Names Version
A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
International Standard Version
One particular man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Etheridge Translation
But a certain man was there who for thirtyand-eight years had been in a disease.
Murdock Translation
And a certain man was there, who had been diseased thirty and eight years.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And a certaine man was there, which had ben diseased thirtie & eyght yeres.
English Revised Version
And a certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity.
World English Bible
A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
And a certain man was there, who had been diseased eight and thirty years.
Weymouth's New Testament
And there was one man there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And a man was there, hauynge eiyte and thritti yeer in his sikenesse.
Update Bible Version
And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity.
Webster's Bible Translation
And a certain man was there, who had an infirmity thirty and eight years.
New English Translation
Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.
New King James Version
Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years.
New Living Translation
One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years.
New Life Bible
A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
New Revised Standard
One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And there was a certain man there, who, for thirty-eight years, had continued in his sickness.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And there was a certain man there that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity.
Revised Standard Version
One man was there, who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
And a certayne ma was theare which had bene diseased .xxxviii. yeares
Young's Literal Translation
and there was a certain man there being in ailment thirty and eight years,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And there was a man, which had lyen sicke eight and thirtie yeares.
Mace New Testament (1729)
now a certain man was there, who had been sick eight and thirty years.
Simplified Cowboy Version
One man had been lying there sick for thirty-eight years.

Contextual Overview

1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. 3 In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.' " They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk'?" Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment. "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 4 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?" 5 One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healed?" 7 The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me." 8 Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk." 9 And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

thirty: John 5:14, John 9:1, John 9:21, Mark 9:21, Luke 8:43, Luke 13:16, Acts 3:2, Acts 4:22, Acts 9:33, Acts 14:8

Reciprocal: Job 13:26 - makest Psalms 25:7 - the sins Mark 5:25 - twelve Luke 5:18 - General Luke 13:11 - eighteen

Cross-References

Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."
Genesis 5:7
Seth lived after he fathered Enosh 807 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:8
Thus all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:10
Enosh lived after he fathered Kenan 815 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:11
Thus all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:12
When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.
Genesis 5:14
Thus all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.
Genesis 5:21
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
Genesis 5:22
Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.
Genesis 5:32
After Noah was 500 years old, Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And a certain man was there,.... At Bethesda's pool, in one of the five porches, or cloisters, that belonged to it:

which had an infirmity thirty and eight years; what his infirmity was, is not said; he was one of the weak, or impotent folk, for so he is called, John 5:7. Some think his distemper was the palsy, and though he had had this infirmity so many years, it is not certain that he had waited so long in this place for a cure; though it may be, for that he had attended some time, is clear from John 5:7. Nor indeed can it be known how long there had been such a preternatural motion in this pool, and such a miraculous virtue in the water; some have thought, that it began at the repairing of the sheep gate by Eliashib, in Nehemiah's time; so Tremellius and Junius, on Nehemiah 3:1; and others have thought, that it had been some few years before the birth of Christ, and about the time that this man was first taken with his disorder. Tertullian says u, that there was in Judea a medicinal lake, before Christ's time; and that the pool of Bethsaida (it should be Bethesda) was useful in curing the diseases of the Israelites; but ceased from yielding any benefit, when the name of the Lord was blasphemed by them, through their rage and fury, and continuance in it w; but in what year it began, and the precise time it ceased, he says not. The Persic version here adds, "and was reduced to such a state that he could not move".

u De Anima, c. 50. w Adv. Judaeos, c. 13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An infirmity - A weakness. We know not what his disease was. We know only that it disabled him from walking, and that it was of very long standing. It was doubtless regarded as incurable.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 5:5. Had an infirmity thirty and eight years. — St. Chrysostom conjectured that blindness was the infirmity of this person: what it was, the inspired writer does not say - probably it was a palsy: his case was deplorable - he was not able to go into the pool himself, and he had no one to help him; so that poverty and disease were here connected. The length of the time he had been afflicted makes the miracle of his cure the greater. There could have been no collusion in this case: as his affliction had lasted thirty-eight years, it must have been known to multitudes; therefore he could not be a person prepared for the occasion. All Christ's miracles have been wrought in such a way, and on such persons and occasions, as absolutely to preclude all possibility of the suspicion of imposture.


 
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