John 5:12

THE MESSAGE

They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’

King James Version (1611)
Then asked they him, What man is that which said vnto thee, Take vp thy bed, and walke?

King James Version
Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

English Standard Version
They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk'?"

New American Standard Bible
They asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, 'Pick it up and walk'?"

New Century Version
Then they asked him, "Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?"

Amplified Bible
They asked him, "Who is the Man who told you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?"

New American Standard Bible (1995)
They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your pallet and walk'?"

Legacy Standard Bible
They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk'?"

Berean Standard Bible
"Who is this man who told you to pick it up and walk?" they asked.

Contemporary English Version
They asked him, "Who is this man that told you to pick up your mat and walk?"

Complete Jewish Bible
They asked him, "Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?"

Darby Translation
They asked him [therefore], Who is the man who said to thee, Take up thy couch and walk?

Easy-to-Read Version
They asked him, "Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?"

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then asked they him, What man is that which said vnto thee, Take vp thy bed and walke?

George Lamsa Translation
And they asked him, Who is this man who said to you, Take up your quilt-bed, and walk?

Good News Translation
They asked him, "Who is the man who told you to do this?"

Lexham English Bible
So they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk?'"

Literal Translation
Then they asked him, Who is the man who told you, Lift up your cot and walk?

American Standard Version
They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

Bible in Basic English
Then they put to him the question: Who is the man who said to you, Take it up and go?

Hebrew Names Version
Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'?"

International Standard Version
They asked him, "Who is the man who told you, 'Pick it up and walk'?"

Etheridge Translation
And they said to him, What man is this who told thee to take up thy bed, and walk ?

Murdock Translation
And they asked him: Who is the man that said to thee, Take up thy bed and walk?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Then asked they hym: What man is that which sayde vnto thee, take vp thy bedde, and walke?

English Revised Version
They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

World English Bible
Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'?"

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Then asked they him, Who is the man that said to thee, Take up thy bed and walk?

Weymouth's New Testament
"Who is it," they asked, "that said to you, `Take up your mat and walk'?"

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor thei axiden him, What man `is that, that seide to thee, Take vp thi bed, and go?

Update Bible Version
They asked him, Who is the man that said to you, Take up [your bed], and walk?

Webster's Bible Translation
Then they asked him, What man is that who said to thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

New English Translation
They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk'?"

New King James Version
Then they asked him, "Who is the Man who said to you, "Take up your bed and walk'?"

New Living Translation
"Who said such a thing as that?" they demanded.

New Life Bible
Then the Jews asked him, "What man said to you, ‘Pick up your bed and walk' ?"

New Revised Standard
They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk'?"

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
They questioned him - Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy couch , and be walking?

Douay-Rheims Bible
They asked him therefore: Who is that man who said to thee: Take up thy bed and walk?

Revised Standard Version
They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your pallet, and walk'?"

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Then axed they him: what man is that which sayde vnto the take vp thy beed and walke.

Young's Literal Translation
they questioned him, then, `Who is the man who is saying to thee, Take up thy couch and be walking?'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Then axed they him: What man is that, which sayde vnto the: Take vp thy bed, and go yi waye?

Mace New Testament (1729)
then they asked him, who is he that said to you take up your bed and walk?

Simplified Cowboy Version
"What fellow told you that?" they shouted.

Contextual Overview

¹Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?" ⁷ The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in." ⁸Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off. That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules." But he told them, "The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.'" They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd. A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "You look wonderful! You're well! Don't return to a sinning life or something worse might happen." The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath. But Jesus defended himself. "My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I." That really set them off. The Jews were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God. So Jesus explained himself at length. "I'm telling you this straight. The Son can't independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing. "But you haven't seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father's decision to put the Son in the place of honor. "It's urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living. "It's urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment. "Don't act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment. "I can't do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide. You can trust my decision because I'm not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders. If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness. But an independent witness confirms me, the most reliable Witness of all. Furthermore, you all saw and heard John, and he gave expert and reliable testimony about me, didn't he? "But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I'm speaking to you this way so that you will be saved. John was a torch, blazing and bright, and you were glad enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light. But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John's witness. It's the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously. "You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you'll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren't willing to receive from me the life you say you want. "I'm not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God's love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God? "But don't think I'm going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won't take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?" ¹⁰Even on the Sabbath Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, "Do you want to get well?" The sick man said, "Sir, when the water is stirred, I don't have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in." Jesus said, "Get up, take your bedroll, start walking." The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off. That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, "It's the Sabbath. You can't carry your bedroll around. It's against the rules." ¹¹ But he told them, "The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.'" ¹²They asked, "Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?" But the healed man didn't know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd. ¹⁴ A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, "You look wonderful! You're well! Don't return to a sinning life or something worse might happen." ¹⁵The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: Judges 6:29, 1 Samuel 14:38, Matthew 21:23, Romans 10:2

Reciprocal: Luke 5:24 - power John 5:15 - which

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then asked they him,.... Suspecting who had made him whole, and gave him this order:

what man is that which said unto thee, take up thy bed and walk? they take no notice of the cure, being unwilling to give any glory to Christ, and still less to spread it; but chose rather that it should be obscured, hid, and unobserved; but they laid hold on that, which they thought might be improved to his reproach and scandal; and they call him a man, as supposing him to be a mere man, and a wicked man too, for giving orders to transgress a tradition of the elders, though no mere man could work such a cure as this was. And so the Jews since, though they cannot find fault with the cure, which they put an "if" upon, yet are highly displeased with the order, to take up his bed and carry it:

"if (say they a) he wrought a cure, lo, that is good, but why did he bid him take up his bed?''

the answer may be, to show that he was cured.

a Vet. Nizzachon, p. 207.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What man is he ... - In this verse there is a remarkable instance of the “perverseness” of men, of their want of candor, and of the manner in which they often look at a subject. Instead of looking at the miracle, and at the man’s statement of the manner in which he was healed, they look only at what they thought to be a violation of the law. They assumed it as certain that nothing could make his conduct, in carrying his bed on the Sabbath day, proper; and they meditated vengeance, not only on the man who was carrying his bed, but on him, also, who had told him to do it. Thus men often assume that a certain course or opinion is proper, and when anyone differs from them they look only at the difference, but not at the reasons for it. One great source of dispute among men is that they look only at the points in which they differ, but are unwilling to listen to the reasons why others do not believe as they do. It is always enough to condemn one in the eyes of a bigot that he differs from “him,” and he looks upon him who holds a different opinion, as the Jews did at this man, “as certainly wrong;” and such a bigot looks at the reasons why others differ from him just as the Jews did at the reason why this man bore his bed on the Sabbath - as not worth regarding or hearing, or as if they could not possibly be right.