John 13:4
New International Version
so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

New Living Translation
So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,

English Standard Version
rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

Berean Standard Bible
So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.

Berean Literal Bible
He rises from the supper and lays aside the garments. And having taken a towel, He girded Himself.

King James Bible
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

New King James Version
rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

New American Standard Bible
got up from supper and laid His outer garments aside; and He took a towel and tied it around Himself.

NASB 1995
got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

NASB 1977
rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about.

Legacy Standard Bible
got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He tied it around Himself.

Amplified Bible
got up from supper, took off His [outer] robe, and taking a [servant’s] towel, He tied it around His waist.

Christian Standard Bible
So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself.

American Standard Version
riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he took a towel, and girded himself.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
He arose from supper and put off his robe and took a towel and tied it around his waist.

Contemporary English Version
So during the meal Jesus got up, removed his outer garment, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments, and having taken a towel, girded himself.

English Revised Version
riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he took a towel, and girded himself.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So he got up from the table, removed his outer clothes, took a towel, and tied it around his waist.

Good News Translation
So he rose from the table, took off his outer garment, and tied a towel around his waist.

International Standard Version
therefore he got up from the table, removed his outer robe, and took a towel and fastened it around his waist.

Literal Standard Version
rises from the dinner, and lays down His garments, and having taken a towel, He girded Himself;

Majority Standard Bible
So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.

New American Bible
he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist.

NET Bible
he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself.

New Revised Standard Version
got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

New Heart English Bible
arose from the meal, and removed his outer garments. He took a towel, and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Webster's Bible Translation
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

Weymouth New Testament
rose from the table, threw off His upper garments, and took a towel and tied it round Him.

World English Bible
arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist.

Young's Literal Translation
doth rise from the supper, and doth lay down his garments, and having taken a towel, he girded himself;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
3Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. 4So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist. 5After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.…

Cross References
2 Kings 3:11
But Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there no prophet of the LORD here? Let us inquire of the LORD through him." And one of the servants of the king of Israel answered, "Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on the hands of Elijah."

Luke 12:37
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds on watch when he returns. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve and will have them recline at the table, and he himself will come and wait on them.

Luke 17:8
Instead, won't he tell him, 'Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink'?

John 13:12
When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again and asked, "Do you know what I have done for you?

1 John 3:11
This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.


Treasury of Scripture

He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

laid aside.

Luke 12:37
Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.

Luke 17:7
But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat?

Luke 22:27
For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

Jump to Previous
Cloth Clothing Garments Girded Laid Lay Meal Outer Rise Rises Riseth Robe Rose Round Supper Table Threw Tied Towel Upper Waist Wrapped
Jump to Next
Cloth Clothing Garments Girded Laid Lay Meal Outer Rise Rises Riseth Robe Rose Round Supper Table Threw Tied Towel Upper Waist Wrapped
John 13
1. Jesus washes the disciples' feet, and exhorts them to humility and charity.
18. He foretells and discovers to John by a token, that Judas should betray him;
31. commands them to love one another;
36. and forewarns Peter of his denials.














(4) He riseth from supper, and laid aside' his garments.--Comp. Notes on Luke 22 et seq. We there read of "a strife among them which of them should be accounted the greatest." It is placed by St. Luke after the Supper; but our Lord's words, "I am among you as he that serveth," point almost certainly to a connection with this parabolic act. There had been, we may well think, some self-assertion in acts or omissions, which He by His act rebukes. They may have claimed, each above his brother, the place of honour at the table, or it may be that no one had offered the customary refreshment of water for the feet, before sitting down to meat (Luke 7:44). "We cannot say what was the immediate cause which suggested His act, but if we attempt to realise the whole scene, we must believe that there was in the disciples themselves some such cause. The garment laid aside would be the outer garment, which would impede His action, leaving the tunic, which was the ordinary dress of a servant.

And took a towel, and girded himself.--This was itself a mark of the servant's position, and was meant to signify His assumption of the servant's work. The successive minute details of this picture carry with them their own authenticity.

Verses 4, 5 - Commentators differ as to the motive which induced our Lord to perform this menial act, to adopt the gesture, girding, and duties of the δοῦλος, to divest himself of his ἱμάτια or upper garments, and to appear and veritably to act as a slave. Strauss regards it as a mythical representation of one of our Lord's discourses on humility. Lange, with much pertinence, believes it to correspond to the pain, which he manifested, at the very last Supper, with the unseemly contest for pre-eminence among the apostles (cf. Luke 22:27, "Whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? I am among you as he that serveth"). Others, like Meyer, see no such reference, and require the presence of no such motive. It is remarkable that at such a season this dispute could have arisen at all. I-laving undoubtedly broken out on more than one occasion, our Lord chose the midst of this feast, when we learn from other sources there was such an outbreak, for this emphatic revelation of the royalty of service. Wunsche ('Erl.,' p. 550) says that both "before" and "alter" the Passover festival it was customary, in order to demonstrate the equality and liberty of the guests, to practice mutual interchanges of the ordinary menial service of hand-washing ('Pesachin,' fol. 108). In this verse every sentence is a distinct picture. He riseth from the supper, and layeth down his upper garments, and when he had taken a towel, he girded himself (Edersheim and Wunsche both give proof that the Talmud repeatedly Grecizes the word here rendered "towel," λέντιον, "linen cloth," by the word lentith or alen-tith) after the fashion of the humblest slave; then he poureth water into the washing-basin (νιπτῆρα), the article of furniture in the room ("Nihil ministerii omittit," says Grotius. Thus he discharges every part of the duty, while the disciples wonder at the new revelation). And he began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Westcott refers to the rabbinic commentators on Ezekiel 16:9, "Among men, the slave washes his master, but with God it is not so." So then the inversion of all human social relations forced on John's mind the deep truth that we are here face to face with the Divine - with the Divine-human. John here strains his words to give some conception of what passed in his own mind when he saw our Lord's face, and witnessed this great revelation of his character. Though this evangelist did not record the "Transfiguration," there were moments in Christ's history which produced a still pro-founder impression upon him, and in which he veritably saw the glory of the Only Begotten of God in his Master's form. On this occasion the highest conception of his Divine Personality, origin, and destiny, was blended with the deepest descent of the Lord's entire humanity to the level of weakness, pollution, and sin. The greatest manifestation of God was in the revelation of the exceeding limits, the infinite depth, which love could compass. We may see a little farther on what were the special steps our Lord took to give this sense of love "to the uttermost" on the part of him to whom all the universe had been entrusted, who had come from, and was going back to, the Father.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[So] He got up
ἐγείρεται (egeiretai)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1453: (a) I wake, arouse, (b) I raise up. Probably akin to the base of agora; to waken, i.e. Rouse.

from
ἐκ (ek)
Preposition
Strong's 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out.

the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

supper,
δείπνου (deipnou)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Singular
Strong's 1173: A dinner, an afternoon or evening meal. From the same as dapane; dinner, i.e. The chief meal.

laid aside
τίθησιν (tithēsin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5087: To put, place, lay, set, fix, establish. A prolonged form of a primary theo to place.

[His]
τὰ (ta)
Article - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

outer garments,
ἱμάτια (himatia)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Plural
Strong's 2440: A long flowing outer garment, tunic. Neuter of a presumed derivative of ennumi; a dress.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

wrapped
διέζωσεν (diezōsen)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1241: To gird, tie around; mid: I gird round myself. From dia and zonnumi; to gird tightly.

a towel
λέντιον (lention)
Noun - Accusative Neuter Singular
Strong's 3012: A towel, apron, coarse cloth. Of Latin origin; a 'linen' cloth, i.e. Apron.

{around} His {waist}.
ἑαυτόν (heauton)
Reflexive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1438: Himself, herself, itself.


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NT Gospels: John 13:4 Arose from supper and laid aside his (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 13:3
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