John 5:3 NIV

The Pulpit Commentary - John 5:3-4

In these (porches) lay a multitude of sick folk, blind, lame, withered, [ waiting for the moving of the water; for an angel went down season by season into the pool, and troubled the waters: he then that first stepped in after the troubling of the water became whole of whatsoever disease he had]. £ The interesting gloss discussed below conveys the idea of magical cure, without moral significance, and attributes such cure to angelic ministry. This is the natural and popular... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 5:3

Impotent folk - Sick people; or people who were weak and feeble by long disease. The word means those who were “feeble” rather than those who were afflicted with “acute” disease.Halt - Lame.Withered - Those who were afflicted with one form of the palsy that withered or dried up the part affected. See the notes at Matthew 4:24.Moving of the water - It appears that this pool had medicinal properties only when it was “agitated” or “stirred.” It is probable that at regular times or intervals the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - John 5:2-4

John 5:2-4. Now there is at Jerusalem The Syriac seems to have read, ην , there was, as it is rendered in that version in the past time. Cyril, Chrysostom, and Theophylact favour this reading, as also does Nonnus. “If tolerably supported,” says Dr. Campbell, “it would be accounted preferable, as this gospel was written after the destruction of Jerusalem.” But if Jerusalem was destroyed, as it probably was, when St. John wrote this, it does not follow that the pool and its porticoes were... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - John 5:1-29

IN JERUSALEM AGAIN46. Healing at Bethesda and its outcome (John 5:1-29)Jesus came from Galilee to Jerusalem for a Jewish religious festival. While there he visited a pool where many blind and crippled people hoped to find healing (John 5:1-5). One of the men asked Jesus for help, not to heal him (for he did not know who Jesus was) but to assist him into the pool. Jesus responded by healing him instantly (John 5:6-9). As the healing took place on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders were anxious to... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - John 5:3

In. Greek. en. App-104 . halt = lame. Eng. from Anglo-Saxon healt = stop, be-cause of having to stop frequently from lameness. waiting . From this word to the end of John 5:4 is omitted by T Tr. A WH R, but not the Syriac (see App-94 . note 3). If it be an addition it must have been a marginal note to explain the "troubling "of John 5:7 , which gradually got into the text. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - John 5:3

In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, and withered.In these ... that is, in the five porches of the pool. This pool was a popular health resort similar to such places all over the world, from Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Mineral Wells, Texas, to Bath in Somerset, England, where the father of King Lear was reputed to have been healed of leprosy.[4]Waiting for the moving of the water: for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - John 5:3

3. impotent—infirm. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - John 5:1-9

1. The third sign: healing the paralytic 5:1-9This third sign in John’s Gospel signaled Jesus’ identity and created controversy that followed. Particularly it testified to Jesus’ authority over time. [Note: Tenney, John: The Gospel. . ., p. 312.] read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - John 5:3

Many disabled people used to lie in these porticoes because of the healing properties in the water. read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - John 5:3-4

This section of the text has doubtful authenticity. No Greek manuscript before A.D. 400 contains these words. [Note: Blum, p. 289; Tenney, "John," p. 62.] Evidently scribes added these statements later to explain the troubling of the waters that occurred periodically (John 5:7). [Note: For defense of the authenticity of John 5:4, see Zane C. Hodges, "The Angel at Bethesda-John 5:4," Bibliotheca Sacra 136:541 (January-March 1979):25-39.] However these scribal explanations seem superstitious.... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - John 5:3-4

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - John 5:3

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - John 5:2-4

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - John 5:1-29

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - John 5:3

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - John 5:3

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - John 5:3

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - John 5:1-9

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - John 5:3

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - John 5:3-4

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