John 11:55

John 11:55 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And the Jews’ passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.
• New International Version (NIV)When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went from the country up to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

Context of John 11:55

53From that day, the Jewish leaders decided together how they could kill Jesus. 54So Jesus stopped travelling about in Judea where everyone could see him. Instead, he went away from there to a town called Ephraim that was near to the wilderness. He stayed there with his disciples. It was almost time for the Jewish Passover Festival to begin. Many people were going from their country places to Jerusalem. They were going there to make themselves clean in front of God before they went to the festival. 56They were continuing to look for Jesus. While they stood in the yard of the temple, they spoke to each other about him. They asked each other, ‘Do you think that he will come to the festival or not?’ 57The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees had spoken to the people about Jesus. They had told them, ‘If anyone knows where Jesus is, you must tell us.’ So then they could take hold of him to put him in a prison.

John 11:55 word by word

Ἦν δὲ ἐγγὺς τὸ πάσχα τῶν Ἰουδαίων, καὶ ἀνέβησαν πολλοὶ εἰς Ἱεροσόλυμα ἐκ τῆς χώρας πρὸ τοῦ πάσχα ἵνα ἁγνίσωσιν ἑαυτούς.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Andδέde · thenG1161
• the Jews’ἸουδαῖοςIoudaios · JewG2453
• passoverπάσχαpascha · Passover lambG3957
• wasεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• nigh at handἐγγύςeggus · nearG1451
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• manyπολύςpolus polos · muchG4183
• wentἀναβαίνωanabainō · to ascendG305
• out ofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
• the countryὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the countryχώραchōra · countryG5561
• up toεἰςeis · towardG1519
• JerusalemἹεροσόλυμαHierosoluma · JerusalemG2414
• beforeπρόpro · beforeG4253
• toἵναhina · in order that/toG2443
• purifyἁγνίζωhagnizō · to purifyG48
• themselvesἑαυτοῦheautou · themselfG1438

Cross-references for John 11:55

• John 2:13It was almost time for the Jewish Passover festival. So Jesus went to Jerusalem.
• John 5:1Some time after that, Jesus went to Jerusalem, because it was time for one of the Jewish festivals.
• John 6:4It was nearly the time for the Jewish Passover Festival.
• Exodus 12:11This is how you must eat the lamb: Dress yourselves so that you are ready to travel. Put your shoes on your feet. Take your stick in your hand. Then eat the food quickly. This is the Passover meal which shows that you obey me, the Lord.
• John 7:8You should go to the festival. I will not go to it now, because it is not the right time for me yet.’
• John 12:1Six days before the Passover festival, Jesus went to Bethany, the village where Lazarus lived. He was the man who had been dead, but Jesus had raised him.
• Ezra 3:1When all the people were now living in their towns, they went to meet together in Jerusalem. It was the seventh month of the year.
• Nehemiah 8:1All the people met together in the open place near the Water Gate. They asked Ezra to bring the book of the Law of Moses. The Lord had given those laws to the Israelites so that they would obey them.
• John 2:6There were six big pots there. People had used stone to make them. Each pot could contain about 100 litres of water. The water was there so that the Jews could wash themselves in the way that their special rules taught.
• Genesis 35:2So Jacob told the people in his house and everyone who was with him, ‘Throw out all the foreign idols that you have with you. Wash your body very well and put on clean clothes.
• Exodus 19:10Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to the people. Make them ready to meet with me. Today and tomorrow they must wash their clothes.
• Numbers 9:6But there were some people who were not clean. That was because they had touched a dead body. So they could not eat the Passover on that day. So they came to Moses and Aaron on that day.
• 1 Samuel 16:5Samuel replied, ‘Yes. I do not bring any trouble. I have come to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. Make yourselves clean. Then come to the sacrifice with me.’ Samuel made Jesse and his sons clean to worship the Lord. Then he took them with him to the sacrifice.
• 2 Chronicles 30:17Many of the people had not made themselves properly clean. So they could not kill their lambs for the Passover and offer them to the Lord. The Levites had to kill the lambs for those people instead.
• Job 1:5After each party, Job would ask his children to come and visit him. He wanted to make them clean again if they were guilty of bad things. He thought, ‘Perhaps they have done something that is bad. Perhaps they have thought bad things against God.’ So he would get up early in the morning. He would offer a burnt offering as a sacrifice for each of his children. Job always did this after each party that his children had.
• Psalms 26:6I wash my hands as a sign that I live in a pure way. I will worship you at your altar, Lord.

Commentaries on John 11:55

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 55The Jews' passover was nigh at hand - It is not necessary to suppose that this verse has any particular connection with the preceding. Most chronologists agree that our Lord spent at least two months in Ephraim. This was the last passover which our Lord attended; and it was at this one that he suffered death for the salvation of a lost world. As the passover was nigh, many of the inhabitants of Ephraim and its neighborhood went up to Jerusalem, some time…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 55Jews‘ passover - See the notes at Leviticus 22:1-6. For want of this, great inconvenience was sometimes experienced. See 2 Chronicles 30:17-18. Different periods were necessary in order to be cleansed from ceremonial pollution. For example, one who had been polluted by the touch of a dead body, of a sepulchre, or by the bones of the dead, was sprinkled on the third and seventh days, by a clean person, with hyssop dipped in water mixed in the ashes of the…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 54-57Verses 54-57 Before our gospel passover we must renew our repentance. Thus by a voluntary purification, and by religious exercises, many, more devout than their neighbours, spent some time before the passover at Jerusalem. When we expect to meet God, we must solemnly prepare. No devices of man can alter the purposes of God: and while hypocrites amuse themselves with forms and disputes, and worldly men pursue their own plans, Jesus still orders all things…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 55-57As crowds arrived in Jerusalem on pilgrimage for Passover (see 2:13), the city was buzzing with talk about Jesus and his miracle of raising Lazarus from the dead. People wondered if Jesus would be obedient to the law and come to the city to celebrate or play it safe in the countryside. The priests and Pharisees knew that Jesus was faithful to the law and would attend the festival, so they tried to make the city a trap for him.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55-5755-57. passover ... at hand ... many went ... up ... before the passover, to purify themselves--from any legal uncleanness which would have disqualified them from keeping the feast. This is mentioned to introduce the graphic statement which follows.Read the comment

Topics related to John 11:55

• Purification

In the dictionaries

• Jerusalem
• Awake
• Mourn
• Bethany
• Chronology of the New Testament
• Jesus Christ
• John, Gospel of
• Lazarus
• Olives, Mount of
• Passover

Commentaries on John 11

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings