Yohanes 1:15

1:15 John ¹  testified ²  about him and shouted out, ³  “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, ⁴  because he existed before me.’”

Yohanes 18:1

Betrayal and Arrest

18:1 When he had said these things, ⁵  Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley. ⁶  There was an orchard ⁷  there, and he and his disciples went into it.

Yohanes 18:38

18:38 Pilate asked, ⁸  “What is truth?” ⁹ 

When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders ¹⁰  and announced, ¹¹  “I find no basis for an accusation ¹²  against him.

[1:15]  ¹ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[1:15]  ² tn Or “bore witness.”

[1:15]  ³ tn Grk “and shouted out saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant is English and has not been translated.

[1:15]  ⁴ tn Or “has a higher rank than I.”

[18:1]  ⁵ sn When he had said these things appears to be a natural transition at the end of the Farewell Discourse (the farewell speech of Jesus to his disciples in John 13:31-17:26, including the final prayer in 17:1-26). The author states that Jesus went out with his disciples, a probable reference to their leaving the upper room where the meal and discourse described in chaps. 13-17 took place (although some have seen this only as a reference to their leaving the city, with the understanding that some of the Farewell Discourse, including the concluding prayer, was given en route, cf. 14:31). They crossed the Kidron Valley and came to a garden, or olive orchard, identified in Matt 26:36 and Mark 14:32 as Gethsemane. The name is not given in Luke’s or John’s Gospel, but the garden must have been located somewhere on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives.

[18:1]  ⁶ tn Grk “the wadi of the Kidron,” or “the ravine of the Kidron” (a wadi is a stream that flows only during the rainy season and is dry during the dry season).

[18:1]  ⁷ tn Or “a garden.”

[18:38]  ⁸ tn Grk “Pilate said.”

[18:38]  ⁹ sn With his reply “What is truth?” Pilate dismissed the matter. It is not clear what Pilate’s attitude was at this point, as in 18:33. He may have been sarcastic, or perhaps somewhat reflective. The author has not given enough information in the narrative to be sure. Within the narrative, Pilate’s question serves to make the reader reflect on what truth is, and that answer (in the narrative) has already been given (14:6).

[18:38]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12. The term also occurs in v. 31, where it is clear the Jewish leaders are in view, because they state that they cannot legally carry out an execution. Although it is likely (in view of the synoptic parallels) that the crowd here in 18:38 was made up not just of the Jewish leaders, but of ordinary residents of Jerusalem and pilgrims who were in Jerusalem for the Passover, nevertheless in John’s Gospel Pilate is primarily in dialogue with the leadership of the nation, who are expressly mentioned in 18:35 and 19:6.

[18:38]  ¹¹ tn Grk “said to them.”

[18:38]  ¹² tn Grk “find no cause.”