John 13:7

Bible in Basic English

And Jesus, answering, said to him, What I do is not clear to you now, but it will be clear to you in time to come.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”

King James Version (1611)
Iesus answered, and said vnto him, What I doe, thou knowest not now: but thou shalt know heereafter.

King James Version
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

English Standard Version
Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."

New American Standard Bible
Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not realize right now, but you will understand later."

New Century Version
Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later."

Amplified Bible
Jesus replied to him, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but you will [fully] understand it later."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter."

Legacy Standard Bible
Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not realize now, but you will understand afterwards."

Berean Standard Bible
Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

Contemporary English Version
Jesus answered, "You don't really know what I am doing, but later you will understand."

Complete Jewish Bible
Yeshua answered him, "You don't understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand."

Darby Translation
Jesus answered and said to him, What I do thou dost not know now, but thou shalt know hereafter.

Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus answered, "You don't know what I am doing now. But later you will understand."

Geneva Bible (1587)
Iesus answered and sayd vnto him, What I doe, thou knowest not nowe: but thou shalt knowe it hereafter.

George Lamsa Translation
Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, you do not know now, but later you will understand.

Good News Translation
Jesus answered him, "You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later."

Lexham English Bible
Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will understand after these things."

Literal Translation
Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing, you do not yet know. But you will know after these things.

American Standard Version
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter.

Hebrew Names Version
Yeshua answered him, "You don't know what I am doing now, but you will understand later."

International Standard Version
Jesus answered him, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later on you will understand."John 13:12;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
Jeshu answered and said to him, What I do, thou knowest not now; but afterward thou shalt know.

Murdock Translation
Jesus answered, and said to him: What I do, thou understandest not now: but hereafter thou wilt understand.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Iesus aunswered, & sayde vnto hym: What I do, thou wotest not nowe, but thou shalt knowe hereafter.

English Revised Version
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter.

World English Bible
Jesus answered him, "You don't know what I am doing now, but you will understand later."

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
Jesus answered and said to him, What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

Weymouth's New Testament
"What I am doing," answered Jesus, "for the present you do not know, but afterwards you shall know."

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Jhesus answerde, and seide to hym, What Y do, thou wost not now; but thou schalt wite aftirward.

Update Bible Version
Jesus answered and said to him, What I do you don't know now; but you shall understand hereafter.

Webster's Bible Translation
Jesus answered and said to him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

New English Translation
Jesus replied, "You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things."

New King James Version
Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this."

New Living Translation
Jesus replied, "You don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will."

New Life Bible
Jesus answered him, "You do not understand now what I am doing but you will later."

New Revised Standard
Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand."

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Jesus answered, and said unto him - What, I, am doing, thou, knowest not, as yet; howbeit, thou shalt got to know, hereafter.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Jesus answered and said to him: What I do, thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

Revised Standard Version
Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand."

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
Iesus answered and sayde vnto him: what I do thou wotest not now but thou shalt knowe herafter.

Young's Literal Translation
Jesus answered and said to him, `That which I do thou hast not known now, but thou shalt know after these things;'

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Iesus answered and sayde vnto him: What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt knowe it herafter.

Mace New Testament (1729)
Jesus answered him, you don't at present comprehend what I am about: but hereafter you shall.

THE MESSAGE
Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later."

Simplified Cowboy Version
Jesus looked up and said, "You don't understand what I'm doing right now, but one day you will."

Contextual Overview

¹ Now before the feast of the Passover, it was clear to Jesus that the time had come for him to go away from this world to the Father. Having once had love for those in the world who were his, his love for them went on to the end. ² So while a meal was going on, the Evil One having now put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to be false to him, ³ Jesus, being conscious that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God, ⁴ Got up from table, put off his robe and took a cloth and put it round him. ⁵ Then he put water into a basin and was washing the feet of the disciples and drying them with the cloth which was round him. ⁶ So he came to Simon Peter. Peter said, Lord, are my feet to be washed by you? ⁷ And Jesus, answering, said to him, What I do is not clear to you now, but it will be clear to you in time to come. ⁸ Peter said, I will never let my feet be washed by you, never. Jesus said in answer, If I do not make you clean you have no part with me. ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but my hands and my head. ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, He who is bathed has need only to have his feet washed and then he is clean all over: and you, my disciples, are clean, but not all of you.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: John 13:10-12, John 12:16, John 14:26, Jeremiah 32:24, Jeremiah 32:25, Jeremiah 32:43, Daniel 12:8, Daniel 12:12, Habakkuk 2:1-3, James 5:7-11

Reciprocal: Genesis 37:33 - evil beast Psalms 18:9 - darkness Psalms 89:39 - void Isaiah 45:15 - a God Jeremiah 13:2 - according Matthew 3:15 - Suffer John 13:12 - Know

Cross-References

Genesis 10:19
Their country stretching from Zidon to Gaza, in the direction of Gerar; and to Lasha, in the direction of Sodom and Gomorrah and Admah and Zeboiim.

Genesis 12:6
And Abram went through the land till he came to Shechem, to the holy tree of Moreh. At that time, the Canaanites were still living in the land.

Genesis 13:14
And the Lord had said to Abram, after Lot was parted from him, From this place where you are take a look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west:

Genesis 13:15
For all the land which you see I will give to you and to your seed for ever.

Genesis 13:18
And Abram, moving his tent, came and made his living-place by the holy tree of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and made an altar there to the Lord.

Genesis 21:25
But Abraham made a protest to Abimelech because of a water-hole which Abimelech's servants had taken by force.

Genesis 26:20
But the herdmen of Gerar had a fight with Isaac's herdmen, for they said, The spring is ours: so he gave the spring the name of Esek, because there was a fight about it.

Genesis 34:30
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, You have made trouble for me and given me a bad name among the people of this country, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and because we are small in number they will come together against me and make war on me; and it will be the end of me and all my people.

Exodus 2:17
And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away; but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them.

Nehemiah 5:9
And I said, What you are doing is not good: is it not the more necessary for you to go in the fear of our God, because of the shame which the nations may put on us?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Jesus answered and said unto him,.... Christ replies,

what I do, thou knowest not now: Peter knew that he was about to wash his feet, and the rest of his disciples, but he did not know the meaning and mystery of it, what Christ designed by it, and what instruction they were to receive from it,

but thou shalt know hereafter; as he did, when he had performed this service, and explained it to him. This may teach us, under dark providences, the meaning of which is not yet known by us, to wait the Lord's own time, to make things clear and plain to us, and in the mean time patiently submit to the divine will.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thou knowest not now - Though he saw the action of Jesus, yet he did not fully understand the design of it. It was a symbolical action, inculcating a lesson of humility, and intended to teach it to them in such a manner that it would be impossible for them ever to forget it. Had he simply commanded them to be humble, it would have been far less forcible and impressive than when they saw him actually performing the office of a servant.

Shalt know hereafter - Jesus at that time partially explained it John 13:14-15; but he was teaching them by this expressive act a lesson which they would continue to learn all their lives. Every day they would see more and more the necessity of humility and of kindness to each other, and would see that they were the servants of Christ and of the church, and ought not to aspire to honors and offices, but to be willing to perform the humblest service to benefit the world. And we may remark here that God often does things which we do not fully understand now, but which we may hereafter. He often afflicts us; he disappoints us; he frustrates our plans. Why it is we do not know now, but we yet shall learn that it was for our good, and designed to teach us some important lesson of humility and piety. So he will, in heaven, scatter all doubts, remove all difficulties, and show us the reason of the whole of his mysterious dealings in his leading us in the way to our future rest. We ought also, in view of this, to submit ourselves to him; to hush every murmur, and to believe that he does all things well. It is one evidence of piety when we are willing to receive affliction at the hand of God, the reason of which we cannot see, content with the belief that we may see it hereafter; or, even if we never do, still having so much confidence in God as to believe that what He does is right.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 13:7. What I do thou knowest not now, &c.] As if our Lord had said, Permit me to do it now, and I will shortly explain to you the nature of this action, and my motives for doing it.

Thou shalt know hereafter. — μετα ταυτα, after this business is finished. And so we find he explained the whole to them, as soon as he had finished the washing: see John 13:12-17. I cannot think that this refers to any particular instruction received on this head after the day of pentecost, as some have conjectured.