John 13:14

Christian Standard Bible ®

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

Parallel Translations

King James Version (1611)
If I then your Lord and Master haue washed your feete, yee also ought to wash one anothers feete.

King James Version
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

English Standard Version
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

New American Standard Bible
"So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

New Century Version
If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other's feet.

Amplified Bible
"So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet as well.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Legacy Standard Bible
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Berean Standard Bible
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.

Contemporary English Version
And if your Lord and teacher has washed your feet, you should do the same for each other.

Complete Jewish Bible
Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other's feet.

Darby Translation
If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet;

Easy-to-Read Version
I am your Lord and Teacher. But I washed your feet. So you also should wash each other's feet.

Geneva Bible (1587)
If I then your Lorde, and Master, haue washed your feete, ye also ought to wash one an others feete.

George Lamsa Translation
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, how much more should you wash one another''s feet?

Good News Translation
I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another's feet.

Lexham English Bible
If then I—your Lord and Teacher—wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Literal Translation
If then I washed your feet, the Lord and the Teacher, you also ought to wash the feet of one another.

American Standard Version
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

Bible in Basic English
If then I, the Lord and the Master, have made your feet clean, it is right for you to make one another's feet clean.

Hebrew Names Version
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

International Standard Version
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another's feet.Luke 22:27; Romans 12:10; Galatians 6:1-2; 1 Peter 5:5;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
If I then, your Lord and your Master, have washed for you your feet, how much more ought you to wash the feet of one another ?

Murdock Translation
If then I, your Lord and your Rabbi, have washed your feet, how much more ought ye to wash the feet of one another?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
If I then your Lorde and Maister, haue wasshed your feete, ye also ought to wasshe one anothers feete.

English Revised Version
If I then, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

World English Bible
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet.

Weymouth's New Testament
If I then, your Master and Rabbi, have washed your feet, it is also your duty to wash one another's feet.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor if Y, lord and maistir, haue waischun youre feet, and ye schulen waische oon anothers feet;

Update Bible Version
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Webster's Bible Translation
If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

New English Translation
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another's feet.

New King James Version
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

New Living Translation
And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other's feet.

New Life Bible
I am your Teacher and Lord. I have washed your feet. You should wash each other's feet also.

New Revised Standard
So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
If then, I, have washed your feet, - I The Lord, and, The Teacher, ye also, ought to wash, one another's, feet;

Douay-Rheims Bible
If then I being your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

Revised Standard Version
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
If I then youre Lorde and master have wesshed youre fete ye also ought to wesshe one anothers fete.

Young's Literal Translation
if then I did wash your feet -- the Lord and the Teacher -- ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yf I then youre LORDE and master haue wasshen youre fete, ye ought also to wash one anothers fete.

Mace New Testament (1729)
if I then, tho' lord and master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.

THE MESSAGE
Washing His Disciples' Feet Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that the time had come to leave this world to go to the Father. Having loved his dear companions, he continued to love them right to the end. It was suppertime. The Devil by now had Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, firmly in his grip, all set for the betrayal. Jesus knew that the Father had put him in complete charge of everything, that he came from God and was on his way back to God. So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, drying them with his apron. When he got to Simon Peter, Peter said, "Master, you wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You don't understand now what I'm doing, but it will be clear enough to you later." Peter persisted, "You're not going to wash my feet—ever!" Jesus said, "If I don't wash you, you can't be part of what I'm doing." "Master!" said Peter. "Not only my feet, then. Wash my hands! Wash my head!" Jesus said, "If you've had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you're clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene. So now you're clean. But not every one of you." (He knew who was betraying him. That's why he said, "Not every one of you.") After he had finished washing their feet, he took his robe, put it back on, and went back to his place at the table. Then he said, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You address me as ‘Teacher' and ‘Master,' and rightly so. That is what I am. So if I, the Master and Teacher, washed your feet, you must now wash each other's feet. I've laid down a pattern for you. What I've done, you do. I'm only pointing out the obvious. A servant is not ranked above his master; an employee doesn't give orders to the employer. If you understand what I'm telling you, act like it—and live a blessed life. "I'm not including all of you in this. I know precisely whom I've selected, so as not to interfere with the fulfillment of this Scripture: The one who ate bread at my table Turned on his heel against me. "I'm telling you all this ahead of time so that when it happens you will believe that I am who I say I am. Make sure you get this right: Receiving someone I send is the same as receiving me, just as receiving me is the same as receiving the One who sent me." After he said these things, Jesus became visibly upset, and then he told them why. "One of you is going to betray me." The disciples looked around at one another, wondering who on earth he was talking about. One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved dearly, was reclining against him, his head on his shoulder. Peter motioned to him to ask who Jesus might be talking about. So, being the closest, he said, "Master, who?" Jesus said, "The one to whom I give this crust of bread after I've dipped it." Then he dipped the crust and gave it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. As soon as the bread was in his hand, Satan entered him. "What you must do," said Jesus, "do. Do it and get it over with." No one around the supper table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas was their treasurer, Jesus was telling him to buy what they needed for the Feast, or that he should give something to the poor. Judas, with the piece of bread, left. It was night. When he had left, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is seen for who he is, and God seen for who he is in him. The moment God is seen in him, God's glory will be on display. In glorifying him, he himself is glorified—glory all around! "Children, I am with you for only a short time longer. You are going to look high and low for me. But just as I told the Jews, I'm telling you: ‘Where I go, you are not able to come.' "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other." Simon Peter asked, "Master, just where are you going?" Jesus answered, "You can't now follow me where I'm going. You will follow later." "Master," said Peter, "why can't I follow now? I'll lay down my life for you!" "Really? You'll lay down your life for me? The truth is that before the rooster crows, you'll deny me three times."

Simplified Cowboy Version
A good cowboy watches the Boss and does what he does. If he ain't above washin' someone's feet, then neither are y'all.

Contextual Overview

¹Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray him. ³Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. ⁴So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. ⁵Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.” ⁸“You will never wash my feet,” Peter said. ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” ¹⁰“One who has bathed,”

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I then: Matthew 20:26-28, Mark 10:43-45, Luke 22:26, Luke 22:27, 2 Corinthians 8:9, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 5:8, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 12:2

ye also: Acts 20:35, Romans 12:10, Romans 12:16, Romans 15:1-3, 1 Corinthians 8:13, 1 Corinthians 9:19-22, 2 Corinthians 10:1, Galatians 5:13, Galatians 6:1, Galatians 6:2, Philippians 2:2-5, 1 Peter 4:1, 1 Peter 5:5

Reciprocal: Judges 19:21 - they washed 2 Samuel 11:11 - my lord 2 Kings 3:11 - poured water Psalms 85:13 - shall set Psalms 108:9 - Moab Matthew 23:8 - one Matthew 23:11 - General Mark 10:45 - came Mark 14:45 - Master Romans 1:1 - a servant 2 Corinthians 4:5 - and

Cross-References

Genesis 13:10
Lot looked out and saw that the entire plain of the Jordan as far as Zoar was well watered everywhere like the Lord’s garden and the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)

Genesis 28:14
Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out toward the west, the east, the north, and the south. All the peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.

Deuteronomy 3:27
Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west, north, south, and east, and see it with your own eyes, for you will not cross the Jordan.

Isaiah 49:18
Look up, and look around.They all gather together; they come to you.As I live”—

Isaiah 60:4
Raise your eyes and look around:they all gather and come to you;your sons will come from far away,and your daughters on the hips of nannies.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

If I then your Lord and Master,.... Christ argues from these titles and characters, which his disciples rightly gave him, and from what he had done to them, though he stood in such a superior relation to them, to their duty one towards another; that since, says he, I

have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet: by which he does not mean barely, that they should perform this single action; but as this was an instance of humility and condescension, and doing a good office to strangers and travellers, and was afterwards an expression of love to the saints, see 1 Timothy 5:10, so he would teach them hereby, to behave in a spirit of humility and condescension to one another, to do every kind and good office, and by love to serve one another in all things.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ye also ought to wash ... - Some have understood this literally as instituting a religious rite which we ought to observe; but this was evidently not the design; because:

1. There is no evidence that Jesus intended it as a religious observance, like the Lord’s Supper or the ordinance of baptism.
2. It was not observed by the apostles or the primitive Christians as a religious rite.
3. It was a rite of hospitality among the Jews, a common, well-known thing, and performed by servants.
4. It is the manifest design of Jesus here to inculcate a lesson of humility; to teach them by his example that they ought to condescend to the most humble offices for the benefit of others. They ought not to be proud, and vain, and unwilling to occupy a low place, but to regard themselves as the servants of each other, and as willing to befriend each other in every way. And especially as they were to be founders of the church, and to be greatly honored, he took this occasion of warning them against the dangers of ambition, and of teaching them, by an example that they could not forget, the duty of humility.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse John 13:14. Ye also ought to wash one another feet. — That is, ye should be ready, after my example, to condescend to all the weakness of your brethren; to be willing to do the meanest offices for them, and to prefer the least of them in honour to yourselves.