For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
Parallel translations
- WEB For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said, “You are not all clean.”
- BSB For He knew who would betray Him. That is why He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
- NKJV For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
- NASB For He knew the one who was betraying Him; it was for this reason that He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
- NLT For Jesus knew who would betray him. That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
John explains that Jesus said 'not all clean' because He knew His betrayer. It exposes Judas as outwardly present but inwardly unclean.
Overview
Jesus' knowledge of Judas underscores His divine omniscience and His sovereign awareness of the betrayal to come. Judas's outward association with Christ did not make him clean within. The verse warns that nearness to Jesus and religious appearance are no substitute for genuine, cleansing faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- John 13:26Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
- John 13:18I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
- John 13:21When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
- John 13:2And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;
- John 6:64–71But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
- Matt 26:24–25The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.
- John 2:25And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
- John 17:12While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 13:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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