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If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:14 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
  • BSB So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
  • NKJV If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
  • NASB So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
  • NLT And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.

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

Since the Lord and Teacher washed their feet, the disciples ought to wash one another's feet. It applies Jesus' example as a call to humble, mutual service.

Overview

Jesus draws the practical lesson: if the greater serves the lesser, His followers must serve one another. Whether or not literal foot-washing is practiced, the abiding principle is humble, self-giving love within the community. The verse overturns worldly notions of status, making lowly service the mark of those who follow Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • 1 Pet 5:5Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
  • Acts 20:35I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
  • Rom 12:16Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
  • Gal 5:13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
  • Luke 22:26–27But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve.
  • Mark 10:43–45But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
  • 1 Pet 4:1Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
  • Heb 5:8–9Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
  • Matt 20:26–28But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
  • 1 Cor 8:13Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.
  • Phil 2:2–8Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
  • 2 Cor 8:9For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.
  • Rom 15:1–3We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
  • Gal 6:1–2Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
  • 2 Cor 10:1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
  • 1 Cor 9:19–22For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant unto all, that I might gain the more.
  • Heb 12:2Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
  • Rom 12:10Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 13:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 13:14 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

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.