John 13

Part of The Upper Room and Farewell Discourse📖 John introduction

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¹Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He would depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. ✦ ²And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, ✦ ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had handed all things over to Him, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, ✦ ⁴*got up from supper and *laid His outer garments aside; and He took a towel and tied it around Himself. ✦ ⁵Then He *poured water into the basin, and began washing the disciples’ feet and wiping them with the towel which He had tied around Himself. ✦ ⁶So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, You are washing my feet?” ✦ ⁷Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not realize right now, but you will understand later.” ✦ ⁸Peter *said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no place with Me.” ✦ ⁹Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” ✦ ¹⁰Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet; otherwise he is completely clean. And you are clean—but not all of you.” ✦ ¹¹For He knew the one who was betraying Him; it was for this reason that He said, “Not all of you are clean.” ✦ ¹²Then, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? ✦ ¹³You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord’; and you are correct, for so I am. ✦ ¹⁴So if I, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ✦ ¹⁵For I gave you an example, so that you also would do just as I did for you. ✦ ¹⁶Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ✦ ¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. ✦ ¹⁸I am not speaking about all of you. I know the ones whom I have chosen; but this is happening so that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ ✦ ¹⁹From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it does happen, you may believe that I am He. ✦ ²⁰Truly, truly I say to you, the one who receives anyone I send, receives Me; and the one who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” ✦ ²¹When Jesus had said these things, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.” ✦ ²²The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. ✦ ²³Lying back on Jesus’ chest was one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. ✦ ²⁴So Simon Peter *nodded to this disciple and *said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” ✦ ²⁵He then simply leaned back on Jesus’ chest and *said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” ✦ ²⁶Jesus then *answered, “That man is the one for whom I shall dip the piece of bread and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the piece of bread, He *took and *gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ✦ ²⁷After this, Satan then entered him. Therefore Jesus *said to him, “What you are doing, do it quickly.” ✦ ²⁸Now none of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. ²⁹For some were assuming, since Judas kept the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we need for the feast”; or else, that he was to give something to the poor. ✦ ³⁰So after receiving the piece of bread, he left immediately; and it was night. ✦ ³¹Therefore when he had left, Jesus *said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; ✦ ³²if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately. ✦ ³³Little children, I am still with you a little longer. You will look for Me; and just as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ ✦ ³⁴I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ✦ ³⁵By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.” ✦ ³⁶Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later.” ✦ ³⁷Peter *said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You.” ✦ ³⁸Jesus *replied, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny Me three times. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Where this chapter connects

John 13 ·26 John 17 ·17 Luke 22 ·14 Matt 26 ·13 John 12 ·10 John 11 ·10 John 15 ·9 Mark 14 ·8

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 13YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 13David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 13Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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