“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am on my way, someone else goes in before me.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, another steps down before me.”
- KJV The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
- NKJV The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
- NASB The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
- NLT “I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.”
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
The man explained he had no one to help him into the pool in time. His answer reveals years of frustrated helplessness.
Overview
The man's reply shows he is fixed on the only means of healing he knows, the stirred water, and on his lack of help. He does not yet grasp who is standing before him. His plight magnifies the grace of Jesus, who needs no pool but heals by his word.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Ps 72:12For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- 1 Cor 9:24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way as to take the prize.
- Deut 32:36For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.
- Ps 142:4Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul.
- 2 Cor 1:8–10We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.
- Rom 5:6For at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.
- John 5:3On these walkways lay a great number of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 5:7 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.