Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was near.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
- KJV And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
- NKJV Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was near.
- NASB Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
- NLT (It was nearly time for the Jewish Passover celebration.)
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 Passover feast was near. This note connects the feeding miracle to themes of redemption and the bread of life.
Overview
John mentions the approaching Passover, the feast commemorating Israel's deliverance and the Passover lamb. This timing enriches the meaning of the coming sign and Jesus' bread of life discourse. It points to Christ as the true Passover Lamb who gives himself for the life of the world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- John 2:13When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
- John 11:55Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.
- John 5:1Some time later there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
- Deut 16:1Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
- Lev 23:7On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly; you are not to do any regular work.
- John 13:1It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end.
- John 12:1Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.
- Lev 23:5The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
- Exod 12:6–14You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 6:4 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.