John 20:5

5 Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn't go in.

John 20:5 Meaning and Commentary

John 20:5

And he stooping down and looking in
That is, John; when he came to the sepulchre, stooped down to look into it, and see what he could see; he only went into the court, or stood upon the floor, where the bearers used to set down the bier, before they put the corpse into one of the graves in the sepulchre, which were four cubits lower; (See Gill on Mark 16:5). Hence he was obliged to stoop down, ere he could see anything within: when he

saw the linen clothes lying;
in which the body had been wrapped, but that itself not there:

yet went he not in;
to the sepulchre itself, but waited in the court or porch, till Peter came; and perhaps might be timorous and fearful of going into such a place alone; the Arabic version reads it, "he dared not go in".

John 20:5 In-Context

3 Peter and the other disciple left to go to the tomb.
4 They were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and was the first to arrive at the tomb.
5 Bending down to take a look, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he didn't go in.
6 Following him, Simon Peter entered the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there.
7 He also saw the face cloth that had been on Jesus' head. It wasn't with the other clothes but was folded up in its own place.
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