John 20:5

5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not 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 Then Kefa and the other talmid started for the tomb.
4 They both ran, but the other talmid outran Kefa and reached the tomb first.
5 Stooping down, he saw the linen burial-sheets lying there but did not go in.
6 Then, following him, Shim`on Kefa arrived, entered the tomb and saw the burial-sheets lying there,
7 also the cloth that had been around his head, lying not with the sheets but in a separate place and still folded up.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.