John 20:5

5 He bent over and looked inside the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there but didn't go inside.

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 So Peter and the other disciple headed for the tomb.

4 The two were running side by side, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first.

5 He bent over and looked inside the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there but didn't go inside.

6 Simon Peter arrived after him and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there.

7 He also saw the cloth that had been on Jesus' head. It wasn't lying with the strips of linen but was rolled up separately.