John 5:3

3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.^[a]

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John 5:3 in Other Translations

KJV

3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

ESV

3 In these lay a multitude of invalids--blind, lame, and paralyzed.

NLT

3 Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches.

MSG

3 Hundreds of sick people - blind, crippled, paralyzed - were in these alcoves.

CSB

3 Within these lay a multitude of the sick-blind, lame, and paralyzed [-waiting for the moving of the water,

John 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

John 5:3

In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk
Sick and weak persons; who were an emblem of men under the law of works, and in a state of unregeneracy; who are enfeebled by sin, and are impotent and unable to do anything of themselves; as to keep the law of God, to which they have neither will nor power, and to atone for the transgressions of it; nor to redeem themselves from the curse of the law or to begin and carry on a work of grace upon their souls; or to do anything that is spiritually good; no, not to think a good thought, or to do a good action, as is required:

of blind;
these also may represent men a state of nature, who are ignorant of, and blind to everything that is spiritual; as to the true knowledge of God in Christ, the way of salvation by him, the plague of their own hearts, and the exceeding sinfulness of sin; to the Spirit of God, and his work upon the soul; and to the truths of the Gospel, in the power of them:

halt,
or "lame"; this word sometimes is used of persons in suspense about religious things, hesitating concerning them, halting between two opinions; and sometimes designs the infirmities of the saints, and their faulterings in religious exercises; and here maybe expressive in a figurative way, of the incapacity natural men, to go or walk of themselves; as to come to Christ for grace and life, which no man can do, except the Father draw him; or to walk by faith in him: it is added,

withered;
one limb or another of them dried up: their arms or legs were withered, and their sinews shrunk, and were without radical moisture, or the free use of the animal spirits; and may point out carnal persons, such as are sensual, not having the Spirit, destitute of the grace of God, without faith, hope, love, knowledge, and the fear of God; without God, Christ, and the Spirit; and in a lifeless, helpless, hopeless, and perishing condition:

waiting for the moving of the water;
hereafter mentioned: and so it is in providence, and a wonderful thing it is, that the hearts of so many unregenerate persons should be inclined to attend upon the outward means of grace, and should be waiting at Wisdom's gates, and watching at the posts of her door.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

John 5:3 In-Context

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

Footnotes 1

[a]. Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, "paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters." 4"From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had."