John 20:5

5 And bending over to look, he saw the [strips of] linen cloth lying there, though he 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 Peter and the other disciple went out and were going to the tomb.

4 And the two were running together, and the other disciple ran ahead, faster than Peter, and came to the tomb first.

5 And bending over to look, he saw the [strips of] linen cloth lying there, though he did not go in.

6 Then Simon Peter also came following him, and he went into the tomb and saw the [strips of] linen cloth lying there,

7 and the facecloth that was on his head--not lying with the [strips of] linen cloth, but folded up separately in one place.