John 5:6

6 Jesus, [when he] saw this one lying [there] and knew that he had [been sick] a long time already, said to him, "Do you want to become well?"

John 5:6 Meaning and Commentary

John 5:6

When Jesus saw him lie
In such a helpless condition:

and knew that he had been now a long time, [in that case],
or "in his disease", as the Ethiopic version supplies; even seven years before Christ was born; which is a proof of his omniscience: the words may be literally rendered, as they are in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, "that he had had much time"; or as the Arabic version, "that he had had many years"; that is had lived many years, and was now an old man; he had his disorder eight and thirty years, and which seems from ( John 5:14 ) to have arisen from some sin of his, from a vicious course of living, perhaps intemperance; so that he might be a middle aged man, when this distemper first seized him, and therefore must be now stricken in years:

he saith unto him, wilt thou be made whole?
which question is put, not as if it was a doubt, whether he was desirous of it, or not; for to what purpose did he lie and wait there else? but partly to raise in the man an expectation of a cure, and attention in the people to it: and it may be his sense and meaning is, wilt thou be made whole on this day, which was the sabbath; or hast thou faith that thou shall be made whole in this way, or by me?

John 5:6 In-Context

5 And a certain man was there who had [been] thirty-eight years in his sickness.

6 Jesus, [when he] saw this one lying [there] and knew that he had [been sick] a long time already, said to him, "Do you want to become well?"

7 The one who was sick answered him, "Sir, I do not have anyone that, whenever the water is stirred up, could put me into the pool. But {while} I am coming, another goes down before me."

8 Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!"

Footnotes

• [a] *Here "[when]" is supplied as a component of the participle ("saw") which is understood as temporal
• [b] *The phrase "[been sick]" is not in the Greek text, but is supplied from the context