John 20:5

5 And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying: but yet he went not 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 Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple: and they came to the sepulchre.

4 And they both ran together: and that other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulchre.

5 And when he stooped down, he saw the linen cloths lying: but yet he went not in.

6 Then cometh Simon Peter, following him, and went into the sepulchre: and saw the linen cloths lying,

7 And the napkin that had been about his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but apart, wrapped up into one place.