John 13

Tree of Life Version

Modeling Servanthood

13 Now it was just before the feast of Passover. Yeshua knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them until the end.^[a]

² While the seder meal was happening, the devil had already put in the heart of Judah from Kriot that he should hand over Yeshua. ³ Yeshua knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. ⁴ So He gets up from the meal and lays aside His outer garment; and taking a towel, He wrapped it around His waist. ⁵ Then He pours water into a basin. He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel wrapped around Him.

⁶ Then He comes to Simon Peter, who says to Him, “Master, are You going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Yeshua responded, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.”

⁸ Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”

Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.”

⁹ Simon Peter said to Him, “Master, then not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”

¹⁰ Yeshua said to him, “He who has bathed has no need to wash, except the feet; he is completely clean. And you all are clean, though not every one.” ¹¹ He knew who was betraying Him; for this reason, He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² So after He had washed their feet and put His robe back on and reclined again, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? ¹³ You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master’—and rightly you say, for I am. ¹⁴ So if I, your Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example—you should do for each other what I have done for you.

¹⁶ “Amen, amen I tell you, a servant isn’t greater than his master, and the one who is sent isn’t greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!”

Yeshua Reveals His Betrayer

¹⁸ “I am not speaking to all of you—I know whom I have chosen. But so the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ ^{[b] 19} From now on I am telling you, before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I am. ²⁰ Amen, amen I tell you, he who receives the one I send, receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives the One who sent Me.”

²¹ After He said these things, Yeshua was agitated in spirit and testified, “Amen, amen I tell you, one of you will betray Me!”

²² The disciples began looking at each other, perplexed—who was He talking about? ²³ One of His disciples, whom Yeshua loved, was reclining at His side. ²⁴ Simon Peter nods to him and says, “Ask Him—who is He talking about?”

²⁵ Then he who leaned on Yeshua’s chest says to Him, “Master, who is it?”

²⁶ Yeshua answers, “It’s the one I will give this bit of matzah to, after I dip it.” After dipping the matzah,^[c] He takes it and gives it to Judah from Kriot, the son of Simon. ²⁷ And with that bit, satan entered into him. Then Yeshua tells him, “What you’re about to do, do quickly!”

²⁸ But no one reclining at the table knew why Yeshua said this to him. ²⁹ Since Judah had the moneybox, some thought Yeshua was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. ³⁰ So after Judah received the bit of matzah, he left immediately. Now it was night.

Leaving a Legacy of Love

³¹ Then when Judah had gone out, Yeshua said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him! ³² If God is glorified in Him,^[d] God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. ³³ Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will search for Me; and just as I told the Judean leaders, so I say to you now, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

³⁴ “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you must love one another. ³⁵ By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

³⁶ “Master, where are You going?” Simon Peter said to Him.

Yeshua answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow Me later.”

³⁷ Peter said to Him, “Master, why can’t I follow You now? I’ll lay down my life for You!”

³⁸ Yeshua answers, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Amen, amen I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times!”