Discovery BoxJohn 6:5 
Context6:5 Then Jesus, when he looked up 1 and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread so that these people may eat?”
John 12:9
Context12:9 Now a large crowd of Judeans 2 learned 3 that Jesus 4 was there, and so they came not only because of him 5 but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead.
John 21:6
Context21:6 He told them, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” 6 So they threw the net, 7 and were not able to pull it in because of the large number of fish.
John 21:11
Context21:11 So Simon Peter went aboard and pulled the net to shore. It was 8 full of large fish, one hundred fifty-three, 9 but although there were so many, the net was not torn.
1 tn Grk “when he lifted up his eyes” (an idiom).
2 tn Grk “of the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem and the surrounding area who by this time had heard about the resurrection of Lazarus and were curious to see him.
3 tn Grk “knew.”
4 tn Grk “he”; normal English clause structure specifies the referent first and substitutes the pronoun in subsequent references to the same individual, so the referent (Jesus) has been specified here.
5 tn Grk “Jesus”; normal English clause structure specifies the referent first and substitutes the pronoun in subsequent references to the same individual, so the pronoun (“him”) has been substituted here.
6 tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
7 tn The words “the net” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
8 tn The words “It was” are not in the Greek text. Here a new sentence was begun in the translation in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences. For this reason the words “It was” had to be supplied.
9 sn Here the author makes two further points about the catch of fish: (1) there were one hundred fifty-three large fish in the net, and (2) even with so many, the net was not torn. Many symbolic interpretations have been proposed for both points (unity, especially, in the case of the second), but the reader is given no explicit clarification in the text itself. It seems better not to speculate here, but to see these details as indicative of an eyewitness account. Both are the sort of thing that would remain in the mind of a person who had witnessed them firsthand. For a summary of the symbolic interpretations proposed for the number of fish in the net, see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:1074-75), where a number are discussed at length. Perhaps the reader is simply to understand this as the abundance which results from obedience to Jesus, much as with the amount of wine generated in the water jars in Cana at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry (2:6).
