¹ sn Passover. According to John’s sequence of material, considerable time has elapsed since the feast of 5:1. If the feast in 5:1 was Pentecost of a.d. 31, then this feast would be the Passover of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion.

¹ tn Heb “bread.” The term לֶחֶם (lekhem) is used literally of “bread” and figuratively (i.e., by metonymy) for a “feast” (BDB 536-37 s.v. לֶחֶם). BDB suggests that עֹשִׂיה לֶחֶם (ʿosih lekhem) in Eccl 10:19 means “make a feast” (BDB 537 s.v. לֶחֶם 1.a). This obscure line has occasioned numerous proposals: “a feast is made for laughter” (KJV, ASV, NIV); “feasts are made for laughter” (NRSV); “men feast for merrymaking” (Moffatt); “men prepare a meal for enjoyment” (NASB); “the table has its pleasures” (NEB); “they [i.e., rulers of v. 16] make a banquet for revelry” (NJPS); “people prepare a banquet for enjoyment” (MLB); “for laughter they make bread and wine, that the living may feast” (Douay); “bread is made for laughter” (RSV); “bread [and oil] call forth merriment” (NAB).

¹ tn This term, δοχή (dochē), is a third term for a meal (see v. 12) that could also be translated “banquet, feast.”

² tn The Hebrew expression “to look upon” often has the sense of “to feast the eyes upon” or “to gloat over” (cf. v. 13).

² tn The subject of the verb is not specified. When active verbs have an unspecified subject, they are often used in a passive sense: “Bread [feasts] are made….”

¹ sn The expression the house of merrymaking refers to a banquet where those who attend engage in self-indulgent feasting and riotous drinking.

² tn The Hebrew word is the word for “booth,” as in the Feast of Booths. The word describes something that is flimsy; it is not substantial at all.

¹ tn Heb “If you really can tell it to me [during] the seven days of the feast and you find [its answer].”

¹ tn The Hebrew phrase חַג הַסֻּכֹּת (khag hassukkot, “Feast of Shelters” or “Feast of Huts”) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is now preferable to the traditional “tabernacles” (KJV, ASV, NIV) in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. Clearer is the English term “shelters” (so NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT). This feast was a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt, in which they dwelt in temporary shelters.

¹ tn This expression is an adverbial accusative of time. The feast was to last from the 15th to the 21st of the month.

¹ sn The Mosaic law stated (Lev 23:40) that branches of palm trees were to be used to celebrate the feast of Tabernacles. Later on they came to be used to celebrate other feasts as well (1 Macc. 13:51, 2 Macc. 10:7).

¹ tn Grk “the Passover of the Jews.” This is the final Passover of Jesus’ ministry. The author is now on the eve of the week of the Passion. Some time prior to the feast itself, Jerusalem would be crowded with pilgrims from the surrounding districts (ἐκ τῆς χώρας, ek tēs chōras) who had come to purify themselves ceremonially before the feast.

⁴ sn Herod would probably have come to Jerusalem for the feast, although his father was only half Jewish (Josephus, Ant. 14.15.2 [14.403]). Josephus does mention Herod’s presence in Jerusalem during a feast (Ant. 18.5.3 [18.122]).

⁴ sn Exod 20:10; 23:12 and Lev 16:29 each require the Israelites and the ger (גֵּר) “foreign resident” to rest. The ger could participate in Israel’s religious festivals: Passover Exod 12:48; Day of Atonement Lev 16:29; Feast of Weeks Deut 16:10-14; Feast of Tabernacles Deut 31:12.

² tn This is the word תָּחֹג (takhog) from the root חָגַג (khagag); it describes a feast that was accompanied by a pilgrimage. It was first used by Moses in his appeal that Israel go three days into the desert to hold such a feast.

³ tn The verb חָגַג (khagag) means to hold a feast or to go on a pilgrim feast. The Arabic cognate of the noun form is haj, best known for the pilgrim flight of Mohammed, the hajira. The form in the text (וְיָחֹגּוּ, v^eyakhoggu) is subordinated to the imperative and thus shows the purpose of the imperative.

¹ tn The Hebrew phrase אֶת חַג־הַסֻּכּוֹת (ʾet khag hassukot, “Feast of Shelters” [or “Huts”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is probably better than the traditional “tabernacles” in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. The nature of the celebration during this feast as a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt suggests that a translation like “shelters” is more appropriate.

¹ tn The Hebrew phrase הַסֻּכּוֹת[חַג] (khag hassukkot, “[Feast of] shelters” [or “huts”]) is traditionally known as the Feast of Tabernacles. The rendering “booths” (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV) is probably better than the traditional “tabernacles” in light of the meaning of the term סֻכָּה (sukkah, “hut; booth”), but “booths” are frequently associated with trade shows and craft fairs in contemporary American English. The nature of the celebration during this feast as a commemoration of the wanderings of the Israelites after they left Egypt suggests that a translation like “shelters” is more appropriate.

¹ tn Grk “300 denarii.” The denarius was a silver coin worth a standard day’s wage, so the value exceeded what a laborer could earn in a year (taking into account Sabbaths and feast days when no work was done).

¹ sn There is a problem with the identification of this reference to the last day of the feast, the greatest day: It appears from Deut 16:13 that the feast went for seven days. Lev 23:36, however, makes it plain that there was an eighth day, though it was mentioned separately from the seven. It is not completely clear whether the seventh or eighth day was the climax of the feast, called here by the author the “last great day of the feast.” Since according to the Mishnah (m. Sukkah 4.1) the ceremonies with water and lights did not continue after the seventh day, it seems more probable that this is the day the author mentions.