John 13:4

he got up from the meal, removed ¹  his outer clothes, ²  took a towel and tied it around himself. ³ 

so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel round his waist.

*got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,

So he got up from the supper table, set aside his robe, and put on an apron.

Got up from table, put off his robe and took a cloth and put it round him.

got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.

rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.

he got up from the meal, removed ¹  his outer clothes, ²  took a towel and tied it around himself. ³ 

¹ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

² tn The plural τὰ ἱμάτια (ta Jimatia) is probably a reference to more than one garment (cf. John 19:23-24). If so, this would indicate that Jesus stripped to a loincloth, like a slave. The translation “outer clothes” is used to indicate that Jesus was not completely naked, since complete nudity would have been extremely offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context.

³ tn Grk “taking a towel he girded himself.” Jesus would have wrapped the towel (λέντιον, lention) around his waist (διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν, diezwsen Jeauton) for use in wiping the disciples’ feet. The term λέντιον is a Latin loanword (linteum) which is also found in the rabbinic literature (see BDAG 592 s.v.). It would have been a long piece of linen cloth, long enough for Jesus to have wrapped it about his waist and still used the free end to wipe the disciples’ feet.