John 19:34

But one of the soldiers pierced ¹  his side with a spear, and blood and water ²  flowed out immediately.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out.

One of the soldiers stabbed him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out.

But one of the men made a wound in his side with a spear, and straight away there came out blood and water.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out.

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.

But one of the soldiers pierced ¹  his side with a spear, and blood and water ²  flowed out immediately.

¹ sn If it was obvious to the soldiers that the victim was already dead it is difficult to see why one of them would try to inflict a wound. The Greek verb pierced (νύσσω, nussw) can indicate anything from a slight prod to a mortal wound. Probably one of the soldiers gave an exploratory stab to see if the body would jerk. If not, he was really dead. This thrust was hard enough to penetrate the side, since the author states that blood and water flowed out immediately.

² sn How is the reference to the blood and water that flowed out from Jesus’ side to be understood? This is probably to be connected with the statements in 1 John 5:6-8. In both passages water, blood, and testimony are mentioned. The Spirit is also mentioned in 1 John 5:7 as the source of the testimony, while here the testimony comes from one of the disciples (19:35). The connection between the Spirit and the living water with Jesus’ statement of thirst just before he died in the preceding context has already been noted (see 19:28). For the author, the water which flowed out of Jesus’ side was a symbolic reference to the Holy Spirit who could now be given because Jesus was now glorified (cf. 7:39); Jesus had now departed and returned to that glory which he had with the Father before the creation of the world (cf. 17:5). The mention of blood recalls the motif of the Passover lamb as a sacrificial victim. Later references to sacrificial procedures in the Mishnah appear to support this: m. Pesahim 5:3 and 5:5 state that the blood of the sacrificial animal should not be allowed to congeal but should flow forth freely at the instant of death so that it could be used for sprinkling; m. Tamid 4:2 actually specifies that the priest is to pierce the heart of the sacrificial victim and cause the blood to come forth.