John 20:5

He bent down ¹  and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ²  but he did not go in.

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

and stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.

He stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn’t go in.

Stooping to look in, he saw the pieces of linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go in.

And looking in, he saw the linen bands on the earth; but he did not go in,

He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there ; yet he did not go in.

He bent down ¹  and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ²  but he did not go in.

¹ sn In most instances the entrance to such tombs was less than 3 ft (1 m) high, so that an adult would have to bend down and practically crawl inside.

² sn Presumably by the time the beloved disciple reached the tomb there was enough light to penetrate the low opening and illuminate the interior of the tomb sufficiently for him to see the strips of linen cloth lying there. The author does not state exactly where the linen wrappings were lying. Sometimes the phrase has been translated “lying on the ground,” but the implication is that the wrappings were lying where the body had been. The most probable configuration for a tomb of this sort would be to have a niche carved in the wall where the body would be laid lengthwise, or a low shelf like a bench running along one side of the tomb, across the back or around all three sides in a U-shape facing the entrance. Thus the graveclothes would have been lying on this shelf or in the niche where the body had been.