John 13:36

Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Simon	Σίμων Simōn	G4613	Simon (i.e. Shimon) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
Peter	Πέτρος· Petros	G4074	a (piece of) rock (larger than G3037 (λίθος)) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
said	λέγει legei	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
him	αὐτῷ autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Lord	κύριε, kurie	G2962	supreme in authority · noun — vocative singular masculine, a title
whither	ποῦ pou	G4226	as adverb of place · adverb — interrogative
thou	ὑπάγεις; hupageis	G5217	to lead (oneself) under · verb — present active indicative, 2nd person singular
Jesus	Ἰησοῦς· Iēsous	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
answered	ἀπεκρίθη apekrithē	G611	to conclude for oneself · verb — aorist middle deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
him	αὐτῷ autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
Whither	ὅπου hopou	G3699	what(-ever) where · conjunction
I go	ὑπάγω hupagō	G5217	to lead (oneself) under · verb — present active indicative, 1st person singular
thou canst	δύνασαί dunasai	G1410	to be able or possible · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 2nd person singular
not	οὐ ou	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
follow	ἀκολουθῆσαι· akolouthēsai	G190	properly · verb — aorist active infinitive
me	μοί moí	G3427	to me
now	νῦν nun	G3568	"now" (as adverb of date · adverb
but	δὲ de	G1161	but · conjunction
thou shalt follow	ἀκολουθήσεις akolouthēseis	G190	properly · verb — future active indicative, 2nd person singular
me	μοί moí	G3427	to me
afterwards	ὕστερον hýsteron	G5305	more lately

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 21:21-22 Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, and what shall this man do?
2 Peter 1:14 Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.
John 13:33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say…
John 14:2 In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
John 21:18-19 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old…
John 14:4-5 And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
John 16:17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he saith unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 13:36–end

In these verses we have, I. Peter's curiosity, and the check given to that. 1. Peter's question was bold and blunt (Joh 13:36): Lord, whither goest thou? referring to what Christ had said (Joh 13:33), Whither I go, you cannot come. The practical instructions Christ had given them concerning brotherly love he overlooks, and asks no questions upon them, but fastens upon that concerning which Christ purposely kept them in the dark. Note, It is a common fault among us to be more inquisitive concerning things secret, which belong to God only, than concerning things revealed, which belong to us and our children, more desirous to have our curiosity gratified than our consciences directed, to know w…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 13:36

Peter said--seeing plainly in these directions how to behave themselves, that He was indeed going from them. Lord, whither guest thou?--having hardly a glimmer of the real truth. Jesus answered, . . . thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards--How different from what He said to the Jews: "Whither I go ye cannot come" (Joh 8:21).

Adam Clarke on John 13:36

Thou canst not follow me now - Thou hast not faith strong enough to die for me, nor is thy work yet done; but hereafter thou shalt suffer for my sake, and die in defense of my truth. See Joh 21:18.

John Gill on John 13:36

Simon Peter said unto him,.... One might have expected that Peter would have taken some notice of what Christ said last, about love to one another; but he passes over it, and takes no manner of notice of it; which did not arise from inattention to it, or from any dislike of it, or disaffection to it; for it appears from his whole conduct and writings, that he had the utmost regard for it; he very frequently presses it, and most fervently practised it; but having observed some words which dropped from Christ's lips, "whither I go ye cannot come", John 13:33; his mind was intent upon them, was uneasy about them, and very much wanted to know the meaning of them; and as soon as Christ had done s…

The Church Fathers

(Hom. lxxiii. 3) Great is love, and stronger than fire; nothing can stop its course. Peter the most ardent of all, as soon as he hears our Lord say, Whither I go ye cannot follow Me now, asks, Lord, whither goest Thou?
— John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The disciples had not yet been clothed with the power from on high, neither had they received the strength that was to invigorate them and impart courage to their character—I mean the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus, they were not able to wrestle with death and engage in a conflict with terrors so hard to face.
— Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 9

The Word, however, departs on his own courses, and he who follows the Word follows him. But one who is not prepared to walk in his steps persistently cannot follow, since the Word leads those to his Father who do all things that they might be able to follow him and that they may follow him until they may say to the Christ, "My soul has clung to you."
— Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 32.400

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Heaven · 3:12;5:3,8,12,20;6:20;8:11;13:30,43,49;18:10;19:21;22:30;25:34,46; — 3:12;5:3,8,12,20;6:20;8:11;13:30,43,49;18:10;19:21;22:30;25:34,46;

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

John 13:36

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 13:36–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 13:36

Adam Clarke on John 13:36

John Gill on John 13:36

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 13:36

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 13:36–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 13:36

Adam Clarke on John 13:36

John Gill on John 13:36

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on John 13:36–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 13:34-35