John 21:22

Jesus saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
Jesus	Ἰησοῦς· Iēsous	G2424	Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua) · noun — nominative singular masculine, a proper name
saith	λέγει legei	G3004	properly · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
him	αὐτῷ autō	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative singular masculine
If	ἐὰν ean	G1437	a conditional particle · conditional particle
I will that	θέλω thelō	G2309	to determine (as an active option from subjective impul… · verb — present active subjunctive, 1st person singular
he	αὐτὸν auton	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — accusative singular masculine
tarry	μένειν menein	G3306	to stay (in a given place · verb — present active infinitive
till	ἕως he'ōs	G2193	a conjunction · preposition
I come	ἔρχομαι, erchomai	G2064	to come or go (in a great variety of applications · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 1st person singular
what	τί ti	G5101	an interrogative pronoun · interrogative pronoun — nominative singular neuter
to	πρὸς pros	G4314	a preposition of direction · preposition
thee	σέ sé	G4571	thee
follow	ἀκολούθει.¶ akolouthei	G190	properly · verb — present active imperative, 2nd person singular
thou	σέ; se	G4771	thou · personal pronoun — 2nd person accusative singular
me	μοί moí	G3427	to me

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

Revelation 2:25 But that which ye have already hold fast till I come.
Revelation 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Mark 9:1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have see…
Matthew 16:27-28 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make mani…
Matthew 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall b…
Matthew 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.
John 21:19 This spake he, signifying by what death he should glorify God. And when he had spoken this, he saith unto him, Follow me.

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 21:20–end

In these verses, we have, I. The conference Christ had with Peter concerning John, the beloved disciple, in which we have, 1. The eye Peter cast upon him (Joh 21:20): Peter, in obedience to his Master's orders, followed him, and turning about, pleased with the honours his Master now did him, he sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following likewise. Observe here, (1.) How John is described. He does not name himself, as thinking his own name not worthy to be preserved in these records; but gives such a description of himself as sufficiently informs us whom he meant, and withal gives us a reason why he followed Christ so closely. He was the disciple whom Jesus loved, for whom he had a particula…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 21:22

Jesus saith to him, If I will that he tarry fill I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me--From the fact that John alone of the Twelve survived the destruction of Jerusalem, and so witnessed the commencement of that series of events which belongs to "the last days," many good interpreters think that this is a virtual prediction of fact, and not a mere supposition. But this is very doubtful, and it seems more natural to consider our Lord as intending to give no positive indication of John's fate at all, but to signify that this was a matter which belonged to the Master of both, who would disclose or conceal it as He thought proper, and that Peter's part was to mind his own affairs. Accord…

Read the whole note in the console

Adam Clarke on John 21:22

If I will that he tarry till I come - There are several opinions concerning this: the following are the principal. 1. Some have concluded from these words that John should never die. Many eminent men, ancients and moderns, have been and are of this opinion. 2. Others thought that our Lord intimated that John should live till Christ came to judge and destroy Jerusalem. On this opinion it is observed that Peter, who was the oldest of the apostles, died in the year 67, which, says Calmet, was six years before the destruction of Jerusalem; and that John survived the ruin of that city about thirty years, he being the only one of the twelve who was alive when the above desolation took place. 3. St…

The Church Fathers

However, inasmuch as they were now going to have the care of the world committed to them, and could not remain together without injury to their charge, our Lord says, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? as if to say, Attend to the work committed to thee, and do it: if I will that he abide here, what is that to thee?
— John Chrysostom ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Antony was confused as he meditated upon the depths of God's judgements, and he asked God, 'Lord, how is it that some die young and others grow old and sick? Why are there some poor and some rich? Why are there those who are bad and rich and oppress the good poor?' He heard a voice saying to him, 'Antony, worry about yourself; these other matters are up to God, and it will not do you any good to know them.'
— Desert Fathers, The Desert Fathers, Sayings of the Early Christian Monks

Since he spake from strong affection, and wishing not to be torn away from him, Christ, to show that however much he might love, he could not go beyond His love, saith, "If I will that he tarry - what is that to thee?" By these words teaching us not to be impatient, nor curious beyond what seemeth good to Him. For because Peter was ever hot, and springing forward to enquiries such as this, to cut short his warmth, and to teach him not to enquire farther, He saith this.
— John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 88

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

Galilee, Sea of — (Matt. 4:18; 15:29), is mentioned in the Bible under three other names. (1.) In the Old Testament it is called the “sea of Chinnereth” (Num. 34:11; Josh. 12:3; 13:27), as is supposed from its…
John, Gospel of — The genuineness of this Gospel, i.e., the fact that the apostle John was its author, is beyond all reasonable doubt. In recent times, from about 1820, many attempts have been made to impugn its…
Peter — Originally called Simon (=Simeon, i.e., “hearing”), a very common Jewish name in the New Testament. He was the son of Jona (Matt. 16:17). His mother is nowhere named in Scripture. He had a younger…
Curiosity · To know what — To know what

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 21:22

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 21:20–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 21:22

Adam Clarke on John 21:22

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John 21:22

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 21:20–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 21:22

Adam Clarke on John 21:22

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on John 21:22

John Calvin on John 21:20–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 21:20-22