John 13 · Verse 14

John 13:14

If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
John 13:14, King James Version

John 13:14 in other translations

BSBSo if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
WEBIf I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
ASVIf I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
YLTif then I did wash your feet--the Lord and the Teacher--ye also ought to wash one another's feet.
DARBYIf I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet;
BBEIf then I, the Lord and the Master, have made your feet clean, it is right for you to make one another's feet clean.
WebsterIf I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

What does John 13:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 13:12-15

12-15. Know ye what I have done?--that is, its intent. The question, however, was put merely to summon their attention to His own answer.

Read the full comment on John 13:12-15 →

Barnes' Notes
Verses 14,15. Ye also ought to wash, &c. Some have understood this literally as instituting a religious rite which we ought to observe; but this was evidently not the design; for,

1st. There is not evidence that Jesus intended it as a religious observance, like the Lord's Supper or the ordinance of baptism.

2nd. It was not observed by the apostles or the primitive Christians as a religious rite.

3rd. It was a rite of hospitality among the Jews, a common, well-know thing, and performed by servants.

4th. it is the manifest design of humility; to teach them by his example that they ought to condescend to the most humble offices for the benefit of others. They ought not to be proud, and vain, but to regard themselves as the servants of each other in every way. And especially as they were to be founders of the church, and to be greatly honoured, he took this occasion of warning them against the dangers of ambitions, and of teaching them, by an example that they could not forget, the duty of humility.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 Ye also ought to wash one another feet - That is, ye should be ready, after my example, to condescend to all the weakness of your brethren; to be willing to do the meanest offices for them, and to prefer the least of them in honor to yourselves.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on John 13:1-17

Our Lord Jesus has a people in the world that are his own; he has purchased them, and paid dear for them, and he has set them apart for himself; they devote themselves to him as a peculiar people. Those whom Christ loves, he loves to the end. Nothing can separate a true believer from the love of Christ. We know not when our hour will come, therefore what we have to do in constant preparation for it, ought never to…

Read the full comment on John 13:1-17 →

John 13:14 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

εἰeiIfG1487
οὖνounthereforeG3767
ἐγὼegōI myselfG1473
ἔνιψαenipsawashedG3538
ὑμῶνhumōnyourG4771
τοὺςtous<the>G3588
πόδαςpodasfeetG4228
ὁhotheG3588
κύριοςkuriosLordG2962
καὶkaiandG2532
ὁhotheG3588
διδάσκαλος,didaskalosTeacher,G1320
καὶkaialsoG2532
ὑμεῖςhumeisyou yourselvesG4771
ὀφείλετεopheileteoughtG3784
ἀλλήλωνallēlōnof one anotherG240
νίπτεινnipteinto washG3538
τοὺςtoustheG3588
πόδας·podasfeet;G4228

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for John 13:14

  • 1 Peter 5:5

    Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

  • Acts 20:35

    I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.

  • Romans 12:16

    Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.

  • Galatians 5:13

    For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.

  • Luke 22:26-27

    But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

  • 1 Peter 4:1

    Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;

  • Mark 10:43-45

    But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

  • Hebrews 5:8-9

    Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

  • Matthew 20:26-28

    But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

  • 1 Corinthians 8:13

    Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

  • Philippians 2:2-8

    Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: …

  • 2 Corinthians 8:9

    For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
I then.
Mt 20:26-28; Mr 10:43-45; Lu 22:26,27; 2Co 8:9; Php 2:5-8
Heb 5:8,9; 12:2
ye also.
Ac 20:35; Ro 12:10,16; 15:1-3; 1Co 8:13; 9:19-22; 2Co 10:1; Ga 5:13
Ga 6:1,2; Php 2:2-5; 1Pe 4:1; 5:5

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • John 13:13

    Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

  • John 13:14

    If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

  • John 13:15

    For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

Read all of John 13

John 13:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Pues si yo, el Señor y el Maestro, he lavado vuestros pies, vosotros también debéis lavar los pies los unos á los otros.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		si donc moi, le seigneur et le maître, j’ai lavé vos pieds, vous aussi vous devez vous laver les pieds les uns aux autres.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn nun ich, der Herr und der Lehrer, eure Füße gewaschen habe, so seid auch ihr schuldig, einander die Füße zu waschen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Si ergo ego lavi pedes vestros, Dominus et Magister, et vos debetis alter alterius lavare pedes.