John 11:18
New International Version
Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,

New Living Translation
Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem,

English Standard Version
Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,

Berean Standard Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,

Berean Literal Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away,

King James Bible
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

New King James Version
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.

New American Standard Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away;

NASB 1995
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off;

NASB 1977
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off;

Legacy Standard Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away;

Amplified Bible
Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away;

Christian Standard Bible
Bethany was near Jerusalem (less than two miles away).

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Bethany was near Jerusalem (about two miles away).

American Standard Version
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
But Bethany was beside Jerusalem, separated from it by about 15 furlongs.

Contemporary English Version
Bethany was less than three kilometers from Jerusalem,

Douay-Rheims Bible
(Now Bethania was near Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off.)

English Revised Version
Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
(Bethany was near Jerusalem, not quite two miles away.)

Good News Translation
Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,

International Standard Version
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away,

Literal Standard Version
And Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia off,

Majority Standard Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,

New American Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away.

NET Bible
(Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,

New Revised Standard Version
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away,

New Heart English Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.

Webster's Bible Translation
(Now Bethany was nigh to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs distant.)

Weymouth New Testament
Bethany was near Jerusalem, the distance being a little less than two miles;

World English Bible
Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.

Young's Literal Translation
And Bethany was nigh to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus Comforts Martha and Mary
17When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.…

Cross References
Matthew 21:17
Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where He spent the night.

John 11:1
At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.


Treasury of Scripture

Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off:

fifteen furlongs.

John 6:19
So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing nigh unto the ship: and they were afraid.

Luke 24:13
And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.

Revelation 14:20
And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

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Bethany Distance Distant Fifteen Furlongs Jerusalem Little Miles Nigh Stadia
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Bethany Distance Distant Fifteen Furlongs Jerusalem Little Miles Nigh Stadia
John 11
1. Jesus raises Lazarus, four days buried.
45. Many Jews believe.
47. The high priests and Pharisees gather a council against Jesus.
49. Caiaphas prophesies.
54. Jesus hides himself.
55. At the Passover they enquire after him, and lay wait for him.














(18) Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem.--This way of speaking of places in the past tense is not found in the other Gospels. (Comp., in this Gospel, John 18:1; John 19:41; and, on the other hand, Note on John 5:2.) The explanation may be that from St. John's point of view, writing after the destruction of Jerusalem, the buildings and gardens could no longer be described as still existing.

About fifteen furlongs off.--The Greek stadium which is here rendered "furlong" was 606? English feet. The distance was, then, as the margin gives it, not much short of two English miles. This is mentioned to account for the fact stated in the following verse, that many of the Jews came to comfort Martha and Mary.

Verses 18, 19. - Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem. This geographical observation is introduced to explain the following verse. Meyer and Alford think that the use of the past tense, η}ν, may be perfectly justified in making reference to past events; yet, since John is the only New Testament writer who uses it, the usage may have been adopted by him because, at the time when he wrote his Gospel, Bethany had been for the time destroyed with Jerusalem itself. The construction is peculiar: ὡς ἀπὸ (compare a similar use of πρὸ, John 12:1; John 21:8; Revelation 14:20; see Winer, p. 697, Eng. trans.). Many think that it is to be understood - about fifteen stadia from it - a kind of trajection of the preposition; but Winer thinks that it points to the spot where the fifteen stadia might be supposed to terminate, i.e. "lying off at the end of the fifteen stadia," and so giving an adverbial force to the preposition: and he adds a long list of similar constructions in later Greek writers. The stadium was 606.75 feet - less than the eighth of an English mile; the distance was therefore between a mile and a half and a mile and three quarters. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary. "The Jews" is a phrase generally, not uniformly, used by John to denote those permanently hostile to our Lord, and often of the upper and ruling classes. These, therefore, had one more trial of faith, one further opportunity of recognizing his glory. Many of them came to Martha and Mary. They came to comfort them, according to ordinary usage among the Jews after bereavement. This ceremony often lasted seven days. Concerning (their) brother. We cling to earthly love. The gush of strong affection that mourners lavish on the dead deepens their love to one another, and the praises of the departed often gild and almost pierce the veil itself. The fact that many Jews should have taken the trouble to journey nearly two miles to comfort the bereaved sisters shows that the family at Bethany was one of some wealth, position, and importance (cf. Matthew 26:6-13). If so, it is exceedingly unlikely that the narrative stands in any relation to the parable of the rich man and the beggar.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
Now
δὲ (de)
Conjunction
Strong's 1161: A primary particle; but, and, etc.

Bethany
Βηθανία (Bēthania)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 963: Of Chaldee origin; date-house; Beth-any, a place in Palestine.

was
ἦν (ēn)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

near
ἐγγὺς (engys)
Preposition
Strong's 1451: Near. From a primary verb agcho; near.

Jerusalem,
Ἱεροσολύμων (Hierosolymōn)
Noun - Genitive Neuter Plural
Strong's 2414: The Greek form of the Hebrew name: Jerusalem. Of Hebrew origin; Hierosolyma

a little less than
ὡς (hōs)
Adverb
Strong's 5613: Probably adverb of comparative from hos; which how, i.e. In that manner.

two miles
δεκαπέντε (dekapente)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 1178: Fifteen. From deka and pente; ten and five, i.e. Fifteen.

away,
ἀπὸ (apo)
Adverb
Strong's 575: From, away from. A primary particle; 'off, ' i.e. Away, in various senses.


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NT Gospels: John 11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem about fifteen (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 11:17
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