John 12:21
New International Version
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.”

New Living Translation
paid a visit to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, “Sir, we want to meet Jesus.”

English Standard Version
So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Berean Standard Bible
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

Berean Literal Bible
Therefore these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and they were asking him, saying, "Sir, we desire to see Jesus."

King James Bible
The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

New King James Version
Then they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

New American Standard Bible
these people then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and were making a request of him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

NASB 1995
these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

NASB 1977
these therefore came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Legacy Standard Bible
these then came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Amplified Bible
these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Christian Standard Bible
So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

American Standard Version
these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
These came and approached Philippus, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and they asked him and were saying to him, “My lord, we wish to see Yeshua.”

Contemporary English Version
Philip from Bethsaida in Galilee was there too. So they went to him and said, "Sir, we would like to meet Jesus."

Douay-Rheims Bible
These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying: Sir, we would see Jesus.

English Revised Version
these therefore came to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, "Sir, we would like to meet Jesus."

Good News Translation
They went to Philip (he was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and said, "Sir, we want to see Jesus."

International Standard Version
They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

Literal Standard Version
these then came near to Philip, who [is] from Bethsaida of Galilee, and were asking him, saying, “Lord, we wish to see Jesus”;

Majority Standard Bible
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

New American Bible
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

NET Bible
So these approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

New Revised Standard Version
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

New Heart English Bible
These, therefore, came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we want to see Jesus."

Webster's Bible Translation
The same came therefore to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Weymouth New Testament
They came to Philip, of Bethsaida in Galilee, with the request, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus."

World English Bible
Therefore, these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”

Young's Literal Translation
these then came near to Philip, who is from Bethsaida of Galilee, and were asking him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus;'

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus Predicts His Death
20Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast. 21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22Philip relayed this appeal to Andrew, and both of them went and told Jesus.…

Cross References
Matthew 11:21
"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

John 1:43
The next day Jesus decided to set out for Galilee. Finding Philip, He told him, "Follow Me."

John 1:44
Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

John 1:45
Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law, the One the prophets foretold--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

John 1:46
"Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.

John 1:48
"How do You know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus replied, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree."


Treasury of Scripture

The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.

Philip.

John 1:43-47
The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me…

John 6:5-7
When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? …

John 14:8,9
Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us…

we would.

John 1:36-39
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! …

John 6:40
And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

Matthew 2:2
Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

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John 12
1. Jesus excuses Mary anointing his feet.
9. The people flock to see Lazarus.
10. The chief priests consult to kill him.
12. Jesus rides into Jerusalem.
20. Greeks desire to see Jesus.
23. He foretells his death.
37. The people are generally blinded;
42. yet many chief rulers believe, but do not confess him;
44. therefore Jesus calls earnestly for confession of faith.














(21) The same came therefore to Philip.--We have no indication of the time when, or of the place where, these words were spoken. St. John alone gives us this incident, and he gives us this incident only, of all that occurred, as we know from the earlier I Gospels, between the entry into Jerusalem and the Last Supper; and he relates this coming of the Greeks not for the sake of the fact itself, but for that of the discourse which followed upon it. He is careful, therefore, only to mention it, and is not concerned, for the purpose he has in view, with any of the historic details. The last words of the discourse (John 12:36) do, however, intimate that they were followed by a retirement from public teaching, and from public appearance in Jerusalem. They would, then,-be among the last words spoken in the Temple before the retirement to-Bethany, on the evening of what we call Wednesday. (Comp. Luke 21:37.) They were uttered, probably, in the Court of the Gentiles, as He passed from the Court of the Women, which, as the most public place for Jewish assemblies, was the frequent scene of His teaching. On the previous day, the Court of the Gentiles had been cleansed from the traffic and merchandise which had been customary in it, and the temple had been declared to be "a house of prayer for all nations." The court of the Gentiles was divided from the inner square of the Temple by a stone fence, bearing upon pillars, placed at regular distances, the following words in Greek and Latin:--"No alien must pass within the fence round the Temple and the court. If any one be caught doing so, he must blame himself for the death that will follow." This prohibition was known before, from Josephus (Ant. xv. 11, 5); but in our own day one of the very slabs, bearing the exact words, has been discovered by M. Ganneau during the excavations of the Palestine Exploration Fund. (Comp. Note on Acts 22:28-29, and especially the Note on Mark 11:17.) The events and the words of these days must have brought strange thoughts to the minds of proselytes, men who were worshippers of the one God by personal conviction, and not because of the faith of their ancestors; and with hearts filled with wonder as to what these things meant--half-grasping, it may be, the truth that this middle wall of partition should be broken down--they ask for a special interview with Jesus. (Comp. Ephesians 2:12 et seq.)

Which was of Bethsaida of Galilee.--The mention of this place again here seems to intend that it should be told as explaining why these Greeks came to Philip. They may have themselves come from the neighbourhood of Bethsaida, or from one of the Greek cities of Decapolis. . . .

Verse 21. - These therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and asked him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. The first expression of that great yearning which, swollen by multitudes without number, is loud as the voice of many waters and mighty thunderings. It is the wail of every penitent; it is the birth-cry of every renewed soul; it is the raptured burst of joy as each son of God passes behind the veil The "therefore" implies some kind of previous relation with Philip, whose somewhat timid, cautious, speculative mind, as hinted in the earlier portions of the Gospel, made him accessible to them. Personal acquaintance is, of course, possible. Was Philip identical with the Aristion of Papias (see Introduction, p. 34, and Archdeacon Farrar, Expositor, November, 1881)? The mention of Bethsaida of Galilee confirms the suggestion that they were inhabitants of one of the Greek cities of Decapolis, or of the slopes of the Lebanon. Many commentators refer to Philip's Greek name as indicating proclivities or sympathies on his part which would make him peculiarly accessible.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
They
οὗτοι (houtoi)
Demonstrative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3778: This; he, she, it.

came
προσῆλθον (prosēlthon)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 4334: From pros and erchomai; to approach, i.e. come near, visit, or worship, assent to.

to Philip,
Φιλίππῳ (Philippō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 5376: From philos and hippos; fond of horses; Philippus, the name of four Israelites.

who was
τῷ (tō)
Article - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

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

Bethsaida
Βηθσαϊδὰ (Bēthsaida)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 966: Of Chaldee origin; fishing-house; Bethsaida, a place in Palestine.

in Galilee,
Γαλιλαίας (Galilaias)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 1056: Of Hebrew origin; Galiloea, a region of Palestine.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

requested
ἠρώτων (ērōtōn)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Plural
Strong's 2065: Apparently from ereo; to interrogate; by implication, to request.

of him,
αὐτὸν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

“Sir,
Κύριε (Kyrie)
Noun - Vocative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2962: Lord, master, sir; the Lord. From kuros; supreme in authority, i.e. controller; by implication, Master.

we want
θέλομεν (thelomen)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 1st Person Plural
Strong's 2309: To will, wish, desire, be willing, intend, design.

to see
ἰδεῖν (idein)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 3708: Properly, to stare at, i.e. to discern clearly; by extension, to attend to; by Hebraism, to experience; passively, to appear.

Jesus.”
Ἰησοῦν (Iēsoun)
Noun - Accusative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.


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