John 5:2

there is at Jerusalem This is no evidence whatever that the Gospel was written before the destruction of Jerusalem. The pool would still exist, even if the building was destroyed; and such a building, as being of the nature of a hospital, would be likely to be spared. Even if all were destroyed the present tense would be natural here. See on John 11:18.

by the sheep market There is no -market" in the Greek, and no reason for supposing that it ought to be supplied. The margin is probably right: sheep- gate. We know from Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 3:32; Nehemiah 12:39 that there was a sheep-gate; so called probably from sheep for sacrifice being sold there. It was near the Temple. The adjective for -sheep-" occurs nowhere else in N.T. but here, and nowhere in O.T. but in the passages in Nehemiah. But so little is known of this gate, and the ellipsis of -gate" is so unparalleled that we cannot regard this explanation as certain. Another translation is possible, with a change of case in the word for pool; Now there is in Jerusalem, by the sheep-pool, a place called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda.

in the Hebrew tongue -Hebrew" means Aramaic, the language spoken at the time, not the old Hebrew of the Scriptures. See on John 20:16.

Bethesda -House of mercy," or possibly -House of the Portico," or again -of the Olive." The name Bethesda does not occur elsewhere. The traditional identification with Birket Israilis not commonly advocated now. The -Fountain of the Virgin" is an attractive identification, as the water is intermittent to this day. This fountain is connected with the pool of Siloam, and some think that Siloam is Bethesda. That S. John speaks of Bethesda here and Siloam in John 9:7, is not conclusive against this: for Bethesda might be the name of the building and Siloam of the pool; and the Greek for -called" here is strictly -called in addition" or - surnamed," as if the place had some other name.

five porches Or, colonnades. These would be to shelter the sick. The place seems to have been a kind of charitable institution.