Verse Lens · Concise explanation

John 13:9 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 9. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse serves as the ninth turn in Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet, where it preserves speech that redirects the scene or presses its claim: “Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head”.

Read It With

  • John 13:1-11

Read John 13:9 with 13:1-11. This verse serves as the ninth turn in Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet, where it preserves speech that redirects the scene or presses its claim: “Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head”. The controlling movement is: Knowing that his hour and return have come, Jesus loves his own to the end, rises from supper to wash their feet, answers Peter's resistance, and distinguishes cleansing and betrayal.

Why This Verse Appears Here

This verse serves as the ninth turn in Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet, where it preserves speech that redirects the scene or presses its claim: “Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head”. As the ninth turn in Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet, it ties this line to the unit's developing testimony: Knowing that his hour and return have come, Jesus loves his own to the end, rises from supper to wash their feet, answers Peter's resistance, and distinguishes cleansing and betrayal.

What Remains True

This verse serves as the ninth turn in Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet, where it preserves speech that redirects the scene or presses its claim: “Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head”. Its enduring force supports this passage-controlled response: Let secure identity produce practical service, receive care as well as give it, and preserve consent and dignity in embodied practices.

How It Can Shape Life

  • For John 13:9, practice this verse's particular contribution by doing the following without outrunning John 13:1-11: Let secure identity produce practical service, receive care as well as give it, and preserve consent and dignity in embodied practices.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read John 13:1-11 — Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph flags, supplied-word markup, and coverage.

Exact location: John 13:1-11, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

Greek textual evidence

The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition

Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos

Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010

Supports: Greek wording, sentence relations, and critical-text reading checked independently of the KJV.

Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/John.txt, 13:1-11

Open the John Greek text file ↗

Translation and textual notes

NET Bible — John with translators' and textual notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2005–2026 online edition

Supports: Verse-level syntax, older-English clarification, material variants, background, and alternatives.

Exact location: NET Bible John PDF, John 13:1-11 and attached translator, study, and textual notes

Open the official NET John PDF ↗
Open the complete thought-unit research record
Open a verse without taking it out of context.

Try John 20:31, Jn 20:31, or Joh 20:31.

Choose book, chapter, and verse