He bent down ¹  and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ²  but he did not go in.

biblegateway Joh 20:5

and stooping and looking in, he *saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in.

Stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, yet he did not go in.

And bending over to look, he saw the [strips of] linen cloth lying there, though he did not go in.

biblegateway Joh 20:5

He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in.

And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.

bibleoremus Joh 20:5

He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.

He peered in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not enter.

biblegateway Joh 20:5

And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there ; yet he did not go in.

And he stooping down, [and looking in], saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

biblegateway Joh 20:5

He bent down ¹  and saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ²  but he did not go in.

¹ sn In most instances the entrance to such tombs was less than 3 ft (1 m) high, so that an adult would have to bend down and practically crawl inside.

² sn Presumably by the time the beloved disciple reached the tomb there was enough light to penetrate the low opening and illuminate the interior of the tomb sufficiently for him to see the strips of linen cloth lying there. The author does not state exactly where the linen wrappings were lying. Sometimes the phrase has been translated “lying on the ground,” but the implication is that the wrappings were lying where the body had been. The most probable configuration for a tomb of this sort would be to have a niche carved in the wall where the body would be laid lengthwise, or a low shelf like a bench running along one side of the tomb, across the back or around all three sides in a U-shape facing the entrance. Thus the graveclothes would have been lying on this shelf or in the niche where the body had been.