John 21

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

1 After this Jesus *ver. 14;[Mark 16:12,14]; See ch. 7:4revealed himself *ch. 20:19,26again to the disciples by *ch. 6:1the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, *See ch. 11:16Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of *ch. 2:1;4:46Cana in Galilee, *Matt. 4:21;Luke 5:10the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We will go with you." They went out and got into the boat, but *[Luke 5:5]that night they caught nothing.

4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples *ch. 20:14did not know that it was Jesus. 5 *Luke 24:41Jesus said to them, "Children, do you have any fish?" They answered him, "No." 6 *[Luke 5:4,6,7]He said to them, "Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. 7 That disciple *See ch. 13:23whom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, *ver. 18;[ch. 13:4] he put on his outer garment, for he was *1 Sam. 19:24;Isa. 20:2;Mic. 1:8stripped for work, and *[Matt. 14:29]threw himself into the sea. 8 The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards*21:8 Greek two hundred cubits; a cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters off.

9 When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. 10 Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught."11 So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, *Acts 10:41"Come and *ver. 15have breakfast." Now *[ch. 4:27]none of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came and *ver. 9took the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. 14 *ver. 1;ch. 20:19,26This was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

15 When they had *ver. 12finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, *[Matt. 16:17;Luke 22:31] "Simon, *ch. 1:42son of John, *[Matt. 26:33;Mark 14:29] do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, "Feed *ch. 10:11-16;[Isa. 40:11]my lambs."16 He said to him a second time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." He said to him, *Acts 20:28;1 Pet. 5:2;Rev. 7:17(Gk.)"Tend *[See ver. 15above]my sheep."17 He said to him the third time, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Peter was grieved because he said to him *[ch. 13:38] the third time, "Do you love me?" and he said to him, "Lord, *See ch. 2:25you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed *ver. 16my sheep.18 *[ch. 13:36] Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, *ver. 7you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go."19 (This he said to show *2 Pet. 1:14by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, *ver. 22;Matt. 16:24;[ch. 13:36]; See ch. 8:12"Follow me."

Jesus and the Beloved Apostle

20 Peter turned and saw *ver. 7the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, *ch. 13:25the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, "Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?" 21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" 22 Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain *Matt. 10:23;16:28;1 Cor. 4:5;11:26;James 5:7;Rev. 2:25until *[ch. 14:3,18,28;Heb. 10:37;Rev. 2:5,16;3:3,11;16:15;22:7,12,20]; See Matt. 16:27I come, what is that to you? *ver. 19You follow me!"23 So the saying spread abroad among *Acts 1:15;9:30;11:1;12:17;15:1;16:2,40;21:7,17;1 John 3:14,16the brothers*21:23 Or brothers and sisters that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?"

24 This is the disciple *See ch. 15:27who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and *1 John 3:2,14;5:15,18-20;[ch. 19:35] we know *3 John 12that his testimony is true.

25 Now *ch. 20:30there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that *[Amos 7:10]the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.