Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had<\/em>” (John 5:2-4).<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhile it is tempting to dismiss this as wishful desires among the people, John doesn’t say that it was reported that an angel stirred up the water. He states it as a fact.<\/p>\n
Because this healing is not mentioned in other historical documents before or after this time, it is assumed that these healings only occurred for a short period of time, around the time of Christ.<\/p>\n\t
Question:<\/h2>\n
Your answer still confused me, as I had read this section, John 5:2-4, several times during this study. So, I went back to this verse and looked again. No wonder I didn’t see it. Verse 4 has been omitted from my Bible which is the Revised Standard Version.<\/p>\n
While looking for references about the angels stirring the water, I had checked the references on the bottom of the page but did not see it, so I did not realize verse 4 had been omitted. Until, just now, I found it in the very small print where it says some ‘ancient authorities insert’, and there it was.<\/p>\n
I must admit, this was confusing, and I am going to have to be more careful from now on, to check the bottom of each page as I study. Thank you for your help. It led me to find out important things.<\/p>\n\t
Answer:<\/h2>\n
Yes, there are some poor versions which don’t include John 5:4, but the problem is that all versions do include “The sick man answered Him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me’<\/em>” (John 5:7). That statement by the sick man makes no sense if verse four was not in the original. Thus, the Revised Standard Version testifies against itself.<\/p>\nThe reason the Revised Standard Version dropped this verse is not based on true contextual evidence but because the translators on its committee had a strong bias against miracles. It is this same version that they reworded Isaiah 7:14 to say “young woman” instead of “virgin.” They typically took the non-miraculous direction on the least possible suspicion that an alternative reading was possible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I have a question about one of the study lessons on your site. In ‘Jesus’ Authority Questioned‘, it talks about the Pool of Bethesda, and in the lesson, it says that ‘angels stirred the waters’. My question is: Where or how do we know this to be true? I looked for references in my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1502,959,363,319,311],"class_list":["post-18458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-angels","tag-john","tag-miracles","tag-revised-standard-version","tag-translations"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48969,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-angel-at-the-pool-of-bethesda-from-god-or-the-devil\/","url_meta":{"origin":18458,"position":0},"title":"Was the angel at the pool of Bethesda from God or the Devil?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 28, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, There appears to be a lot of confusion regarding whether the angel at the pool of Bethesda was from God or not. Can you give me your insight into where this \"angel\" came from?\u00a0Some even go so far as to believe the angel was of the devil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32130,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-was-hell-created\/","url_meta":{"origin":18458,"position":1},"title":"When was Hell created?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Your site is really a great help for all preachers who are seeking the truth. I am a young preacher, just 19 years old, and a student. I would like to ask you: What particular event in the Bible marks when God created hell? Is it included in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-the-ethiopian-eunuch-baptized-in-a-pool-or-a-river\/","url_meta":{"origin":18458,"position":2},"title":"Was the Ethiopian eunuch baptized in a pool or a river?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Was the Ethiopian Eunuch baptized in a river or in a pool? (Acts 8:36-38) Answer: \"Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, \"See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?\"\" (Acts 8:36). We know the eunuch was traveling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":86088,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/he-had-faith-to-be-healed\/","url_meta":{"origin":18458,"position":3},"title":"He Had Faith to Be Healed","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 26, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by William J. Stewart It is a common perception in the religious world that one must have adequate faith for one to be healed. This false idea has allowed many fake healers to save face when their hypnotic advantage over a would-be recipient has failed. And as sure as it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19187,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-elisha-strike-the-water-once-or-twice\/","url_meta":{"origin":18458,"position":4},"title":"Did Elisha strike the water once or twice?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 20, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In II Kings 2:14, do you believe Elisha strikes the water twice with the mantle of Elijah or just once? Answer: \"Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, \"Where is the LORD God of Elijah?\" And when he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15796,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-did-my-stillborn-child-go-upon-his-death\/","url_meta":{"origin":18458,"position":5},"title":"Where did my stillborn child go upon his death?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was five months pregnant and was happy to hear I was having a little boy.\u00a0 My son was so active in me and kicked all the time. One day I noticed that he hadn't kicked me at all, so I rushed into the hospital to make sure everything\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18458\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}