Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
All Commentaries on John 5:2 Go To John 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Now there is . . . sheep-market: Vulgate, Probatica. The pool took its name both because it was nigh the gate adjacent to the Temple, through which the flocks of sheep for the sacrifices were driven, and also because the sheep, which were offered to God every morning and evening in the Temple, were there gathered together and washed.
A pool: i.e. a place which contained fishes, or at least might have held them. The Greek is κολυμβήθζα, a place to swim in, because fishes, or even men, might swim in it. The Vulgate has piscina. This poo1was constructed by Solomon for the service of the Temple; hence it is called by Josephus (Bell. Judges 6: 6) Solomon"s Pool. In it the Nethinims washed the victims which they handed over to the priests to be offered in the Temple.
Some Greek codices instead of pool read Ï€Ïλη, a Porch, or gate, but S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Cyril, Euthymius, S. Jerome, and others passim, read κολυμβήθζα, i.e, a pool. The Syriac has a baptistery, or font.
Bethsaida: so read the Vulgate, and among the Greeks SS. Chrysostom and Cyril. And appositely, for Bethsaida means in Hebrew a house, i.e, a place of hunting, or fishing. And this is the signification of the Greek κολυμβήθζα, a place for fish to swim in. The Greek MSS, however, read ֲηθεσδὰ: so also S. Jerome (loc. Hebræis). Bethesda means in Hebrew a place of pouring forth, because the rain from the roofs of the houses, and streams of water from aqueducts, flowed into it. The Syriac has Bethchesda, or house of mercy, from the Hebrew çñã, chesed, mercy, because there God showed His mercy to the miserable sick whom He healed; or else because righteous men relieved with their alms the sick poor who lay there.
Having five porches, or porticoes: these porches or porticoes were places covered above, but open below, either for walking, or taking rest in, that sick persons might rest in them secure from rain, or the heat of the sun, and immediately step out of them into the pool when its angel moved the water.
