Bible Strands
John 13:9
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Simon Peter speaks to Jesus immediately after Jesus refuses to wash his feet and warns that washing is required to share in Him.
The words — Peter uses κύριε (kurie), meaning “Lord,” and πόδας (podas), meaning “feet,” to demand complete physical cleansing.
The thread — The washing imagery parallels the purification petitions in Psalms 51:2 and Psalms 51:7, where the psalmist asks God to cleanse him from iniquity and sin.
Why it lands — The text establishes that Jesus alone determines the scope of cleansing, rejecting human attempts to restrict His work to a single body part.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Cross-references
- Psalms 51:2 Wash me clean of my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
- Psalms 51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- Psalms 26:6 I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
- 1 Peter 3:21 And this water symbolizes the baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
- Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Jeremiah 4:14 Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?
- Matthew 27:24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but that instead a riot was breaking out, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd. “I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “You bear the responsibility.”