John 5:3

3. Omit ἐκδεχομένων τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν after ξηρῶν, with אA1BC1L against D and the great mass of later authorities; a gloss suggested by John 5:7, and added before John 5:4.

3. τυφλ., χ., ξ. The special kinds of ἀσθενοῦντες. The words which follow in T.R., and the whole of John 5:4 are an interpolation, though a very ancient one, for it was known to Tertullian (De Bapt. v.). “The whole passage is omitted by the oldest representatives of each great group of authorities” (Westcott). The conclusion of John 5:3 was added first as a gloss on John 5:7; and John 5:4 may represent the popular belief with regard to the intermittent bubbling of the healing water, first added as a gloss, and then inserted into the text. The water was probably mineral, and the people may have been right in supposing that it was most efficacious when it was most violent. The MSS. which contain the insertion vary very much.