John 5:2

Sheep market] RV 'sheep gate': cp. Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 12:39. Bethesda] i.e. 'house of mercy,' or, possibly, 'house of the stream,' is perhaps the Virgin's pool, SE. of the Temple, the only natural spring in Jerusalem. It is an intermittent spring, and when 'the troubling of the waters' occurs, the Jews still bathe in it for medicinal purposes. Variant spellings are 'Bethzatha' and 'Bethsaida.'

3, 4. The best authorities omit the words waiting for.. whatsoever disease he had, which describe the troubling of the water by an angel. The troubling of the waters was a natural phenomenon, which popular superstition ascribed to supernatural agency.