Peter declared (New American Bible “Peter replied”) is rendered “Peter said” in most translations. The Greek verb “to say” covers a wide spectrum of meaning, and Good News Translation gives it the proper shade of meaning in the context.

Never at any time expresses a very strong negation in Greek. Moffatt translates “You will wash my feet never!” (note also Jerusalem Bible “ ‘Never!’ said Peter. ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ ”) In some languages this strong negation is not properly expressed by a future tense, such as “You will never wash.” The closest equivalent would be some expression of necessity, for example, “You must never wash.”

If I do not wash your feet is literally “If I do not wash you.” Most translations here are literal, but the reference is obviously to Peter’s feet, not to his whole body (see verse 9). Good News Translation makes this information explicit.

You will no longer be my disciple is more literally “You have no part with me.” Moffatt renders “you will not share my lot”; Phillips “you cannot share my lot”; Goodspeed “You will have no share with me”; New English Bible “you are not in fellowship with me”; and Jerusalem Bible “you can have nothing in common with me.” New American Bible assumes that the background of the Greek word “part” is to be found in the Hebrew term that describes the God-given heritage of Israel. That is, New American Bible takes the analogy to represent the “heritage” or “share” in the promised land that God gave to the individual tribes. In light of this background, New American Bible translates “you will have no share in my heritage.” Whatever the source of the imagery, Jesus uses these words to affirm that if Peter is not “washed” he will not share in the benefits of Jesus’ death, and so will have no place among God’s people.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .