It was then about four o’clock in the afternoon is literally “It was about the tenth hour.” John seems to follow Roman custom in reckoning the hours from daybreak, which would be about 6.00 a.m., and so “the tenth hour” is equivalent to 4.00 p.m. It is a reference to the time when Jesus invited the two men to come and see where he was staying. In the Greek this parenthetical statement appears at the end of the verse. However, it refers to the time when Jesus invited the two men to visit him, and therefore it is appropriate to introduce it earlier in the verse. Otherwise it could be misunderstood to refer to the time when the two men left Jesus after their visit.

The rest of that day represents the Greek “that day,” but In English it is more natural to add the rest of because the time involved is after four in the afternoon.

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 .