The cloth is the same word used in 11.44 (see there); around is more literally “on” (so most translations). Probably this cloth was used to prevent the dead man’s mouth from falling open, by being passed under the chin and tied above the head. Jesus is not explicitly mentioned in the Greek text of the phrase around Jesus’ head, but Good News Translation does so, since so far in this passage he has not been referred to by name (in verse 2 he is referred to as the Lord).

In Greek, all of verse 7 is a continuation of the sentence begun in verse 4. Good News Translation breaks the sentence at this point, introducing a new sentence with it was.

Not lying with the linen cloths but was rolled up by itself indicates that the cloth which had been around Jesus’ head was in a position separate from the linen cloths with which his body had been wrapped, and that it was rolled up. The verb “to roll up” is not found in the Septuagint, and elsewhere in the New Testament it appears only in Matthew 27.59 and Luke 23.53, where it is used of wrapping Jesus’ body for burial. In the present context it is possible to take the verb to mean “neatly rolled up,” in contrast to the grave cloths, which may have been left lying about in some disorder. But more probably the verb should be taken to indicate that the cloth with which the head had been wrapped was left in the shape that it had (that is, an oval loop) when it was wrapped around the head of Jesus. If so, the grave cloths are pictured as lying flat in the place where the torso had been, while the cloth with which the head was wrapped retained its oval shape and was lying in the place where the head had been.

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 .