After this is the same expression used in 3.22; it has the same meaning as the phrase used in 2.12, and it appears again in 6.1. An appropriate equivalent in some languages is “and then,” “and later,” or “after that.” Since there is no way of knowing precisely what the lapse of time was, it is better to use an indefinite phrase that implies subsequent activity.

For a religious festival is literally “there was a feast of the Jews,” and in the Greek sentence structure it is followed by the clause “and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” A few ancient manuscripts have “there was the (note the definite article “the”) feast of the Jews,” probably a reference either to the feast of Tabernacles or to the Passover. The textual evidence for this reading is weak, but the feast referred to was perhaps one of these two or possibly Pentecost, since on these three occasions the Jews were required to go to Jerusalem.

In some languages it is difficult to speak about a festival as merely “happening.” Many receptor languages require participants to be identified in such an expression. Therefore it may be necessary to say “the people were celebrating a religious festival” or “the Jewish people were celebrating a special religious event.”

Went is literally “went up” (so most translations); see 2.13.

Connecting Jesus’ activity with the religious festival by a literal rendering of the Greek conjunction (“and”) may not be adequate in some languages. Since there is a causal relation, Good News Translation has Jesus went … for a religious festival.

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 .