Jesus also went is literally “he also went up.” The pronoun “he” of the Greek text obviously refers to Jesus.

But secretly follows the same Greek text that Revised Standard Version translates “but in private.” It is possible to follow other Greek manuscripts which read “but went—as it were in secret.” For example, New American Bible reads “as if in secret,” and Moffatt “as it were privately.” Phillips has “as though he did not want to be seen,” and New English Bible “almost in secret.” Actually, the best Greek manuscripts support the reading “as it were in secret.” However, it seems likely that some ancient scribe changed the text to read in this way to soften the force of secretly. The UBS Committee on the Greek text rates their choice as “D” indicating that there is a high degree of doubt concerning the reading selected for the text.

He did not go openly, but secretly may be rendered “he did not go in such a way that people would recognize him, but he went in such a way that people wouldn’t know who he was.”

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 .