The Festival of Shelters took place approximately six months after the Passover Festival mentioned in 6.4. This fact indicates that the temporal marker in verse 1 (after this) may have a wide distribution of meaning.

The Festival of Shelters was the Jewish autumn harvest festival. It was also known as the “feast of Booths” (New American Bible; see Moffatt), because people celebrated it by living in the vineyards in temporary huts made of tree branches. The original purpose for living in the vineyards during this period was to guard the grape harvest against the ravages of animals, but the practice later gained the significance of commemorating the time that the Israelites lived in tents during their wanderings in the desert. Shelters, the most popular of all Jewish festivals, was often known simply as “the Festival.” It lasted from the 15th to the 21st of Tishri (September-October), and the eighth day (the 22nd of Tishri) was a day for special celebrations. For basic information regarding this festival, see Leviticus 23.33-36,39-43; Deuteronomy 16.13-15.

Festival of Shelters should be translated as to indicate that during this festival people lived in shelters; for example, “a festival in which people used shelters” or “… stayed in shelters” or even “a festival in which people built shelters for themselves.”

The time … was near may be rendered in some languages as “it was almost the day for” or “only a few more days before.”

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 .