John · 25 verses
John 21
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Peter puts his outer garment back on before jumping into the sea, while the net comes ashore with exactly 153 large fish and not one tear.
Breakfast by the Seavv. 1–14
By the Sea of Tiberias, Simon Peter announces a fishing expedition, and six others join him. The night produces nothing. At dawn Jesus stands on the shore, unrecognised, and directs the empty-handed fishermen to cast on the right side of the boat. The net then becomes too full to haul in. The beloved disciple recognises the Lord; Peter, having removed his outer garment, puts it on and leaps into the sea, a sequence with the brisk logic of a man who has just remembered both devotion and clothing. On shore, Jesus has already laid a charcoal fire with fish and bread. The catch is counted at 153 large fish, and the net remains unbroken. Jesus gives them breakfast, and none asks who He is, because they know.
Three Questions for Petervv. 15–19
After breakfast, Jesus asks Peter three times whether he loves Him. Peter answers each time that Jesus knows he does. The replies become commands: feed the lambs, shepherd the sheep, feed the sheep. By the third question Peter is deeply hurt, though he still answers, “Lord, You know all things.” Jesus then speaks of Peter’s youth, when he dressed himself and went where he wished, and of his old age, when another will dress him and lead him where he does not wish to go. The chapter says this indicates the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then Jesus says, “Follow Me.”
The Question Peter Cannot Leave Alonevv. 20–25
Peter turns and sees the disciple whom Jesus loved following them—the same disciple who had leaned against Jesus at supper to ask who would betray Him. Peter asks what will happen to that disciple. Jesus replies that the matter is not Peter’s concern, repeating instead, “You follow Me!” A rumour consequently spreads that the disciple will not die, though the text carefully says Jesus did not say that. The disciple is identified as the one who testifies to these things and wrote them down. Then comes the final, gloriously unmanageable estimate: if everything Jesus did had been written down, the world itself would not have had room for all the books.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
John 21:1Later, by the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus again revealed Himself to the disciples. He made Himself known in this way:
John 21:2Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.
John 21:3Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they said. So they went out and got into the boat, but caught nothing that night.
John 21:4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not recognize that it was Jesus.
John 21:5So He called out to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” “No,” they answered.
John 21:6He told them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it there, and they were unable to haul it in because of the great number of fish.
John 21:7Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his outer garment (for he had removed it. . .) and jumped into the sea.
John 21:8The other disciples came ashore in the boat. They dragged in the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards.
John 21:9When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish on it, and some bread.
John 21:10Jesus told them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
John 21:11So Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many, the net was not torn.
John 21:12“Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said to them. None of the disciples dared to ask Him, “Who are You?” They knew it was the Lord.
John 21:13Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and He did the same with the fish.
John 21:14This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after He was raised from the dead.
John 21:15When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.”
John 21:16Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.”
John 21:17Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
John 21:18Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself and walked where you wanted; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”
John 21:19Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. And after He had said this, He told him, “Follow Me.”
John 21:20Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them. He was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper to ask, “Lord, who is going to betray You?”
John 21:21When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”
John 21:22Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you? You follow Me!”
John 21:23Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. However, Jesus did not say that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I return, what is that to you?”
John 21:24This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who has written them down. And we know that his testimony is true.
John 21:25There are many more things that Jesus did. If all of them were written down, I suppose that not even the world itself would have space for the books that would be written.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 223 passages were voted onto 23 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 25Psalms 40:5Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
- 25John 20:30–31Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.
- 6Luke 5:4–7When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
- 25Psalms 71:15My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure.
- 151 John 4:19We love because He first loved us.
- 15Isaiah 40:11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
- 15Romans 15:1We who are strong ought to bear with the shortcomings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
- 25Job 26:14Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”
- 16Acts 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
- 152 Corinthians 5:14–15For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, therefore all died.
- 17John 13:38“Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’’
- 151 Peter 5:1–4As a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings, and a partaker of the glory to be revealed, I appeal to the elders among you:
- 25Hebrews 11:32And what more shall I say? Time will not allow me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,
- 15Ephesians 6:24Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.
- 161 Peter 5:2Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;
- 3Luke 5:5“Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.”
Onward