The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
7. I have no man. This diseased man does what almost all of us are wont to do; for he limits the assistance of God according to his own thought, and does not venture to promise to himself any thing more than he conceives in his mind.
This miraculous cure is not recorded by any other of the evangelists, who confine themselves mostly to the miracles wrought in Galilee, but John relates those wrought at Jerusalem. Concerning this observe, I. The time when this cure was wrought: it was at a feast of the Jews, that is, the passover, for that was the most celebrated feast.
Commenting on John 5:1-16
The impotent man answered him, Sir,.... Which was a common and courteous way of speaking, much in use with the Jews, especially to strangers. The Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, "yea Lord", which is a direct answer to the question: I have no man; the Ethiopic version reads, "men"; he had no servant, so Nonnus, or servants, to wait upon him, and take him...