John 11 — Clausal Layout (English)

independentparticipialrelativepurposecausecontentconditionalphrase modifierdashed = verbless / suspended

Flush-left = a main (independent) clause. Each dependent line begins directly beneath the word it attaches to in the line above — the anchor word is dotted-underlined, and lights up when you hover its dependent clause; each tag also names the attachment. A dashed border marks verbless, elliptical, or suspended lines. Where a long sentence's staircase runs wider than the page, the diagram scrolls sideways. (In print, or without JavaScript, lines fall back to stepped indent columns.)

The illness reported and the deliberate delay 11:1–16

vv. 1–6 — the message from Bethany and the two-day stay

Now a certain man was ill,independent — periphrastic imperfect — the illness as ongoing state; a new narrative unit opens

Lazarus of Bethany, from the village of Mary and Martha her sister.phrase modifier — apposition — name, village, family; Eleazar, 'God has helped,' ironically apt

It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointmentindependent — narrator's aside — proleptic cross-reference to the anointing not yet narrated (12:1–8)

and wiped his feet with her hair,participial — coordinate substantival participle — the gesture of extravagant devotion

whose brother Lazarus was ill.relative — the relative circles back to Lazarus — imperfect ἠσθένει recaps v. 1

So the sisters sent to him, saying:independent — the plot begins — ἀποστέλλω, the commission verb

'Lord, behold, the one you love is ill.'content — no request made — Jesus' φιλία is itself the petition; φιλέω here, ἀγαπάω in v. 5

But Jesus, hearing it,participial — preposed circumstantial — leans on εἶπεν

said:independent — the reframing pronouncement

'This illness is not unto death but for the glory of God,content — the illness reframed (cf. 9:3) — Lazarus will die, yet death is not its telos

so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'purpose — in John glorification is the cross-and-resurrection complex (12:23) — this sign triggers it

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.independent — narrator's aside — stative imperfect ἠγάπα set down before the delay, so the delay cannot be read as indifference

So when he heardconditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd; no temporal key) — leans on ἔμεινεν

that he was ill,content — the fifth ἀσθεν- word in six verses

then he stayed two days in the place where he was.independent — the scandalous paradox — because he loved (v. 5), he stayed; the delay serves the divine timetable

vv. 7–10 — the return to Judea and the daylight parable

Then after this he says to the disciples:independent — historic present λέγει — double temporal marker ends the delay

'Let us go into Judea again.'content — hortatory Ἄγωμεν — back into the region of the stoning (10:31, 39)

The disciples say to him:independent — historic present — the alarmed objection

'Rabbi, just now the Judeans were seeking to stone you,content — νῦν + conative imperfect — the threat of 10:31, 39 still warm

and you are going there again?'content — incredulous question — the καί almost adversative

Jesus answered:independent — the reply-frame for the parable

'Are there not twelve hours in the day?content — rhetorical question expecting yes — the day's fixed span: the divine schedule cannot be shortened

If anyone walks in the day,conditional — protasis inside quoted speech — leans on προσκόπτει

he does not stumble,content — the apodosis — gnomic present

because he sees the light of this world;cause — natural daylight — but the light-of-the-world echo (8:12; 9:5) sounds beneath it

But if anyone walks in the night,conditional — the antithetical protasis — leans on προσκόπτει; νύξ, the sphere of Nicodemus (3:2) and Judas (13:30)

he stumbles,content — the negative apodosis

because the light is not in him.'cause — the shift from external daylight to light within — the parable turns inward

vv. 11–16 — sleep, death, and Thomas' resolve

He said these things,independent — the parable closed off

and after this he says to them:independent — historic present — the turn from figure to disclosure

'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep;content — the sleep-euphemism — perfect κεκοίμηται, the settled state; ὁ φίλος answers φιλεῖς (v. 3)

but I am goingcontent — futuristic present — the departure already underway

so that I may awaken him.'purpose — ἐξυπνίζω, NT hapax — the wake-up word sustains the sleep figure

The disciples therefore said to him:independent — the misunderstanding-frame

'Lord, if he has fallen asleep,conditional — first-class protasis inside speech — leans on σωθήσεται; they repeat Jesus' word literally

he will recover.'content — σῴζω as medical 'recover' — with the deeper salvation-sense sounding beneath, unheard by the speakers

Now Jesus had spoken about his death,independent — narrator's aside — pluperfect εἰρήκει; the decoding technique of 2:21; 7:39; 12:33

but they thoughtindependent — the narrator names the cognitive error

that he was speaking about the rest of sleep.content — κοίμησις, only here in the NT — natural sleep, the literal reading corrected

So then Jesus said to them plainly:independent — παρρησίᾳ — the veiled figure abandoned for plain speech (cf. 16:25, 29)

'Lazarus has died,content — the stark aorist — two words undo the euphemism

and I am glad for your sake,content — the shocking joy — glad of an absence that let death run its course

so that you may believe,purpose — ingressive aorist — the sign's telos is the disciples' deepened faith (cf. vv. 4, 42)

because I was not there;cause — the ground of the joy — the absence was deliberate (v. 6)

but let us go to him.'content — the hortatory of v. 7 resumed — deliberation closed

So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow-disciples:independent — συμμαθηταῖς, NT hapax; John always glosses the Aramaic Toma with Greek Δίδυμος

'Let us also go,content — Thomas takes up Jesus' own Ἄγωμεν — gloomy courage

so that we may die with him.'purpose — the resolve to die with him — half despair, half devotion; the chapter's first passion-shadow

Martha meets Jesus — the resurrection and the life 11:17–27

vv. 17–19 — four days dead; the mourners gathered

So Jesus, arriving,participial — preposed circumstantial — leans on εὗρεν

found him already four days in the tomb.independent — four days — beyond the popular three-day lingering of the soul: the death is incontestable

Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.independent — narrator's geographical aside — two miles; near enough to supply the crowd of witnesses

And many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Maryindependent — pluperfect — the mourners already in place before Jesus arrives; the future witnesses assembled

to console them concerning their brother.purpose — παραμυθέομαι — the conventional condolence visit

vv. 20–27 — the dialogue: reproach, promise, declaration, confession

So Martha, when she heardconditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd; no temporal key) — leans on ὑπήντησεν

that Jesus was coming,content — the present retained in indirect speech — he is coming now

went to meet him;independent — Martha's energetic going-out — she initiates the dialogue

but Mary was sitting in the house.independent — the contrastive imperfect — the posture of mourning; the sisters diverge as in Luke 10:38–42

Martha therefore said to Jesus:independent — the first movement of the dialogue

'Lord, if you had been here,conditional — second-class contrary-to-fact protasis — leans on the apodosis; Mary will repeat it word for word (v. 32)

my brother would not have died.'content — reproach that is also faith — his presence would have barred death

But even now I knowcontent — ἀλλὰ καὶ νῦν — the lament turns forward

that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.'content — open-ended trust — she does not name the resurrection she dares not ask for

Jesus says to her:independent — historic present — the dialogue quickens

'Your brother will rise again.'content — deliberately ambiguous future — last-day resurrection or this hour's resuscitation

Martha says to him:independent — historic present — the orthodox reply

'I knowcontent — the formal confession-opener, repeated from v. 22

that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.'content — Dan 12:2 orthodoxy — the eschatological horizon Jesus is about to redraw

Jesus said to her:independent — the frame for the chapter's summit

'I am the resurrection and the life;content — the sixth predicate ἐγώ εἰμι — not the giver of resurrection but the resurrection in person

the one who believes in me,content — suspended subject (casus pendens) — resumed by ζήσεται

even if he dies,conditional — concessive protasis (καὶ ἐάν) — physical death conceded as real, leaning on ζήσεται

will live;content — the future limb — death does not end the believer's life

and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.'content — the present limb — οὐ μή, the strongest denial: never unto the age (8:51; 10:28)

Do you believe this?'content — the declaration turned into a personal demand

She says to him:independent — historic present — the confession

'Yes, Lord;content — verbless assent before the credo

I have come to believecontent — emphatic ἐγώ + perfect — faith arrived at and standing

that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'content — the triple title matching 20:31 almost verbatim — Martha speaks the Gospel's own purpose-statement

Mary and the weeping 11:28–37

vv. 28–32 — Mary summoned, followed, at his feet

And having said this,participial — preposed aorist participle — leans on ἀπῆλθεν

she went awayindependent — Martha turns messenger

and called her sister Mary quietly,independent — λάθρᾳ — out of the mourners' hearing; φωνέω, the Shepherd's calling-verb (10:3)

saying:participial — the speech-participle framing the summons

'The Teacher is herecontent — ὁ διδάσκαλος — the intimates' title for Jesus (1:38; 20:16)

and is calling you.'content — the personal summons — the sheep called by name

And she, when she heard,conditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd) — leans on ἠγέρθη

rose quicklyindependent — ἐγείρω — the rising-verb of the resurrection chapter, in miniature

and was going to him.independent — imperfect — Mary pictured in motion

Now Jesus had not yet come into the village,independent — narrator's spatial aside — pluperfect; the scene stays outside Bethany

but was still in the placeindependent — the meeting-point held — so the mourners must follow Mary out

where Martha had met him.relative — ὑπαντάω repeated from v. 20 — the same spot

So the Judeans who were with her in the house and consoling her,participial — the fronted subject with its attributive participles — leans on ἠκολούθησαν

seeing Mary —participial — preposed participle with proleptic object — Mary drawn forward before the ὅτι clause

that she rose quickly and went out —content — ἀνέστη: the ἀνάστασις-root echoing through the narrative

followed her,independent — the mourners trail Mary — providence assembling the witnesses

supposingparticipial — the mistaken inference — Johannine irony

that she was going to the tombcontent — they misread her destination — and so arrive at the right one

to weep there.purpose — κλαίω — audible wailing, the word soon set against Jesus' δακρύω (v. 35)

So Mary, when she cameconditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd) — leans on ἔπεσεν

to where Jesus was,relative — the local relative

seeing him,participial — preposed participle — the sight triggers the prostration; leans on ἔπεσεν

fell at his feet,independent — Mary's gesture where Martha had words — at the feet she will anoint (12:3)

saying to him:participial — the speech-participle

'Lord, if you had been here,conditional — the sisters' shared protasis, verbatim from v. 21 — leans on the apodosis

my brother would not have died.'content — identical lament, but no v. 22 follows — Mary adds no forward-looking word, only weeping

vv. 33–37 — ἐνεβριμήσατο, ἐδάκρυσεν — and the crowd divided

So Jesus, when he sawconditional — temporal ὡς (typed cnd) — leans on ἐνεβριμήσατο

her weepingparticipial — supplementary participle — Mary's audible grief

and the Judeans who had come with her weeping,participial — the mourners' κλαίειν mirroring hers — grief massed before him

he was deeply moved in spiritindependent — the crux — ἐμβριμάομαι, primarily 'snort' in indignation: anger at death, at unbelief, or the surge before the miracle; left open

and troubled himself,independent — reflexive ταράσσω — the verb of Jesus' pre-passion distress (12:27; 13:21), here willed upon himself

and said:independent — the emotion issues in movement toward the tomb

'Where have you laid him?'content — perfect τεθείκατε — laid and lying; the question moves the scene, not his knowledge

They say to him:independent — historic present

'Lord, come and see.'content — the 'come and see' of 1:39 reversed — now they invite him

Jesus wept.independent — the shortest verse — ingressive aorist of δακρύω (NT hapax): silent tears breaking out, against the crowd's wailing κλαίω

So the Judeans were saying:independent — imperfect — the murmured commentary

'See how he loved him!'content — the crowd reads the tears rightly as love — ἐφίλει, the sisters' own word (v. 3)

But some of them said:independent — the crowd divides — the skeptical minority

'Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have done somethingcontent — the ch. 9 sign cited back — power conceded, its application questioned

so that this man also would not have died?'purpose — the question left hanging — the sign that follows is its answer

The tomb — Λάζαρε, δεῦρο ἔξω 11:38–44

vv. 38–40 — the stone and the objection

So Jesus, again deeply moved within himself,participial — the crux resurges — πάλιν ἐμβριμώμενος, now ἐν ἑαυτῷ; the present participle leans on ἔρχεται

comes to the tomb.independent — historic present — the approach to the crisis

Now it was a cave,independent — narrator's aside — the rock-hewn chamber of Judean burial

and a stone lay against it.independent — the sealed entrance — the detail the command will address

Jesus says:independent — historic present — the first command

'Take away the stone.'content — bald aorist imperative — men must move the stone; only he can move the dead

Martha, the sister of the dead man, says to him:independent — the narrator re-names her by the perfect τετελευτηκότος — sister of the definitively dead

'Lord, by now he smells,content — ὄζω, NT hapax — the confessor of v. 27 recoils before decomposition

for it is the fourth day.'cause — τεταρταῖος — the four days of v. 17 stated from inside the grief

Jesus says to her:independent — historic present — the recall to faith

'Did I not tell youcontent — rhetorical question — pointing back to v. 4 and vv. 25–26

that if you believe you will see the glory of God?'content — faith before sight — the δόξα of v. 4 promised to the believing eye

vv. 41–44 — the thanksgiving, the cry, the grave-clothes

So they took away the stone.independent — the command obeyed — the condition met

And Jesus lifted his eyes upwardindependent — the prayer-posture (cf. 17:1) — αἴρω twice in one verse: the stone lifted, the eyes lifted

and said:independent — the public prayer opens

'Father, I thank youcontent — thanksgiving, not petition — the answer already settled

that you have heard me.cause — the aorist of a hearing already accomplished — before the miracle is performed

And I knewcontent — pluperfect of οἶδα — knowledge continuous and prior

that you always hear me;content — the unbroken communion of Father and Son

but on account of the crowd standing around I said it,content — the prayer's didactic purpose owned aloud — spoken for the bystanders

so that they may believepurpose — the sign's telos a third time (vv. 4, 15) — now for the crowd

that you sent me.'content — the Johannine mission-formula (17:3, 8, 21) — the content of the faith sought

And having said these things,participial — preposed aorist participle — the prayer closed; leans on ἐκραύγασεν

he cried out with a loud voice:independent — κραυγάζω + φωνῇ μεγάλῃ — the voice the dead will hear (5:28–29)

'Lazarus, come out!'content — the dead man called by name (10:3) — Augustine: named, lest all the dead rise

The dead man came out,independent — the miracle in three unadorned words — asyndeton; the perfect participle insists: the one who had died

bound feet and hands with grave-cloths,participial — κειρίαι, NT hapax — the burial verified on the living body

and his face was wrapped with a cloth.independent — the σουδάριον — the same word for the cloth left folded in the empty tomb (20:7): Lazarus needs unbinding, Jesus will not

Jesus says to them:independent — historic present — the closing command

'Unbind himcontent — the community given its part — loosing what death had tied

and let him go.'content — restoration completed to ordinary life — ὑπάγειν, the going-verb, now Lazarus' own

The council and Caiaphas 11:45–53

vv. 45–48 — the sign divides; the Sanhedrin alarmed

Therefore many of the Judeans, who had come to Mary and beheld what he did,participial — the fronted subject with its identifying participles — θεάομαι, deliberate eyewitness seeing; leans on ἐπίστευσαν

believed in him;independent — ingressive aorist — the sign achieves its stated telos (vv. 4, 15, 42)

but some of them went away to the Phariseesindependent — the same sign, the opposite response — the crowd splits as at v. 37

and told themindependent — the report that convenes the council

what Jesus had done.relative — verbatim echo of v. 45 — faith and betrayal share one and the same content

So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the councilindependent — the Sanhedrin assembled — priestly aristocracy and Pharisees in coalition

and were saying:independent — deliberative imperfect — the hand-wringing in progress

'What are we doing?content — the helpless question — inaction confessed

For this man is performing many signs.cause — the signs conceded as real — the fear is political, not evidential

If we let him go on like this,conditional — protasis inside the deliberation — leans on the apodosis; ἀφίημι, ironically Jesus' own release-word (v. 44)

everyone will believe in him,content — universal faith as the feared outcome — the Gospel's goal, dreaded

and the Romans will comecontent — the Roman spectre — the irony: eliminating Jesus will not avert 70 CE

and will take away both our place and our nation.'content — ὁ τόπος = the Temple (Acts 6:13–14); αἴρω again — the stone-lifting verb turned to destruction

vv. 49–53 — the συμφέρει prophecy and the death-decree

But one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them:independent — 'that year' — not an annual office (Caiaphas held it c. 18–36 CE) but that fateful year; the phrase returns at v. 51 and 18:13

'You know nothing at all,content — the contemptuous rebuke — the realist silences the hand-wringers

nor do you reckoncontent — λογίζομαι — cold political calculation

that it is expedient for youcontent — συμφέρει — the utilitarian principle the narrator will invert into atonement

that one man should die for the peoplecontent — ὑπέρ — spoken politically, heard theologically: the vicarious preposition (10:11; 15:13)

and the whole nation not perish.'content — ἀπόλλυμι — the μὴ ἀπόληται of 3:16 in a cynic's mouth

Now he did not say this from himself,independent — narrator's aside begins — ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ, the Johannine formula for speech not self-originated (7:28; 14:10)

but, being high priest that year, he prophesiedindependent — unwitting prophecy — the office carries the oracle (cf. Philo, Spec. Leg. 4.191); the plotter becomes God's mouthpiece

that Jesus was going to die for the nation,content — ἔμελλεν — divine necessity; the political ὑπέρ re-read as substitution

and not for the nation only,content — the narrator widens the scope — elliptical, still under the prophecy

but so that he might also gather into one the scattered children of God.purpose — Ezek 34; 37 universalized — the ingathering εἰς ἕν anticipates 10:16 and the unity prayer of ch. 17

So from that day they plottedindependent — the point of no return — the formal resolution that makes the passion inevitable

that they might kill him.purpose — the intent of 5:18; 7:1 now official policy — the life-sign has sealed the death-decree

Withdrawal to Ephraim — the Passover watch 11:54–57

Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Judeans,independent — παρρησίᾳ again (v. 14) — the open phase suspended; the daylight parable (vv. 9–10) enacted in retreat

but went away from there into the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim,independent — Ephraim — likely et-Taiyibeh near Bethel, only here in the NT; the wilderness edge

and there he stayed with the disciples.independent — μένω — the abiding-verb; the strategic stay echoes the two-day ἔμεινεν of v. 6

Now the Passover of the Judeans was near,independent — the third Johannine Passover (2:13; 6:4) — the one at which he will die; ἐγγύς echoes v. 18

and many went up to Jerusalem from the countryside before the Passoverindependent — ἀναβαίνω — the pilgrimage verb; the early arrivals

to purify themselves.purpose — pre-feast ritual purification (Num 9:10–11) — purity sought while the death-plot stands

So they kept seeking Jesusindependent — iterative imperfect — ζητέω, the seeking-verb of both pilgrims and police (v. 8)

and were saying to one another, standing in the temple:independent — the murmuring pilgrims in the temple courts — the scene of speculation

'What do you think?content — the deliberative opener

That he will surely not come to the feast?'content — emphatic οὐ μή — the expectation shaped by the warrant of v. 57; ch. 12 answers it

Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given ordersindependent — narrator's closing aside — pluperfect: the warrant already standing behind v. 56's fear

that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it,content — μηνύω — informant language; ἐντολή, elsewhere the word for the Father's commandments, here a police order

so that they might arrest him.purpose — πιάζω — the arrest-verb that failed at 7:30, 44; 10:39; the chapter of life ends with Jesus hunted

Analysis. John 11 is the seventh and climactic sign, and the layout shows a narrative spine repeatedly interrupted by speech and by the narrator. The mainline runs flush left in short strokes — the sisters send, Jesus stays, Jesus comes, Martha goes out, Mary falls, the stone is lifted, the dead man comes out — with John's historic presents (λέγει, λέγουσιν, ἔρχεται) flagged as they quicken the pace, and the two-word ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς (v. 35) standing alone at depth 0: δακρύω, the onset of silent tears, tagged against the audible κλαίω of Mary and the crowd. Speech hangs blue beneath its verbs of saying, and inside speech the chapter's conditionals lean forward, anchorless, on their apodoses: the daylight parable's twin ἐάν-protases (vv. 9–10), the disciples' εἰ κεκοίμηται (v. 12), the sisters' word-for-word shared reproach Κύριε, εἰ ἦς ὧδε (vv. 21, 32), and the concessive κἂν ἀποθάνῃ folded inside the great declaration. That declaration — Ἐγώ εἰμι ἡ ἀνάστασις καὶ ἡ ζωή (v. 25), the sixth predicate 'I am' — anchors the chapter's summit, answered by Martha's triple-title confession (v. 27) that matches 20:31 almost verbatim; the layout keeps her confession, not the miracle, as the theological high point before the sign. The narrator's asides sit on the mainline as flush-left comment, each tagged: Mary identified proleptically by an anointing not yet narrated (v. 2), Jesus' love stated precisely before the scandalous two-day delay (vv. 5–6), the sleep/death decoding (v. 13), the geography that supplies the witnesses (vv. 18, 30), and above all vv. 51–52, where Caiaphas' cynical συμφέρει counsel is re-read as unwitting prophecy — one man dying ὑπὲρ τοῦ ἔθνους, and not for the nation only. Cruxes the layout names rather than settles: ἐνεβριμήσατο τῷ πνεύματι and πάλιν ἐμβριμώμενος ἐν ἑαυτῷ (vv. 33, 38) are glossed 'deeply moved' but tagged with the verb's harder register of snorting indignation — anger at death, at unbelief, or the surge of authority before the miracle, left open; ἐτάραξεν ἑαυτόν is tied to the pre-passion ταράσσω texts (12:27; 13:21); 'high priest that year' (vv. 49, 51) is read as 'that fateful year,' not an annual office; and the closing arrest-warrant (v. 57) is left hanging over the Passover pilgrims' question, the sign of life having set the machinery of death in motion.