And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.

Now the servants and ministers stood at a fire of coals, because it was cold, and warmed themselves. And with them was Peter also, standing, and warming himself.

But the bondmen and officers, having made a fire of coals (for it was cold), stood and warmed themselves; and Peter was standing with them and warming himself.

And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; (for it was cold) and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself.

and the servants and the officers were standing, having made a fire of coals, because it was cold, and they were warming themselves, and Peter was standing with them, and warming himself.

Now because it was cold the servants and the police had lighted a charcoal fire, and were standing and warming themselves; and Peter too remained with them, standing and warming himself.

Now the servants and the police had made a fire of coals because it was cold; they were warming themselves in front of it and Peter was there with them, warming himself.

Now the servants and attendants were standing before burning coals, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves. And Peter was standing with them also, warming himself.

The servants and police officers were standing around a charcoal fire (which they had made because it was cold), and were warming themselves. Peter, too, was with them, standing and warming himself.

And Simon Peter was standing with them. When the evangelist adds that Peter was standing near the fire, along with the others and servants, this serves to connect the various parts of the narrative, as we shall afterwards see. But this shows how great was Peter's stupidity, when, without the least concern, he warmed himself along with a multitude of wicked men, after having denied his Master; though it is possible that he may have been restrained by fear lest, in going out of the high priest's house, he should fall into another danger of the same kind.

Servants and officers - These belonged to the chief priests, etc.; the Roman soldiers had probably been dismissed after having conducted Christ to Annas.

And the servants and officers stood there,.... In a certain part of the hall, the middle of it; the Vulgate Latin reads, "by the coals": it follows,
who had made a fire of coals, for it was cold; though it was the passover, and harvest near. Dr. Lightfoot has observed from our countryman Biddulph, who was at Jerusalem at this time of the year, that though in the daytime it was as hot as with us at Midsummer, yet such very great dews fell as made it very cold, especially in the night; and from one of the Jewish canons (m), that the year was not intercalated, (which when done was chiefly on account of the passover,) neither for snow nor frost; which, as he justly remarks, supposes there might be frost and snow at the time of the passover. The same is observed in the Talmud (n), where the gloss upon it is,
"that they might not desist, on that account, from coming to the passover.''
The sense is, that whereas sometimes snow fell about the time of the passover; which might be thought to be an hinderance to some from coming to it; this never was a reason that came into consideration with the sanhedrim, or prevailed upon them to intercalate a month, that so the passover might not fall at a time of year when there was usually snow. The passover was always in the spring of the year, when nights are commonly cold, as they are generally observed to be at the vernal equinox: this night might be remarkably cold; which seems to be suggested by the Persic version, which reads, "for it was cold that night"; and the Ethiopic version, "for the cold of that night was great"; and adds what is neither in the text, nor true, "for the country was cold". The Arabic version, as it should seem, very wrongly renders it, "for it was winter"; since the passover was never kept in the winter season, but always in the spring, in the month Nisan: the winter season, with the Jews, were half the month of Chisleu, all Tebeth, and half Shebet (o); though this is to be observed in favour of that version, that the Jews distinguish their winter into two parts; the one they call which, as the gloss says, is the strength of winter, the coldest part of it, and which lasts the time before mentioned; and the other they call which is the end of winter, and when the cold is not so strong; and half Nisan is taken into this; for they say that half Shebat, all Adar, and half Nisan, are reckoned to this part of winter: so that, according to this account, the fourteenth of Nisan, which was the day on which the passover was killed; or at least the fifteenth, which was now begun, was the last day of winter, and so just secures the credit of the above version.
And they warmed themselves, and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself: he was cold both inwardly and outwardly; and being so, he gets into bad company; and it may be with a view that he might not be suspected, but be taken for one of their own sort, as one who had the same ill opinion of Jesus they had; and by the light of the fire he is again discovered and challenged, which makes way for a second denial.
(m) Maimon. Hilch. Kiddush Chodesh, c. 4. sect. 6. (n) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 11. 1. (o) T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 106. 2.

And the servants and officers--the menials and some of the "band" that "took Jesus." (Also see on Mark 14:54.)
stood there, who had made--"having made."
a fire of coals, for it was cold, and they warmed themselves--"John alone notices the material (charcoal) of which the fire was made, and the reason for a fire--the coldness of the night" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON]. "Peter went in and sat with the servants to see the end (Matthew 26:58), and warmed himself at the fire" (Mark 14:54). These two statements are extremely interesting. His wishing to "see the end," of issue of these proceedings, was what led him into the palace, for he evidently feared the worst. But once in, the serpent coil is drawn closer; it is a cold night, and why should not he take advantage of the fire as well as others? Besides, in the talk of the crowd about the all-engrossing topic, he may pick up something which he would like to hear. "And as Peter was beneath in the palace" (Mark 14:66). Matthew (Matthew 26:69) says, "sat without in the palace." According to Oriental architecture, and especially in large buildings, as here, the street door--or heavy folding gate through which single persons entered by a wicket kept by a porter--opened by a passage or "porch" (Mark 14:68) into a quadrangular court, here called the "palace" or hall, which was open above, and is frequently paved with flagstones. In the center of this court the "fire" would be kindled (in a brazier). At the upper end of it, probably, was the chamber in which the trial was held, open to the court and not far from the fire (Luke 22:61), but on a higher level; for Mark (Mark 14:66) says the court was "beneath" it. The ascent was, perhaps, by a short flight of steps. This explanation will make the intensely interesting details more intelligible.