The pool referred to was near the “sheepgate,” which evidently was in northeastern Jerusalem close to the temple mount. (Nehemiah 3:1; 12:39) Recent excavations have uncovered evidence of two ancient pools, with fragments of columns and bases that indicate that a building having colonnades existed there in Herodian times, as John 5:2 says.

“Now in Jerusalem at the sheepgate there is a pool designated in Hebrew Bethzatha, with five colonnades.