John

Chapter 1

¹ The Word existed before the universe existed. The Word was with God. The Word also was God. ² He, the Word, was with God before the universe existed. ³ God made everything through him. God made every single thing in the universe with him. ⁴ The Word gives eternal life and that eternal life is {God's good and true} light {that he revealed} to humans. ⁵ {God} revealed {his good and true} light to the evil world, and that evil world did not vanquish it.

⁶ God sent a man named John {who was known as John the Baptizer}. ⁷ He came in order to testify to people about {Jesus, who is} the light. {He testified} so that everyone might trust in the light by means of his {testimony}. ⁸ John himself was not that light, but {he came} in order to tell people about the light. ⁹ That true light was {Jesus,} who revealed God's truth and goodness to everyone. {He was} that light {that} was coming into the world.

¹⁰ The Word was in the world, and he created the whole universe. Nevertheless, {the people of} the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ The Word came to his own people, {the Jews,} but they rejected him. ¹² But he gave to everyone who accepted him and trusted in him the right to become God’s children. ¹³ These children of God were not {spiritually} born by means of {normal human} birth, nor by human desire, nor by the desire of their fathers. Rather, they were {spiritually} born by God.

¹⁴ The Word became a real human being and temporarily lived here {where we live}. We have seen him display his glorious nature. {That is} the glorious nature of the Unique Son {who came} from the Father. He fully possesses God’s kind acts and true teachings.

¹⁵ John the Baptizer was telling people about the Word. And he shouted {to those around him}, “I told you that someone would come after me {and that} he is much more important than I am because he existed {long} before me.” ¹⁶ {We believers know the Word fully possesses God’s kind acts and true teachings} because all of us have received one gracious act in place of another from those things that he is full of. ¹⁷ {This is} because God gave his laws {to the Israelites} by Moses. But God’s kind acts and true message came into {full} existence by Jesus the Messiah. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. But Jesus, the Unique One, is God. He is close to {God} the Father, and he has revealed the Father.

¹⁹ This is what John the Baptizer testified when the Jewish {leaders} sent {some} priests and Levites from {the city of} Jerusalem in order to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ {At that time} John emphatically confessed, “I am not the Messiah!” ²¹ Then they asked him, “{If that is so,} then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “No.” They asked again, “Are you the Prophet {whom God said would come}?” John answered, “No.” ²² So these {priests and Levites} asked John once more, “Who are you? {Tell us} so that we can report {what you say} to those {leaders} who sent us. Who do you claim to be?” ²³ John told {them}, “I am the person shouting in the desolate area to prepare yourselves to receive the Lord when he comes. {I am whom} the prophet Isaiah foretold.”

²⁴ These {priests and Levites} whom {the leaders in Jerusalem} sent {to John} were Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, then why are you baptizing {people}?” ²⁶ John replied, “I am baptizing {people} with water, but there is someone now among you whom you do not know. ²⁷ He follows after me, but I am not important enough even to untie his sandals.”

²⁸ These events occurred at the village of Bethany over {on the east side of} the Jordan River. {That is the place} where John was baptizing {people}.

²⁹ The day after {that happened,} John saw Jesus coming toward him. Then he said to the people, “Look! {He is} the Lamb of God! He will sacrifice himself to forgive the sins of the {people in this} world. ³⁰ This man is the one about whom I said, ‘Someone will come after me who is more important than I am, because he existed {long} before me.’ ³¹ I did not know who he was {at first}. Nevertheless, I have been baptizing {people} with water for the very purpose of revealing him to {the people of} Israel.”

³² And John testified and said, “I saw God’s Spirit coming down from heaven appearing like a dove. Then the Spirit remained on Jesus. ³³ I did not know who he was {at first}, but God sent me to baptize {people} with water and told me, ‘The man on whom you see my Spirit come down and remain is the man who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen {this} and I testify to you that {this man, Jesus,} is the Son of God.”

³⁵ The day after {that happened,} John the Baptizer was again with two of his students. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!” ³⁷ Then John’s two disciples heard what he said and followed Jesus. ³⁸ When Jesus turned around and saw them coming behind {him}, he asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi (which means ‘teacher’ {in Aramaic}), where are you lodging?” ³⁹ He replied, “Come with me, and you will see!” So they came and saw where Jesus was lodging. They stayed with him that day because it was getting late (it was about 4:00 p.m.).

⁴⁰ One of those two disciples who had heard what John had said and followed Jesus was {named} Andrew. {He was} Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ Andrew first {went and} found his brother Simon. {When he came to him,} he said, “We have found the Messiah!” (Messiah is “Christ” in Greek.) ⁴² Andrew took Simon to Jesus. When Jesus looked at Peter, he said, “You are Simon. Your father’s name is John. {From now on} your name will {also} be Cephas.” ({Cephas is} “Peter” in Greek {and means “rock”}.)

⁴³ The day after {that happened} Jesus decided to leave {that area}. He went to the {region of} Galilee and found a man {named} Philip. Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Philip was from the city of Bethsaida {in Galilee}. {This is also the city that} Andrew and Peter were from. ⁴⁵ {Then} Philip {went and} found Nathaniel. {When he came to him,} he said, “We have found the {Messiah} whom Moses wrote about in the law {God gave the Israelites} and {whom} the prophets {said would come}. {The Messiah is} Jesus. His father’s name is Joseph. He is from {the town of} Nazareth.” ⁴⁶ Nathaniel replied, “From Nazareth? Certainly nothing good can come out of that town!” Philip replied, “Come and see {for yourself}!” ⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching, he said to him, “Look! {Here is} an honest Israelite! He never deceives {anyone}!” ⁴⁸ Nathaniel asked him, “How do you know what kind of man I am?” Jesus replied, “I saw you before Philip called you, when you were sitting {by yourself} under the fig tree.” ⁴⁹ Then Nathaniel declared, “Teacher, you must be the Son of God! You are the King of Israel {whom we have been waiting for}!” ⁵⁰ Jesus replied, “Do you trust in me {just} because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see me do things that are much greater than that!” ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “I am telling you the truth: {Just like the vision your ancestor Jacob long ago saw,} you will see heaven opened up, and you will see God’s angels going up and coming down on me, the Son of Man.”

Chapter 2

¹ Two days later, there was a wedding in Cana, {which is a town in the region} of Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there. ² And someone also invited Jesus and his disciples to the wedding. ³ {The hosts served wine to those attending the wedding and} they drank all the wine they had. {So} Jesus’ mother said to him, “They are out of wine. {Please do something about it.}” ⁴ Then Jesus said to her, “Madam, what does that have to do with me or you? {The chosen} time {for me to begin} my {most important work} has not arrived yet.” ⁵ Jesus’ mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you {to do}.” ⁶ (There were six {empty} stone jars placed there. They held water {so that the people could wash themselves according to} Jewish religious cleansing laws. Each jar could hold 80 to 120 liters {of water}.) ⁷ Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled the jars {completely} to the top. ⁸ Then he told them, “Now, take {some water} out of a jar and bring it to the director of the wedding feast.” So the servants did that. ⁹ Then the director of the feast tasted the water, which had now become wine. (He did not know where the wine had come from, although the servants who had taken out the water knew.) And he called the bridegroom {to himself}. ¹⁰ Then he told the bridegroom, “Everyone serves the best wine first and serves the cheap wine later when the guests have drunk a lot {and can’t tell the difference}. However, you have saved the best wine until now.” ¹¹ That was the first of the miraculous signs that Jesus did. He did it in {the town of} Cana, {which is in the region} of Galilee. There he showed how great he is. So his disciples trusted in him.

¹² {Some time} after {doing} this {miracle,} Jesus and his mother and brothers, along with his disciples, went down to {the town of} Capernaum. And they stayed there for a few days.

¹³ Now it was almost time for the Jewish Passover Celebration, so Jesus went up to {the city of} Jerusalem. ¹⁴ There in the temple {courtyard} he saw men selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons {for those making sacrifices there}. {He also saw} men sitting at tables exchanging money {for temple money}. ¹⁵ So Jesus made a whip from some braided leather strips, and he used it to drive all {those people} out from the temple {along with} the sheep and the cattle. He also scattered the coins of the moneychangers on the ground and flipped their tables over. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling pigeons, “Take these pigeons out of here! Do not turn my Father’s house into a marketplace!” ¹⁷ {This event} reminded his disciples about what someone had written {in the scriptures long before}, “I love your temple so much, {O God,} that I would die for it.”

¹⁸ The Jewish {leaders} then responded by asking Jesus, “What miracle can you do for us {to prove that you have authority from God} to do these things that you are doing?” ¹⁹ Jesus replied to them, “{If} you destroy this temple, then in three days I will rebuild it.” ²⁰ So the Jewish {leaders} said, “It took 46 years to build this temple. {Are you saying that} you are going to rebuild this {entire} temple in {just} three days?” ²¹ However, the temple Jesus was speaking about was his own body, {not the temple building}. ²² As a result {of this statement}, his disciples remembered these things that he had said after God had raised Jesus from the dead. Then they believed both what the scriptures said and what Jesus himself had said.

²³ At a later time, when Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover Celebration, during {the days of} the celebration, many {people} trusted in him because they saw the miracles he kept on doing. ²⁴ Nevertheless, because Jesus knew what all people were like, he did not trust them. ²⁵ Jesus {also did not trust them} because he did not need anyone to tell him about mankind. {This is} because he knew what people {think and want}.

Chapter 3

¹ Now there was a man named Nicodemus. He was a member of {a strict Jewish religious group called} the Pharisees. He was a member of the highest Jewish governing council. ² He visited Jesus at night. He said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. {We know this} because no one could do these miracles you are doing unless God is helping him.” ³ Jesus replied to Nicodemus and said, “I am telling you the truth: No one can enter God’s kingdom unless he is born again.” ⁴ Then Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person be born again when he is old? No one can enter his mother’s womb {and be born} a second time!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: no one can enter God’s kingdom unless he is born again by water and the Spirit. ⁶ If a human being gives birth to a person, {that person} is a human being. But those who are born {again} by the {work of God’s} Spirit have a new spiritual nature {that God makes within them}. ⁷ Do not be astonished because I told you that you must be born again. ⁸ The {Holy Spirit is like} the wind that blows wherever it wants {to blow}. Although you can hear the sound of the wind, you do not know where the wind came from or where it is going. {Just as you don't understand these things,} so {also do you not understand} everyone who is born {again} by the {work of God’s} Spirit. ⁹ Nicodemus answered him, “How is this possible?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “You are {an important religious} teacher among {the people of} Israel, so you should understand what I am saying! ¹¹ I am telling you the truth: my discples and I say the things that we know {are true}, and we are telling you the things that we have witnessed. Yet you people {to whom we say these things} reject what we are saying. ¹² Since you people do not trust {what I say} when I tell you about things {that happen on this} earth, you {certaintly} will not trust {what I say} when I tell you about things {that happen in} heaven! ¹³ I, the Son of Man, am the only one who has gone up to heaven, and {I am} the only one who has come down {to earth} from heaven. ¹⁴ {Long ago, when the Israelites were wandering} in the wilderness, Moses lifted up a {bronze model of a poisonous} snake {on a pole and all who looked up at it were saved from the snakes}. In the same way, people must lift me, the Son of Man, up {on a cross}. ¹⁵ {They will lift me up} so that whoever looks up and trusts in me will live forever {with me in heaven}.

¹⁶ {This is} because God loved the world’s people in this way, so that he gave his Unique Son in order that anyone who trusts in his Son would not die but would live forever. ¹⁷ {This is true} because God did not send {me,} his Son, into the world in order to declare the world’s people guilty. Rather, {God sent me} in order to save the world’s people by me. ¹⁸ God does not declare guilty anyone who trusts in his Son. But God has already declared guilty everyone who does not trust in his Son because they did not trust in the name of the Unique Son of God. ¹⁹ Now God’s judicial ruling is as follows: {the one who is} the light entered the world, but people loved evil instead of him because they do evil deeds. ²⁰ {They love the darkness} because every person who continually does evil deeds hates {the one who is} the light and will never come to him. {They avoid the light} so that {the light} might not reveal what they do. ²¹ But the person who continually does true deeds comes to {the one who is} the light, so that {the light} might show {everyone} what he does {and so that everyone might know} that God was helping him do these deeds.”

²² After those things {happened}, Jesus and his disciples entered the region of Judea. He stayed there for a while with his disciples and baptized many people.

²³ John the Baptizer was also baptizing {people} near {the town of} Aenon, {which is} near {the town of} Salim {in the region of Samaria}. {He was baptizing people there} because there was much water in that place and people kept coming {to John} to be baptized. ²⁴ {John could do this} because John’s enemies had not yet put him in prison. ²⁵ Then some of John’s disciples started arguing with a Jewish man about Jewish religious cleansing laws. ²⁶ Those who were arguing came to John and said, “Teacher, {there was} a man who was with you when you were baptizing people on the other side of the Jordan {River}. You had testified about who {he was}. Look! {Now} he is baptizing people and many people are going out to him!” ²⁷ John answered, “Nobody can receive anything unless God gives it to him. ²⁸ You are surely witnesses to me saying that I am not the Messiah, but I am the one whom God has sent before the Messiah. ²⁹ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. {I am like} the friend of the bridegroom. {I} stand and listen to him and am very happy because {I} hear the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, {because the bride is going to the bridegroom}, I am extremely joyful. ³⁰ {Jesus, the bridegroom,} must become more influential, and I, {the bridegroom’s friend,} must become less influential.

³¹ Jesus comes from heaven, and he is greater than everyone and everything. Those {like myself} who are from the earth can only speak {with the limited persective of someone} from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is greater than everyone and everything {on the earth}. ³² Jesus speaks truthfully about the things he has seen and heard {in heaven}, but very few {people} accept what he says. ³³ {However,} whoever believes what Jesus says has verified that God is truthful. ³⁴ {This is} because this {Jesus} whom God has sent says God’s words. {We know he says God’s words} because God surely gives his Spirit {to him} without limit. ³⁵ {God} the Father loves the Son and has given him authority over everything. ³⁶ Whoever trusts in God’s Son will live forever {with him in heaven}. Whoever does not obey the Son {of God} will never have {eternal} life. Rather, God will continually be furious with him.”

Chapter 4

¹ Later, {the religious group called} the Pharisees heard that Jesus was gaining more disciples than John {the Baptizer} and that he was baptizing more {people} than John {was baptizing}. Jesus {also} found out that the Pharisees had heard {this}. ² (Jesus did not actually baptize {anyone}, but his disciples were baptizing {people}.) ³ {When he found out that the Pharisees were aware of him,} Jesus left {the region of} Judea and returned once more to {the region of} Galilee. ⁴ Now {to get to the region of Galilee} he had to go through {the region of} Samaria. ⁵ Next, they arrived at a city named Sychar {in the region of Samaria}. Sychar was near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph {a long time ago}. ⁶ (Jacob’s well was in that area.) After {arriving at Sychar} Jesus was very tired because of his long journey, so he sat down {to rest} next to {Jacob’s} well. It was about noon. ⁷ A Samaritan woman came out {to the well} {to lower a bucket on a rope} to take out {some} water. Jesus said to her, “{Please} give me {some water} to drink.” ⁸ {He said this} because his disciples had left {him by himself} and had gone into the city in order to buy food. ⁹ And the Samaritan woman said to Jesus, “I am surprised that you, a Jew, are asking me, a woman from Samaria, for a drink.” ({She asked this} because Jews usually won't have anything to do with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ Jesus replied to her, “If you had known the gift that God wants to give you, and {if you had known} who {I am} who is requesting a drink from you, you would have asked me {for a drink}, and I would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman replied, “Sir, you do not have a bucket {with which to draw the water up out of the well,} and this well is deep. {Since you can’t get the water out of this well,} where did you get this living water from? ¹² You are surely not greater than our father Jacob. He {dug this well} and gave it to us. He, his sons, and his livestock drank {water} from it as well.” ¹³ Jesus replied to her, “Everyone who drinks water {from this well} will become thirsty again. ¹⁴ But anyone who drinks the water that I will give him will never become thirsty again. Rather, the water that I will give him will become a spring of water inside him {that fills him up} and causes him to live forever {in heaven}.” ¹⁵ The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, please give me some of this water in order that I may never become thirsty {again} or have to come to this well to draw water {again}.”

¹⁶ Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and bring him here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus told her, “You are right in saying that you have no husband, ¹⁸ because you have had not one, but five, husbands, and the man you are currently {living with} is not your husband. What you have said {about not having a husband} is true.”

¹⁹ The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped {God} {right here} on this mountain, but you {Jews} say that we must worship God at {your temple} in Jerusalem.” ²¹ Jesus told her, “Madam, believe me {when I say} that a time is coming when neither here on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, will you worship the Father. ²² You people {here in Samaria} worship {the God} whom you do not know. We {Jews} worship {the God} whom we know. {This is true} because the way to be saved {from your sins} comes from among the Jews. ²³ Nevertheless, the time is coming and has now arrived when those who truly worship {God} will worship the Father spiritually and truthfully. {This is} because the Father indeed searches for such people to worship him. ²⁴ God is a spiritual being, and those who worship him must worship him spiritually and truthfully.” ²⁵ The woman said to Jesus, “I know that the Messiah will come. (He is the one called “Christ” in Greek.) When he comes, he will tell us everything {that we need to know}.” ²⁶ Jesus told her, “I, who am speaking to you {now}, I am the Messiah!”

²⁷ Just at that moment, his disciples came back {from the city}. They were astonished because Jesus was talking {alone} with a woman {whom he didn’t know}. However, no one {dared} to ask him, “What do you want {from her}?” or “Why are you talking with her {at all}?”

²⁸ At that time the woman left her water jar there and returned to the city. She said to the men {of the city}, ²⁹ “Come and meet this man who told me so many things that I have done! He could not be the Messiah, could he?” ³⁰ Those men left the city and came to Jesus.

³¹ {While the woman was gone,} Jesus’ disciples, {who had just returned with the food,} pleaded with him {to eat}. They said, “Teacher, {please} eat [something}!” ³² Jesus told them, “I have sustenance that you know nothing about!” ³³ So they were saying to one another, “{Surely} no one {else} could have brought him {something} to eat, could they?” ³⁴ Jesus told them, “This is what sustains me: It is to do what my Father who sent me wants and to complete my Father’s work. ³⁵ {At this time of the year} you usually say, ‘There are four months left, and then {we will} harvest {the crops}.’ Listen to what I’m telling you. Look and see that {these people are like} fields that are now ready for harvest! ³⁶ The one who harvests {these crops} receives payment and collects fruit, {which is people receiving} life forever {in heaven}. The result is that those who sow the seed and those who reap the harvest will be glad together. ³⁷ What I’m going to say is true: One person sows the seeds, and another person harvests the crops. ³⁸ I sent you {disciples of mine} to gather the harvest from a crop that you did not plant. Others have worked very hard {to plant the crop}, but you are now joining {them} in their work.”

³⁹ Now many Samaritans who lived in the city {of Sychar} trusted in Jesus because of what the woman had told them. She said, “He told me so many things that I have done.” ⁴⁰ When the Samaritans came to Jesus, they asked him to remain with them. So he stayed there {with them} for two more days. ⁴¹ Many more of them trusted in Jesus because of what he proclaimed {to them}. ⁴² The townspeople told the woman, “We believe {in Jesus now,} but not just because of what you told us {about him}. {We believe} because we have heard {his message} for ourselves. {Now} we know that this man truly is the one who saves {the believers in} the world {from their sins}.”

⁴³ After he stayed for two days {with the Samaritans}, Jesus left {the city of Sychar} and entered {the region} of Galilee. ⁴⁴ (Jesus {wanted to go to Galilee} because he himself confirmed that a prophet does not receive honor in the place where he grew up {and he did not want publicity}.) ⁴⁵ Since this is true, when he arrived in {the region of} Galilee many of the people there {merely} welcomed him. {They welcomed him} because they had seen all the {amazing} things he had done in Jerusalem during the {recent Passover} celebration, which they also had gone to. ⁴⁶ Next, Jesus went back again to {the town of} Cana in {the region of} Galilee. {That was} where he had turned water into wine. There was an official of the king who lived {nearby} in {the city of} Capernaum and had a son who was very sick. ⁴⁷ When that official heard that Jesus had come back to Galilee from Judea, he went to Jesus {in Cana} and asked him to come down {to Capernaum} and heal his son because his son would die soon.” ⁴⁸ Jesus then told him, “You people will only trust in me {as the Messiah} if you see {me perform} wonderful miracles!” ⁴⁹ The official of the king said to him, “Sir, please come down {to my home in Capernaum} before my son dies!” ⁵⁰ Jesus told him, “Go {home}. Your son will live.” The man trusted what Jesus told him and he started to go {back home}. ⁵¹ As the official was traveling down {to his home in the city of Capernaum}, his servants met him {along the road}. They told him, “Your child is going to live.” ⁵² He asked his servants, “At what time did my son start getting better?” They answered him, “At 1:00 PM yesterday his fever went away.” ⁵³ And the {boy’s} father recognized that {his son had recovered} at the {exact} time that Jesus had told him that his son would live. So this same man along with everyone who lived in his house trusted in Jesus.

⁵⁴ That was the second great miracle that Jesus did. {He did it during the time that} he came to {the region of} Galilee after leaving {the region of} Judea.

Chapter 5

¹ After Jesus did this, the time came for another Jewish festival, and Jesus walked up to {the city of} Jerusalem {to celebrate the festival}. ² {There is a place} called the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, {which is one of the gates going into the city}. There is a pool beside {that gate} called Bethesda in the language used by the Jews. {Next to the pool are} five porches with roofs. ³ Many people were lying on these porches. They were people who were ill, unable to see, unable to walk, or unable to move. ^4[1] [{They were lying there} because an angel from the Lord would occasionally come down and aggravate the water. Whoever was the first person to step into the water after {the angel} aggravated it was healed from whatever illness or infirmity that was afflicting him.] ⁵ There was a man lying near this {pool called Bethesda} who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶ Jesus saw this man lying {near the pool} and he knew that he had been {lying} there for a long time. He asked the man, “Do you want your health to get better?” ⁷ The ill man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone who can put me into the pool when {an angel} stirs the water. By the time I can put myself into the pool, someone else has {already} gone down into the pool {and been healed} before me, {so that I cannot be healed}.” ⁸ Jesus told him, “Stand up! Pick up the mat {that you have been lying on} and walk!” ⁹ Then Jesus healed the man at once, and the man picked up the mat {that he had been lying on} and walked.

(Now this happened on {the Jewish day for rest known as} the Sabbath. ¹⁰ Because {it was the Jewish day for rest}, the Jewish {leaders} said to the man whom Jesus had healed, “Today is a day for rest. You are not allowed to carry your mat {on this day because it is work}.” ¹¹ The man whom Jesus had healed answered them, “The man who healed me told me to pick up the mat {that I had been lying on} and walk.’” ¹² The Jewish {leaders} asked him, “Who told you to pick up your mat and walk?” ¹³ However, the man whom Jesus had healed did not know who had healed him because Jesus had left {the man} without being noticed since that area was crowded.

¹⁴ Later, Jesus found the man {whom he had healed} in the temple and told him, “Look, you are well now! Do not sin anymore, so that nothing worse {than your previous illness} might happen to you.” ¹⁵ That man went away and told the Jewish {leaders} that the man who had healed him was Jesus. ¹⁶ So the Jew {leaders} started persecuting Jesus because he was miraculously healing {people} on the Jewish day for rest. ¹⁷ Jesus gave this answer to them, “{God,} my Father, is working today, so I am also working.” ¹⁸ As a consequence {of him saying this}, the Jewish {leaders} were trying to kill Jesus even more {than they had tried before}. {They wanted to kill him} because he was not only disobeying {their rules for} the day for rest, but also because he was claiming that he was equal with God by saying that God was his own Father.

¹⁹ Because of {these accusations} Jesus replied to the Jewish {leaders}, “I am telling you {people} the truth: {I,} the Son, can do nothing on my own authority. I can only do what I perceive that {God,} the Father, is doing. Whatever the Father does, {I,} the Son, also do. ²⁰ {This is true} because the Father loves {me,} the Son, and makes known to me everything that he is doing. The Father will also make known to me {miraculous} deeds {that will be} even greater than the miracles {that I have already done} in order that you might be astonished {by them}. ²¹ {This will happen} because I, the Son, give {eternal} life to anyone I want in the same way that the Father resurrects those who have died and gives them life {again}. ²² {This is true} because the Father does not judge anyone. Rather, he has given all authority to judge {people} to {me,} the Son. ²³ {The Father did this} in order that everyone would honor me, the Son, in the same way that they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor me cannot honor my Father who sent me. ²⁴ I am telling you {people} the truth: Anyone who accepts {and obeys} my teachings and trusts {God} who sent me will live forever {with me in heaven} and God will not judge him {as guilty}. Instead, that person has gone from being {spiritually} dead to being {spiritually} alive.

²⁵ I am telling you {people} the truth: A time is coming and in fact is here already, when those who have died will hear {my} voice, {the voice of} the Son of God, and those who hear me will live. ²⁶ {This is true} because as the Father is able to make people alive, in the same way he has also given {me,} the Son, the ability to make {people} alive. ²⁷ The Father has authorized me to judge {all mankind}, because I am the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be surprised {that the Father has done} this because there will be a time when everyone who has died will hear my voice. ²⁹ Then they will come out {of their graves}. {God will} raise up those who have done good {to give them eternal} life. But {God will} raise up those who have done evil to condemn and punish {them} forever. ³⁰ I can do nothing on my own. I judge according to what I hear {from the Father}, and I judge in a just manner. {I judge justly} because I do not try to do what I want. Rather, {I do} what {my Father} who has sent me wants.

³¹ If I {alone} were {the only one} to be a witness about myself, {according to the law of Moses} my witness would not be trustworthy. ³² {Nevertheless,} there is someone else who testifies about me, and I know that what he testifies about me is trustworthy. ³³ You {Jewish leaders} sent {messengers} to John the Baptizer, and he told you the truth {about me}. ³⁴ However, I do not need anyone to be a witness {for me}. Nevertheless, I am saying this {about John the Baptizer} in order that God might save you. ³⁵ John the Baptizer {proclaimed God’s truth to you} like a burning and shining lamp. You were willing to rejoice for a while in the light {that was the truth that he proclaimed}. ³⁶ However, the witness that I give about myself is even greater than the witness John gave {about me}. {This is} because {this witness is} the miraculous works that {God} the Father has allowed me to do. These very works that I am doing are proof that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ Furthermore, my Father who sent me is the very one who has given testimony about me. None of you have ever heard him speak or seen what he looks like. ³⁸ You also do not obey the Father’s teachings. {I know this is true} because you do not trust me, the very person he has sent! ³⁹ You carefully study the Scriptures because you believe that by studying them you will be able to live forever {in heaven}. It is those very Scriptures that explain who I am. ⁴⁰ Yet still you refuse to be my disciples in order that you might live {forever in heaven}.

⁴¹ I do not accept honor from anyone. ⁴² However, I know that you do not love God {at all}. ⁴³ I have come with my Father’s authority, but still you do not accept me. If someone else were to come with his own authority, you would accept him. ⁴⁴ You cannot possibly trust in {me} when you are honoring each other instead of desiring the one and only God to honor you!

⁴⁵ Do not think that I am the one who will accuse you before my Father. Moses, the {very} person you have hoped {would defend you}, is {actually} the person who will accuse you. ⁴⁶ {He will accuse you} because if you had trusted Moses, {but you do not,} {then} you would trust me because Moses explained about me {in the law}. ⁴⁷ Since you do not even trust what Moses wrote, you cannot possibly trust what I have said to you!”

Chapter 6

¹ Some time after these things happened, Jesus crossed over to the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee, {which some people also call the Sea} of Tiberias. ² A large crowd followed him because they had seen the miraculous signs he was performing, {that is,} healing people who were very ill. ³ Jesus walked up on a steep hillside and sat down {there} with his disciples. ⁴ (Now at that time the Jewish Passover celebration was about to take place.) ⁵ Jesus then looked up and saw a very large crowd {of people} walking toward him. He asked Philip, “Where will we buy bread in order to feed all these people?” ⁶ (He asked Philip this question in order to test his {faith}, because Jesus already knew what he was going to do {about the problem}.) ⁷ Philip replied to him, “If we had the money that a man can earn in 200 days of work, it would not be enough {money to buy} bread to give each person {in this crowd} even a little piece {to eat}.” ⁸ Another disciple of his, Simon Peter’s brother Andrew, told Jesus, ⁹ “There is a boy here who has five little loaves of barley bread and two small fish. Yet, these {few loves and fish} are certainly not enough to feed all these {people}!” ¹⁰ Jesus told {his disciples} to make the people sit down. Thus about 5,000 men sat down. (There was a lot of grass in that place {for them to sit down on}.) ¹¹ Jesus then took the little loaves {of barley bread}, and he thanked {God for the food}. {Then} he {and his disciples} gave the loaves to the people who were sitting {on the grass} in order to eat. {He did} the same with the {two} fish as well. The people ate all {the fish and bread that} they wanted {to eat}. ¹² When everyone had eaten until they were full, Jesus told his disciples to collect all the leftover {uneaten} pieces {of barley bread} in order that none of it would be wasted. ¹³ Thus his disciples collected {the pieces}, and they filled 12 large baskets with the broken pieces that the people had left over from the five little loaves of barley bread.

¹⁴ Because {of this}, when the people saw this {miraculous} sign that Jesus had performed {in front of them}, they said, “Surely he is the Prophet whom {God promised} to send into the world!” ¹⁵ When Jesus knew that the people were planning to grab him in order to force him to be {their} king, he left {them} again and went up the hillside to be completely alone.

¹⁶ When it was evening, Jesus’ disciples walked down {the hillside} to the Sea {of Galilee}. ¹⁷ {They} got into a boat and started to sail across the sea to the town of Capernaum. (It had already become dark and Jesus had still not joined them.) ¹⁸ Because the wind was blowing strongly, it was causing the sea to be very turbulent. ¹⁹ After Jesus’ disciples had rowed {the boat} around four-and-a-half or five-and-a-half kilometers {out into the sea}, they saw Jesus walking on the water and approaching the boat. They were terrified! ²⁰ Jesus told them, “It is I, Jesus! Stop being afraid!” ²¹ They were very glad to take him into the boat. As soon as {he was with them in the boat}, their boat arrived at the place where they were going.

²² The day after {Jesus had fed the crowd}, the crowd {of people} that had stayed on the other side of the sea realized that there had been only one boat there {the day before}. {They also knew} that Jesus had not gone in the boat with his disciples. ²³ (People came from the city of Tiberias in other boats. {They put their boats} near the place where {the crowd} had eaten the bread after the Lord Jesus had thanked God {for it}.) ²⁴ So when the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and sailed to {the city of} Capernaum to look for Jesus.

²⁵ {The crowd} found Jesus {in Capernaum} on the side of the Sea of Galilee that is opposite {from where he had fed them}. They asked him, “Teacher, {we know you didn’t come in a boat,} so when did you arrive here {at Capernaum}?” ²⁶ Jesus replied, “I am telling you the truth: You are not looking for me because you saw the miraculous signs that I performed. Rather, {you are looking for me} only because you ate until you were full of the loaves of bread {that I gave you}. ²⁷ Stop working for food that will soon spoil! Instead, {work} for the food that will bring you life forever {in heaven}! {That food} is the bread that I, the Son of Man, will give you. {I alone can give it to you} because God my Father approves of me.”

²⁸ Then the crowd asked Jesus, “What works should we do in order to please God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered them, “The work that God wants you to do is this: Trust in me, the one whom he has sent.” ³⁰ The crowd asked him, “Then what miracle will you do in order {for us} to see it and trust in you? What will you do {for us}? ³¹ Our ancestors ate manna {when they wandered} in the wilderness {with Moses}, just as the prophets wrote: ‘God gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”

³² Jesus answered them, “I am telling you the truth: It was not Moses who gave your ancestors that bread from heaven. No, it was my Father, who is {now} giving you the true bread out of heaven. ³³ {This is true} because the true bread from God has come down from heaven and gives {eternal} life to the people in the world.”

³⁴ {The crowd did not understand what he meant}, so they said to Jesus, “Sir, please give this bread to us all the time.” ³⁵ Jesus told the crowd, “{Like food sustains physical life} I am the bread that gives {eternal} life. {Unlike with food or drink}, anyone who trusts in me will surely be satisfied forever. ³⁶ Nevertheless, I have {already} told you that, even though you see me, you still do not trust me. ³⁷ All the people my Father gives to me will come {and be my disciples}, and I will surely never drive away any of them. ³⁸ {I will never do that} because I have not come down from heaven in order to do what I want. Rather, {I have come down} in order to do what {my Father} who sent me wants {me to do}. ³⁹ This is what {my Father} who sent me wants: {He wants me} to keep all of those whom he has given to me. {He also wants} me to make these ones alive again on the last day {when I judge everyone}. ⁴⁰ {This is true} because this is {also} what my Father wants: {He wants} everyone who recognizes who I, the Son, am, and trusts in me to live forever {with me in heaven}. I will make these ones alive again on the last day {when I judge everyone}.”

⁴¹ The Jewish {leaders} then started to grumble about Jesus because he had said that he was the {true} bread that had come down out of heaven. ⁴² They said, “This is just Jesus, Joseph’s son! We know who his parents are. He cannot possibly have come down out of heaven as he claims!” ⁴³ Jesus answered them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves {about what I just said}. ⁴⁴ Only those whom my Father who sent me causes to come {and be my disciples} are able to do so. I myself will make those people {who come to me} alive again on the last day {when I judge everyone}. ⁴⁵ The Prophets wrote that God will teach everyone. Everyone who listens to and learns from my Father will come {and be my disciples}. ⁴⁶ No one has seen {God} my Father other than me. I am the one who came from God. I alone have seen him. ⁴⁷ I am telling you the truth: Whoever trusts in me will live forever {with me in heaven}. ⁴⁸ I am the {true} bread that gives {eternal} life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate manna {when they wandered} in the wilderness {with Moses}, but they still died. ⁵⁰ {But} this bread {that I am talking about} came down out of heaven in order that someone would eat it and {that person’s spirit} would never die. ⁵¹ I {truly} am this bread that gives {eternal} life and came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever {with me in heaven}. My body is also this bread. I will give up my body for the sake of the {eternal} life of {everyone in} the world.”

⁵² The Jewish {leaders} then started arguing with each other. They said, “This man surely cannot give his body to us in order for us to eat it!” ⁵³ So Jesus told them: “I am telling you the truth: You must eat the flesh of me, the Son of Man, and drink my blood. {If you do not do these things, then} you will never have {eternal} life. ⁵⁴ Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever {with me in heaven}. I will also make that person alive again on the last day {when I judge everyone}. ⁵⁵ {This is so} because my flesh is true {spiritual} food and my blood is true {spiritual} drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood will have a close relationship with me, and I {will have a close relationship} with them. ⁵⁷ My Father makes everyone alive. {He} has sent me {here} and I can make {people} alive because he has enabled me {to do so}. In the same way, those who feed on me will live {forever} because of what I will do {for them}. ⁵⁸ I am this bread that has come down out of heaven. {This bread is} not like {the bread that} the {Israelite} ancestors ate {in the wilderness} but {still eventually} died. Anyone who eats me—this bread—will live forever {with me in heaven}.” ⁵⁹ Jesus said these statements {to the Jewish leaders} in a synagogue while he was teaching in {the city of} Capernaum.

⁶⁰ After they heard {what he had said}, many of Jesus’ disciples said, “What he is teaching is difficult to accept. Indeed, no one can accept it!” ⁶¹ {Although no one told} him, Jesus knew that his disciples were grumbling about what he had said. {So} he asked them, “Did my teaching offend you? ⁶² {If this teaching has offended you,} then {would you also be offended} if you saw me, the Son of Man, ascending to {heaven} where I was formerly? ⁶³ The Holy Spirit is the only one who can give anyone eternal life. Human nature is useless {in this matter}. What I have taught you comes from the Holy Spirit and gives eternal life. ⁶⁴ Nevertheless, some of you do not believe {what I have said}.” (Jesus {said this} because {he} knew since he began {his work} who would not believe him and who would {eventually} betray him.)

⁶⁵ Then Jesus said, “Because {some of you do not believe me}, I told you {earlier} that only those to whom God the Father has given the ability to come {and be my disciple} will be able to {do so}.”

⁶⁶ After {Jesus said these things}, a lot of his disciples went back {to doing what they had been doing before they met him} and stopped being his disciples. ⁶⁷ Because {so many left him}, Jesus asked his twelve disciples, “{Surely} you do not also want to leave me, {do you}?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter replied, “Lord, {if we were to leave you}, there is no one else we could go to! {Only} you teach the message {that allows us} to live forever {in heaven}! ⁶⁹ We trust in you, and we know for certain that you are the Holy One who has come from God!” ⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, “I surely chose all you twelve men, but one of you is under the control of Satan!” ⁷¹ ({When Jesus said this} he was talking about Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son because he was the one among the Twelve disciples who would later betray Jesus.)

Chapter 7

¹ After those things {happened}, Jesus walked around in {the region of} Galilee because he did not want to walk around in {the region of} Judea. {He avoided Judea} because the Jewish {leaders there} were trying to find a way to kill him. ² (Now at that time the Jewish Shelters Celebration was about to take place.) ³ Jesus’ brothers told him, “Leave here and go to {the region of} Judea in order that your disciples can also observe you doing miraculous works. ⁴ {Do your miraculous works in Judea} because no one who wants to be famous does anything secretly. Since you are doing all these miracles, reveal who you {claim to be} to everyone {by doing miraculous works}!” ⁵ {Jesus’ brothers said this} because not even they believed he was the Messiah. ⁶ Because {they did not believe in him,} Jesus told them, “This is not the right time for me {to go to Jerusalem}, but you can go {there} whenever you want. ⁷ No one in the world can hate you. However, everyone hates me because I declare that they do evil deeds. ⁸ You go {to Jerusalem} for the celebration. I am not going to the celebration yet because now is {not} the right time for me to go.” ⁹ After saying that {to his brothers}, Jesus stayed a little longer in the {region of} Galilee.

¹⁰ However, a few days after his brothers left for the festival, he also went, but he did so secretly. ¹¹ Because {Jesus had secretly entered Jerusalem,} the Jewish leaders tried to find him at the celebration. They asked {people}, “Where is that man?” ¹² The crowds were quietly speaking a lot about Jesus. Some people said, “He is a good man!” But others said, “No! He deceives the crowd!” ¹³ Nevertheless, the people were afraid of the Jewish leaders, so they didn’t speak about Jesus in public.

¹⁴ About halfway through the Shelters Celebration, Jesus entered the temple {courtyard} and started teaching {the people there}. ¹⁵ Because of this, the Jewish leaders were shocked {at his teaching}. They said, “This man has not received religious training. He cannot possibly know the scriptures {so well}!” ¹⁶ Jesus replied to them, “What I teach does not come from myself. On the contrary, it comes from God who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to do what God wants, then that person will know that what I am teaching has come from God and not only by my own authority. ¹⁸ Anyone who speaks on his own authority {only} wants to glorify himself. However, anyone who wants to glorify the person who sent him speaks the truth and acts righteously. ¹⁹ Moses did indeed give you laws {from God}. None of you completely obeys those laws. {Since that is true,} why are you trying to kill me {for supposedly disobeying those same laws that you don’t obey?”

²⁰ Some people in the crowd replied, “A demon is controlling you! No one is trying to kill you!” ²¹ Jesus replied to the crowd, “{Because} I did one miraculous healing on the day for rest, all of you are shocked. ²² Because {some works like healing would occur on the day for rest}, Moses gave you a law about circumcision. {That law states that you must circumcise your sons exactly seven days after they are born.} ({Circumcision} didnt actually begin with Moses, but {this rite} began with your forefathers, {Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob}.) {Because of that law,} sometimes you must {work} on the day for rest by circumcising someone. ²³ Since you {sometimes} circumcise someone on the day for rest in order to avoid disobeying the law of Moses, you shouldn’t be angry with me for {doing a good work like} healing someone on that day! ²⁴ Stop judging me according to what you have seen! Rather, judge me according to what God says is right.”

²⁵ Some of the people {in the crowd} who dwelled in Jerusalem then said, “This is the man that our leaders are trying to kill! ²⁶ Look! He is saying these things publicly, but our leaders are not saying anything to oppose him. Can it be that our leaders really know that he is the Messiah? ²⁷ But {this man cannot be the Messiah!} We know where this man came from, but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Jesus then spoke loudly while he was teaching in the temple {courtyard}. He said, “{Yes,} you know me, and you know where I have come from. But I have not come {here} on my own authority. Rather, the one who sent me is the real God, and you do not know him. ²⁹ I know him because I have come from him. He is the one who sent me.”

³⁰ Because {Jesus said these things}, the Jewish leaders wanted to arrest him, but no one could seize him because it was not yet the right time for him {to die}. ³¹ In contrast {to the Jewish leaders}, many in the crowd of people trusted in Jesus. They kept saying, “When the Messiah comes, he surely will not be able to do more miraculous signs than this man!” ³² {Some of} the Pharisees overheard them quietly speaking these things about Jesus. Then they and the ruling priests sent temple guards to arrest him.

³³ Because {they did this}, Jesus said, “I will only be with you for a little while {longer}. {Soon} I will go back to {God} who sent me. ³⁴ You will search for me, but you will not find me. You will not be able to come to the place where I will be.” ³⁵ So the Jewish leaders said to each other, “Where can this man go where we cannot find him? Will he {actually} go to those Jews who are spread throughout the world outside of Israel? Will he even teach the people {there} who aren’t Jews? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said that we will search for him, but we will not find him, and we will not be able to come to the place where he will be?”

³⁷ Now on the final and most important day of the {Shelters} Celebration, Jesus stood up {in the temple courtyard} and spoke loudly. He said, “Anyone who is thirsty should come to me and drink {what I will give them}! ³⁸ This is what {the prophets wrote in} the scripture about anyone who trusts in me: ‘Water that gives {eternal} life will abundantly flow from that person’s innermost being.’” ³⁹ (Now Jesus said this about the {Holy} Spirit, whom {God} was going to give to those who trusted in Jesus. {He said this} because {At that time God had not yet sent} the {Holy} Spirit {to dwell within those who trusted in him} because Jesus had not yet received honor {by his death, resurrection, and return to heaven}.)

⁴⁰ After some people among the crowd heard what Jesus had said, they said, “He is truly the Prophet {whom God had said would come}!” ⁴¹ Some other {people in the crowd} said, “He is the Messiah!” However, other {people in the crowd who mistakenly thought that Jesus was born in Galilee} said, “But the Messiah cannot possibly come from the {region of} Galilee. ⁴² {The prophets wrote in} the scriptures that the Messiah must come from the descendants of {King} David and {that he must come} from the village of Bethlehem, where David came from!” ⁴³ Thus {the people in} the crowd divided {into opposing groups} on account of Jesus. ⁴⁴ (Some of the people {in the crowd} wanted to arrest him. However, no one seized him.)

⁴⁵ The temple guards then returned to the ruling priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not {arrest him and} bring him {here}?” ⁴⁶ The temple guards replied, “No one has ever spoken like this man has!” ⁴⁷ Because {the guards said that,} the Pharisees replied {by asking}, “Can it be that he has deceived you as well? ⁴⁸ Surely, none of the members of our highest governing council or us Pharisees have trusted in him! ⁴⁹ However, this crowd {of people} does not know {God’s} laws {and God} has cursed them!”

⁵⁰ Then Nicodemus spoke. (He was the man who had come to Jesus {at night to speak with him} in the past. {He had done this} even though he was one of the Pharisees, {which was a group that usually opposed Jesus}.) He told the Jewish religious leaders, ⁵¹ “Our Jewish laws surely do not {allow us to} condemn someone without first listening to him and learning about what he has done.” ⁵² They replied to him {insultingly}, “Surely, you are not from the {region of} Galilee as well! Are you? Read through the scriptures carefully! {If you do that,} you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee.”

^53[1] [Then they all {left and} went to their own homes.

Chapter 8

^1[1] Jesus went to the Mount of Olives {and stayed near there that night}. ² At dawn the next morning, Jesus returned to the temple {courtyard} and many people came to him. ³ {Some of} the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought a woman {to him}. They had apprehended her while she was committing adultery. They made her stand up in the midst {of this group}. ⁴ The priests wanted to test Jesus, in order to be able to accuse him {of breaking the law of Moses before the highest Jewish governing council}. So they said to him, “Teacher, we apprehended this woman while she was committing adultery, the very act {itself}! ⁵ Now Moses commanded us in the law that we must kill such women with stones. Nevertheless, what do you say {we should do}?” ⁶ However, Jesus bent down and wrote {something} on the ground with his finger. ⁷ While they continued to question him, he got up and told them, “Let the one among you who has never sinned throw the first stone at her {and lead the rest to kill her]!” ⁸ Then Jesus stooped down again and wrote {something} on the ground with his finger. ⁹ {After he did this,} those Jewish leaders {who were questioning him} started walking away, one by one. The older ones left first and then the younger ones. Then only Jesus was there with the woman in the midst {of the people}. ¹⁰ Jesus stood up and asked her, “Where are the men {who were accusing you}? Has no one condemned you {to be punished}?” ¹¹ The woman replied, “There is no one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “I do not condemn you {to be punished} either. Leave, and from now on do not sin {like this} anymore!”]

¹² Jesus spoke to the people again. He said, “I am the one who gives {God's good and true} light to {the people in} the world. Anyone who becomes my disciple will never walk in {sinful} darkness {again}. Rather, {that person} will have {God's good and true} light that gives {eternal} life. ¹³ The Pharisees then told him, “You are the only witness for yourself! {Since the law of Moses requires at least two witnesses,} what you say cannot be true!” ¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Even if I were the {only} witness for myself, what I say is {still} true because I know where I came from and {I know} where I am going. Nevertheless, you do not know where I came from and {you do not know} where I am going. ¹⁵ You judge {people} according to human standards. {However,} I have not come to judge anyone {in that manner}. ¹⁶ Even when I {do} judge {people}, I will judge {them according to} the true {standard} because I do not judge {people} on my own. Rather, I and {my} Father who sent me, {will judge people together}. ¹⁷ {Moses} even {wrote} in your law that when {at least} two witnesses say the same thing, then what they say is true. ¹⁸ I am my own witness, but {my} Father who sent me is also a witness for me. {Therefore, what I say is true}.”

¹⁹ Because {Jesus said his father was a witness for him,} the Pharisees asked him, “Where is your father?” Jesus replied, “You do not know me, and you do not know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father, {but you do not}.” ²⁰ He said these things {about himself} while he was teaching in the temple {courtyard}. {He said them} at the place {in the temple courtyard} where people brought money offerings. Nobody apprehended him because it was not yet the right time for him {to die}.

²¹ Jesus then told the people again, “I am going away, and you will search for me, but you will die {without God forgiving you for} sinfully {rejecting me}. You will not be able to come to {the place} where I am going.” ²² The Jewish {leaders} then said {among themselves}, “Perhaps he plans to kill himself, and that is {what he means} when he says that we will not be able to come to {the place} where he is going.” ²³ Jesus told them, “You are from {this earth} below, but I am from {heaven} above. You belong to this {wicked and rebellious} world. I do not belong to this world. ²⁴ Because of this I told you that you will die {without God forgiving you for all} the sins {that you have committed}. This will certainly happen unless you trust that I am {God, as I say I am}.”

²⁵ Because {he said that}, they asked him, “Who are you?” Jesus replied, “That is what I have been telling you ever since the beginning! ²⁶ I could say many things about you and judge you, {but I won’t do those things at this time}. Rather, I will tell the people in the world only what I have heard from the one who sent me. He always says the truth.”

²⁷ (They did not understand that Jesus was telling them about his Father {in heaven}.) ²⁸ So Jesus told them, “When you have lifted me up {to kill me}, the Son of Man, you will know that I am {God}, and {you will know} that I do not do anything on my own authority. Rather, I only say what {my} Father has taught me {to say}. ²⁹ {My Father} who sent me is {always} with me. He has {never} abandoned me because I {always} do {only} the things that delight him.” ³⁰ While Jesus was saying these things, many {more people} believed that he {was the Messiah}.

³¹ Jesus then told the Jews who {now} believed that he {was the Messiah}, “If you obey what I teach you, {then} you are my genuine disciples. ³² {Furthermore,} you will know {God’s} truth, and {believing that} truth will free you {from what has enslaved you}.” ³³ They answered him, “We are the descendants of Abraham. We have never been anyone’s slaves! Why do you say that we need to be free? ³⁴ Jesus replied, “I am telling you the truth: Anyone who sins {is controlled by his sinful desires like} a slave {is controlled by his master}. ³⁵ Slaves do not remain as {members of their master’s} family forever, {but may be freed or sold}. {However,} a son is a member of the family forever. ³⁶ So if the Son frees you {from being slaves to sin}, you will absolutely be able to refrain {from sinning}. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s {physical} descendants. However, you are trying to kill me because you refuse to trust what I say. ³⁸ I am telling {you about} the things that my Father has shown me. Therefore {I say that}, you do what {your} Father has told you {to do}.”

³⁹ They replied to him, “Abraham is our ancestor.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s descendants, you would be doing the {same} things he did. ⁴⁰ I have been telling you the true {things} that God told me, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham did not do {something like} that. ⁴¹ You are doing the {same} things that your {real} father did.” They told him, “We are not illegitimate children, {like you are}! We have {only} one Father, {and that is} God.” ⁴² Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, {which he is not,} you would love me because I came from him and have come to this world. {This is true} because I did not come on my own authority. Rather, {I came because} God sent me. ⁴³ Do you know why you do not understand what I say? It is because you do not accept {and obey} what I have told you! ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, the devil, and you desire to do what he desires. He has been murdering {people} since the time {people} first {sinned}. He has rejected what is true because he never speaks those true things. Whenever he lies, he is doing what is natural for him to do because he is a liar. He is even the origin of lying. ⁴⁵ Yet you do not believe me because I tell you what is true! ⁴⁶ {Since I have never sinned,} none of you can prove that I have. Since I tell you what is true, there is no good reason for you to not believe what I say! ⁴⁷ Those who belong to God accept {and obey} what he has said. Since {this is true,} you do not accept {and obey} what God has said because you do not belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews {opposing Jesus} replied to him, “We are {certainly} correct when we say that you are one of the Samaritans, {whom we hate,} and that a demon is controlling you!” ⁴⁹ Jesus replied, “A demon is not controlling me! On the contrary, I honor my Father {in heaven}, and you dishonor me! ⁵⁰ I do not desire to persuade people to praise me. There is someone {else} who desires {to do that} and judges {whether you or I am telling the truth}. ⁵¹ I am telling you the truth: Anyone who obeys my teaching will surely never die!”

⁵² The Jews {opposing Jesus} said to him, “Now we are sure that a demon is controlling you! Abraham and the prophets died {long ago}! Yet you say that anyone who obeys your teaching will surely never die! ⁵³ You are surely not greater than our ancestor Abraham! He died and all the prophets also died. {So} who do you think you are?” ⁵⁴ Jesus replied, “If I persuade people to praise me, that {praise} would be worthless. My Father is the one who praises me. He is the one whom you say is your God. ⁵⁵ Although you do not know God, I do know him. If I said that I did not know him, I would be a liar like {each of} you. In contrast {to you}, I know him and I {always} obey what he says. ⁵⁶ Your ancestor Abraham was overjoyed {to think} that he could see me {come to the world}. {God allowed him} to see me {come} and he was happy.”

⁵⁷ Because {Jesus said this}, the Jews {opposing him} told him, “{Abraham died a long time ago and} you are not even fifty years old! How can you have seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus told them, “I am telling you the truth: I was {God} before Abraham was born!” ⁵⁹ Because {he was claiming to be God,} the Jews {opposing Jesus} picked up rocks to throw at him {to kill him}. But Jesus hid {in the crowd} and left the temple {courtyard}.

Chapter 9

¹ While Jesus was walking along {the path}, he saw a man who had been blind since {the day} he was born. ² His disciples asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be blind when he was born? Did this man or his parents sin?” ³ Jesus replied, “It was neither the sin of this man nor the sin of his parents {that caused him to be blind when he was born}. Rather, {He was blind when he was born} so that I might show {people} the {miraculous} works God will do in him. ⁴ While I am still with you, we must do the {miraculous} works that {my Father} who sent me wants {us to do}. Just like day is followed by night when people cannot work, a time will come when it is too late for us to do what God wants {us to do}. ⁵ While I am still {living} in this world, I am the one who gives {God's good and true} light to {the people in} the world.”

⁶ When he said this, he spat on the dirt and made mud by mixing his saliva {with the dirt}. Then he spread that mud on the blind man’s eyes. ⁷ Then Jesus said to the blind man, “Go and wash {the mud off} in the pool of Siloam!” (‘Siloam’ means ‘sent’ {in Aramaic}). So the man left and washed {the mud off in that pool}. Then he went {home} when he was able to see. ⁸ The man’s neighbors and others who had seen him in the past and knew that he was a beggar said, “This is surely the man who used to sit here and beg!” ⁹ Some {people} said, “Yes, he is that man.” Other {people} said, “No, but he just looks like that man.” However, the man himself said, “Yes, I am the man {who was blind}!” ¹⁰ So they asked him, “How is it that you can see now?” ¹¹ He replied, “The man people call Jesus made mud {with dirt and his saliva} and spread it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to {the pool of} Siloam and wash {the mud off}. So I went {there} and washed {the mud off}. Then I was able to see {for the first time}.” ¹² They asked him, “Where is that man?” He replied, “I do not know {where he is}.”

¹³ {Some of the people there} took the man who used to be blind to {some of} the Pharisees. ¹⁴ (Now the day when Jesus made the mud {with his saliva} and enabled the man to see was the Jewish day for rest.) ¹⁵ Then {the man was questioned} for a second time. {This time} the Pharisees as well asked him about how he was now able to see. He told them, “The man placed mud on my eyes and I washed {it off}, and now I {am able to} see {for the first time}.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees then said, “{We know that} this man has not come from God because he does not follow the rules for the Jewish day for rest.” {Some} other {Pharisees} said, “Surely a sinful man could not do the kinds of miraculous signs that this man does!” So {the Pharisees} disagreed with each other {regarding who Jesus was}. ¹⁷ So the Pharisees asked the blind man again, “What do you say about this man, since {you say that} he is the one who enabled you to see?” The man said, “He must be a prophet.”

¹⁸ Because {the man believed that Jesus was a prophet}, the Jewish leaders did not believe that the man had been blind and then became able to see until {after} they summoned the man’s parents {in order to question them}. ¹⁹ They asked his parents, “Is this man your son? Do you say that he was blind when he was born? {If that is so,} then how is he able to see at this time?” ²⁰ His parents replied, “We are certain that this man is our son. We are also certain that he was blind when he was born. ²¹ Nevertheless, we do not know how he is able to see at this time. We also do not know who enabled him to see. Ask him. He is old enough to speak on his own behalf.” ²² (The Jewish leaders had previously agreed among themselves that they would ban anyone who declared that Jesus was the Messiah from {entering} the Jewish meeting place. Because of this, the man’s parents were afraid of them and told them those things.) ²³ That is {also} why they said {to the Jewish leaders}, “Ask him. He is old enough.”

²⁴ So the Jewish leaders summoned the man who had been blind a second time. They told him, “Glorify God {by speaking only the truth}! We ourselves are certain that this man {who you say healed you} is sinful.” ²⁵ The man {whom Jesus healed} replied, “ I do not know if he is sinful or not. One thing I {do} know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see.” ²⁶ They then asked him, “What did he do to you {in order to heal you}? How did he enable you to see?” ²⁷ He replied, “I have already told you {the answers to those questions}, but you did not listen {to what I said}. Why do you want me to tell you again? Could it be that you also desire to become his disciples?” ²⁸ Then they spoke insultingly to him: “You are that man’s disciple! As for us, we are Moses’s disciples! ²⁹ We are certain that God spoke to Moses {long ago}. As for this man, we do not {even} know where he came from!” ³⁰ The man replied, “I am amazed! You do not {even} know where he came from, but he is the one who enabled me to see! ³¹ We are certain that God does not respond to {the prayers of} sinful people. Rather, he responds to {the prayers of} people who worship him and who do what he wants {them to do}. ³² Never before has anyone ever heard that someone enabled a man to see who was blind when he was born! ³³ If this man had not come from God, he could not do even one {miracle like that}!” ³⁴ The Jewish leaders replied to him, “You were born {blind} entirely as a result of {your parents’} sins! How dare you teach us!” Then they banned him from the Jewish meeting place.

³⁵ Jesus heard that the Jewish leaders had banned the man he had healed from the Jewish meeting place. When he {searched for him and} found him, he asked him, “Do you trust the Son of Man?” ³⁶ The man answered, “Sir, who is he? {Please tell me,} so that I may trust him.” ³⁷ Jesus told him, “You have {already} seen him. {I am} that {very} person who is talking to you now.” ³⁸ The man said, “Lord, I trust {that you are the Son of Man}.” Then he {went down on his knees} and worshiped Jesus.

³⁹ Jesus said, “I have come into this world in order to judge {its people}. {The result will be} that the people who realize they do not perceive God’s truth may perceive it, like a blind person becoming able to see. {Another result will be that} the people who {think they} perceive God’s truth will not perceive it, like a person who sees and becomes blind.” ⁴⁰ When some of the Pharisees who were near Jesus heard him say this, they asked him, “{Do you think that} we also cannot perceive {God’s truth}, like blind people?” ⁴¹ Jesus replied, “If you {recognized that you are spiritually} blind, you would not be guilty for sin. However, because you claim to {perceive God’s truth, like someone who} sees, you are still guilty for your sin.

Chapter 10

¹ “I am telling you the truth: Anyone who enters into the sheep pen by any way other than the pen’s gate is a thief or bandit {who has come to steal the sheep}. ² The man who enters {the sheep pen} through the gate is the shepherd {who takes care} of the sheep. ³ The man who guards the gate {when the shepherd is away} opens {the gate} for the shepherd {when he comes}. The sheep hear {the sound of} the shepherd’s voice. He summons by name {each of} the sheep that belong to him and leads them out {of the pen}. ⁴ After the shepherd has brought out {of the pen} all of the sheep that belong to him, he walks in front of them. His sheep follow him {from behind} because they recognize {the sound of} his voice. ⁵ His sheep will never follow someone whom they do not know. Rather, they will run away from him because they do not recognize the voices of people they do not know.”

⁶ Jesus told this illustration {from the work that shepherds do} to the Pharisees. Nevertheless, they did not understand what {the illustration} meant. ⁷ So Jesus spoke to them again, “I am telling you the truth: I am the gate through which the sheep {enter into the sheep pen}. ⁸ All the leaders who came before me {without God’s authority} were thieves and bandits. However, the {true} sheep did not obey them. ⁹ I myself am the gate {to heaven}. God will save {from eternal punishment} anyone who comes {to him} by trusting in me. {Whoever trusts in me} will be like a sheep who walks around {safely} and finds food. ¹⁰ Your leaders are like thieves who come only to steal, kill, and destroy {the sheep}. I have come to give {the sheep} eternal life which will be full {of blessings}.

¹¹ I myself am like a good shepherd. The good shepherd is willing to die {in order to protect and to save} his sheep, {and so am I willing to die for my disciples}. ¹² {Suppose that} someone hires a man who is not a shepherd to protect sheep that do not belong to that man. When he sees a wolf coming {to kill the sheep}, he leaves the sheep and runs away, so the wolf snatches some of them and causes some others to scatter. ¹³ {He runs away} because he was {only protecting the sheep} in order to receive money. He does not care about {what happens to} the sheep. ¹⁴ I myself am like a good shepherd. {Just like a good shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him,} I know those who belong to me, and they know me. ¹⁵ {We know each other} in the same way that my Father and I know each other. I am willing to die for {the benefit of} those sheep {who belong to me}. ¹⁶ There are also sheep that belong to me and are from a different sheep pen. {They are people who are not Jews.} I must also bring them {to myself}. They will respond to what I say, and {all those who belong to me} will be {united like} one flock, and I will be {their} one shepherd. ¹⁷ My Father loves me because I will willingly die in order that I may make myself alive again. ¹⁸ Nobody is forcing me to die. Rather, I myself choose to die. I have authority to willfully die and I have authority to make myself alive again. That is the work my Father has commanded me to do.”

¹⁹ The Jewish leaders divided {into opposing groups} again on account of what Jesus had said. ²⁰ Many of the {Jewish leaders} said, “A demon is controlling him and he is crazy! Do not listen to him!” ²¹ {Some} other {people} said, “What he is saying is not something a man controlled by a demon would {ever} say. Surely a demon cannot {possibly} enable a blind person to see!”

²² The time for the {Temple} Dedication Celebration in Jerusalem had come. It was in the winter. ²³ Jesus was walking in the temple courtyard in the place called Solomon’s Porch. ²⁴ The Jewish leaders gathered around Jesus and said, “How long will you keep us wondering about who you are? If you are the Messiah, {then} tell us plainly {so that we can know}.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I have told you, but you {still} do not believe me. The miraculous deeds I do by my Father’s authority tell you {what you need to know} about me. ²⁶ However, you {people still} do not believe in me because you do not belong to me. You are like sheep {that are not part of my flock}. ²⁷ {Just like sheep obey the voice of their shepherd,} my people respond to what I say. I know them, and they are my disciples. ²⁸ I enable them to live forever {with God in heaven}. No one can ever destroy them, and {no one can ever} take them away from me. ²⁹ My Father gave them to me. He is greater than anyone and no one is able to take them away from him. ³⁰ My father and I are united.”

³¹ The Jewish {leaders} again picked up stones in order to throw them at him and kill him. ³² Jesus said to them, “You have seen me do many miraculous good deeds that my Father told me to do. Which one of them are you going to kill me with stones for?” ³³ The Jewish {leaders} replied, “We do not want to kill you with stones because you did a good deed. Rather, {we want to kill you} because you blaspheme God by claiming to be God {even though} you are {just} a man!” ³⁴ Jesus replied to them, “In your scriptures a prophet wrote that God said, ‘I have said that you are gods.’ ³⁵ Since God called those to whom he spoke ‘gods’ and no one can prove that the Scripture is false, ³⁶ why do you say that I am blaspheming {God} because I said that I am the Son of God? {I am} the one whom my Father specially selected {to belong to him} and sent into this world. ³⁷ If I am not doing the {miraculous} deeds that my Father wants {me to do}, {then} you should not trust me. ³⁸ However, because I am doing these {miraculous} deeds, you should trust {what} these deeds {reveal about me} even though you do not trust me. {You should do that} in order to learn and comprehend that my Father and I are completely united.”

³⁹ Because {he said these things}, the Jewish {leaders} tried again to arrest Jesus, but he got away from them.

⁴⁰ Then Jesus went back over {on the east side of} the Jordan {River}. {He went} to the place where John {the Baptizer} had baptized {people} at the beginning {of his ministry}. Jesus stayed there {for a while}. ⁴¹ Many {people} came to Jesus {there}. They said, “John the Baptizer never performed a {miraculous} sign, but everything that John said about this man is true!” ⁴² Many {people} trusted in him in that place.

Chapter 11

¹ A man named Lazarus became {very} ill. He lived in the village of Bethany where his {older} sisters Mary and Martha {also lived}. ² {This} is {the same} Mary who {later} would pour perfume on the Lord and would wipe {the oil off of} his feet with her hair. {It was} her brother Lazarus who was ill. ³ So the two sisters sent {someone to tell Jesus about Lazarus}. They said, “Lord, the one whom you love is {very} ill. {Please come!}” ⁴ When Jesus heard about {Lazarus’ illness,} he said, “This illness will not end in {Lazarus’} death. Rather, the purpose of this illness is to reveal how great God is. {Lazarus became ill} in order that the illness may reveal how great I, the Son of God, am.” ⁵ (Jesus loved Martha, her sister Mary, and Lazarus.) ⁶ So when Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he deliberately remained where he was for two {more} days.

⁷ Then after {those two days} Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go back to {the region of} Judea.” ⁸ His disciples said, “Teacher, the Jewish leaders {in Judea} currently want to kill you with stones! You surely should not return there again!” ⁹ Jesus replied, “{You know that} there are 12 hours of daylight. The person who walks during the daytime will walk safely because the light allows him to see {where he is going}. ¹⁰ However, when a person walks during the night, he will stumble because there is no light to allow him to see {where he is going}.”

¹¹ After saying these things, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I will go there to wake him up.” ¹² So his disciples told him, “Lord, if he is sleeping, then he will get well.” ¹³ (Jesus was {really} speaking about Lazarus’ death, but his disciples thought that he was talking about actual sleep.) ¹⁴ So Jesus told them clearly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And I rejoice that I was not there {when he died}. {I let this happen} so that you may trust in {me}. {This is} for your benefit. Rather (than staying here,} let us go to where he is.” ¹⁶ So Thomas, whom they called ‘The Twin,’ said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go {with the Teacher} in order that we may die with him.”

¹⁷ So when Jesus arrived {in the village of Bethany,} he learned that people had already put Lazarus’ {dead body} in a tomb four days {before then}. ¹⁸ (Jerusalem was only about three kilometers away from {the village of} Bethany.) ¹⁹ Many Jewish people came to Martha and Mary {in Bethany} in order to console {both of} them concerning their {younger} brother {Lazarus’ death}. ²⁰ When Martha heard {someone say} that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him. Mary {did not go with her} but stayed in the house. ²¹ When Martha {met Jesus}, she said to him, “Lord, if you had {only} been here {sooner}, my brother would not be dead! ²² However, even now {that he is dead} I am certain that God will do for you whatever you ask him {to do}.” ²³ Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again.” ²⁴ Martha told him, “I am certain that my brother will live again when God raises all dead people on the last day {when he judges everyone}.” ²⁵ Jesus told her, “I am the one who causes {dead people} to live again. {I am} the one who gives {people eternal} life. Whoever trusts in me will live {forever}, even if his {body} dies. ²⁶ All those who receive {eternal} life and trust in me will surely live forever. Do you believe {that} this {is true}?” ²⁷ Martha told him, “Yes, {I do,} Lord! I {do indeed} believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God. {You are} the one whom God promised would come into this world.

²⁸ After she said that, she returned {to the house} and secretly summoned her {younger} sister Mary. She told {Mary}, “The Teacher has arrived, and he is summoning you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard what her {older} sister said, she rose quickly and went out {to meet} Jesus. ³⁰ (At that time Jesus had not yet entered the village {of Bethany}. Rather, he was still at the place where Martha had met him.) ³¹ The Jewish people who were comforting Mary in her house saw her rise quickly and go outside, so they followed her. {They} thought that she was going to the tomb {where they had buried Lazarus} in order to grieve there.

³² When Mary arrived at the place where Jesus {had spoken to Martha} and saw him, she threw herself down on the ground in front of his feet. She told him, “Lord, if you had {only} been here {sooner}, my brother would not be dead!” ³³ When Jesus saw her grieving, and the Jewish people with her also grieving, he became extremely agitated. ³⁴ He asked, “Where have you entombed his body?” They told him, “Lord, come and see {where he is}.” ³⁵ Jesus started crying. ³⁶ So the Jewish people {who were with Mary} said {among themselves}, “See how much he loved Lazarus!” ³⁷ However, others among them said, “He could enable the blind man to see. But maybe he didn’t have enough power to prevent this man from dying!”

³⁸ Jesus then was emotionally agitated again when he came to the tomb. (It was a cave, and a large rock was covering its entrance.) ³⁹ Jesus said, “Remove the rock {from the cave’s entrance}.” {However,} Lazarus’ sister Martha told him, “Lord, by this time his body will smell bad because he died four days ago.” ⁴⁰ Jesus told her, “I surely told you that if you trusted me, you would see how great God is!”

⁴¹ So some people removed the rock {from the cave’s entrance}. Jesus looked up {toward heaven} and said, “Father, I thank you for listening to me. ⁴² I know that you always listen to me. Nevertheless, I said that for the sake of the crowd {of people} who are standing here. {I said this} in order that they might be confident that you sent me.” ⁴³ After he said that {prayer}, he shouted loudly, “Lazarus, come out {of the tomb}!” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out {of the tomb}! {The people who prepared him for burial} had wrapped his feet and hands with strips of cloth and had wrapped a cloth around his face. {So} Jesus told the people {standing there}, “Take off {the strips of cloth that bind him}. Allow him to go.”

⁴⁵ As a result, many of the Jewish people who had come {to comfort} Mary and who had witnessed what Jesus had done trusted him. ⁴⁶ Nevertheless, some of the people {there} went to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the ruling priests and the Pharisees gathered together the members of the highest Jewish ruling council. They were saying to each other, “What are we going to do {about this man}? He is performing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸ If we allow him to keep doing these {miracles}, everyone will trust in him {and make him their king}. Then the Roman {army} will come and destroy both our temple and our people!”

⁴⁹ One {member} of this council was Caiaphas. {He was} the high priest for that year. He told them, “You people know nothing! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it would be {much} better for you to have one man die on behalf of the people {than} let {the Romans} kill all of the Jewish people.” ⁵¹ (Caiaphas did not say this because he thought of it himself. Rather, since he was the high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die on behalf of the Jewish people. ⁵² {He was also prophesying that Jesus would die,} not only for the Jewish people, but also in order to gather into one people all the children of God who have dispersed themselves {throughout the world}.) ⁵³ So from {the day that Caiaphas prophesied} forward, the Jewish council made plans to kill Jesus.

⁵⁴ Because of that, Jesus no longer traveled around publicly among his Jewish {opponents}. Instead, he left Jerusalem and went to a town called Ephraim that is in the region near the desolate area. He remained there with his disciples {for a while}.

⁵⁵ At that time the Jewish Passover Celebration was about to take place. Many {people} went up to Jerusalem from the region. {They came} before the Passover {Celebration began} in order to clean themselves {according to the Jewish rules for attending the celebration}. ⁵⁶ The people {who came to Jerusalem for the Passover Celebration} were searching for Jesus. While they were standing in the temple {courtyard}, they asked each other, “What do you think? He will surely not come to the Passover Celebration!” ⁵⁷ {Some time earlier} the Jewish ruling priests and the Pharisees had made a command that anyone who found out where Jesus was must report {his location to them}, so that they could arrest him.

Chapter 12

¹ Jesus arrived in Bethany six days before the Passover Festival began. Bethany was the village where Lazarus lived, the man Jesus made alive again after he had died. ² There in Bethany, they gave a dinner to honor Jesus. Martha made preparations for the dinner, and Lazarus was among those who were sitting together and eating. ³ Then Mary took a bottle of expensive perfume (called nard) and, to honor Jesus, she poured it out on his feet and then wiped his feet with her hair. The beautiful smell of the perfume filled the entire house.

⁴ However, one of his apprentices, Judas Iscariot, (he was the one who broke the trust Jesus had in him, and soon he would give Jesus up to his enemies)—he objected and said, ⁵ “We should have sold this perfume for three hundred days’ wages and given the money to the poor.” ⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor people, but because he was a thief. He kept charge of the bag that held their money, but he would take money for his own use whenever he wanted. ⁷ Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone! She bought this perfume for the day when I would die and they would bury me. ⁸ There will always be poor people among you, so you can help them whenever you want to. But I will not be with you much longer, so it is good that she showed right now how much she appreciates me.”

⁹ A large crowd of Jews in Jerusalem heard that Jesus was in Bethany, so they went there. They came not only because Jesus was there, but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had made alive. ¹⁰ Then the chief priests decided it was necessary to put Lazarus to death, as well, ¹¹ for it was because of him that many of the Jews were no longer believing in what the chief priests were teaching; instead, they were putting their trust in Jesus.

¹² The next day the large crowd that had come for the Passover Festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³ So they cut branches from palm trees and went out to wave them to welcome him as he came into the city. They were shouting, “Hosanna! Praise God! God bless the One who comes in the Name of the Lord! Welcome, King of Israel!” ¹⁴ When Jesus came near to Jerusalem, he found a young donkey and sat on it, riding into the city. By doing this, he fulfilled what had been written in scripture:

     ¹⁵ “Do not be afraid, you who live in Jerusalem.

     Look! Your King is coming.

     He is riding on a donkey’s colt!”

¹⁶ When this happened, his apprentices did not understand that this was a fulfillment of prophecy. However, after Jesus had finished his work and had received again his full powers as God, they looked back and remembered what the prophets had written about him and what people had done to him.

¹⁷ The crowd that was following along with Jesus kept telling others what they had seen: That Jesus had called Lazarus out of the tomb and had made him alive again. ¹⁸ The other crowd of people, those who went out of the city gate to meet Jesus, did so because they heard he had done great things to show them his power. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to each other, “See! We are gaining no advantage here. Look! The whole world is following him!”

²⁰ Among those who went up to Jerusalem to worship God during the Passover Festival were some Greeks. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in the district of Galilee. They had something to ask him; they said, “Sir, would you introduce us to Jesus?” ²² So Philip reported this to Andrew, and they both went and told Jesus. ²³ Jesus answered Philip and Andrew, “It is time for God to show the people everything that I, the Son of Man, have done and to tell them all that I have said. ²⁴ I am telling you the truth: Unless a seed of wheat is planted in the earth and dies, it remains only one seed; but after it dies in the ground, then it will grow and produce a harvest of much wheat. ²⁵ Anyone who tries to live to please himself will fail, but anyone who does not live to please himself in this world will keep his life forever. ²⁶ If anyone wants to serve me, he must also follow me because my servant must be where I am. The Father will honor everyone who serves me.

²⁷ Now my soul is greatly troubled. Should I say, ‘Father, save me from this time when I will suffer and die!’? No, for this is the very reason I came into this world. ²⁸ My Father, show how powerful you are in all you have said, in all you have done, and in all you are!”

Then God spoke from heaven, “I have already displayed my nature, my words, and my works; and I will do it again!” ²⁹ The crowd that was there heard the voice of God, but some said it was just thunder. Others said an angel had spoken to Jesus. ³⁰ Jesus replied to them, “The voice you heard speaking was God’s voice. However, he spoke not for my benefit, but for yours! ³¹ Now is the time for God to judge the world. Now is the time when he will drive out Satan, the one who rules this world. ³² As for me, when people raise me high on a cross, I will draw everyone to myself.” ³³ He said this to let the people know how he would die.

³⁴ Someone in the crowd answered him, “We understand from the scriptures that the Messiah will live forever. So why do you say that the Son of Man will die? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” ³⁵ Jesus answered, “My message is like a light that will shine on you for just a little longer. Live in that light while you have my light, or the darkness will overtake you. Those who walk in the darkness cannot see where they are going! ³⁶ Trust in that light while you have the light; then you will belong to the light.

After he said those things, Jesus left them and hid from them. ³⁷ Although Jesus had done many miracles, most of the people did not believe what he had told them. ³⁸ This was to make come true what Isaiah the prophet had written long ago:

     “Lord, who has believed anything that they have heard from us?

     The Lord has shown us how he can powerfully rescue us!” ³⁹ Yet, they could not trust in him for the reason that Isaiah had written: ⁴⁰ “The Lord has made them so they cannot see,

     and he has made them stubborn;

     they cannot even see with their eyes,

     If they could, they would understand;

     they would repent and pray for me to forgive them.

     For this reason, I cannot heal them!”

⁴¹ Isaiah wrote those words long ago because he understood that the Messiah would serve God powerfully.

⁴² Although this was true, many of the leaders of the Jewish people put their trust in Jesus. Nevertheless, they greatly feared that the Pharisees would ban them from the synagogues, so they did not speak out about trusting in Jesus. ⁴³ They preferred that other people praise and respect them rather than that God would praise them.

⁴⁴ Jesus shouted out to the crowd that had gathered, “Those who put their trust in me are not only putting their trust in me but also are putting their trust in {my Father} who sent me. ⁴⁵ When you see me, you are also seeing {my Father} who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come into the world as the light of the world; whoever puts his trust in me will not remain in the darkness.

⁴⁷ I do not judge those who listen to my words but refuse to obey me. I did not come into this world to condemn the people of the world. Instead, I came to save them from being punished for their sins. ⁴⁸ Yet, there is something that will condemn those who reject me and do not follow my message. They are condemned by the message I have spoken to them. ⁴⁹ When I taught about God, I was not merely saying what I thought. {My} Father who sent me, gave me clear instructions on what I should say and how I should say it. ⁵⁰ I know that the Father’s most important instructions are the ones that teach people how to live forever, and I have said exactly what my Father has told me to say.”

Chapter 13

¹ It was now the day before the Passover Festival was to begin. Jesus knew it was time for him to leave this world and to return to his Father. He showed how much he loved those who were with him here in this world, and he loved them until the end of his life. ² Before Jesus and his apprentices had their evening meal, the devil had already put the thought into the mind of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, that he would hand Jesus over to his enemies. ³ Yet Jesus knew that his Father had given him complete power and authority over everything. He also knew that he himself had come from God and would soon return to God. ⁴ Jesus got up from the dinner. He took off his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ He poured out some water into a basin and began to wash the apprentices’ feet and to wipe them dry with the towel.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷ Jesus replied to him, “You do not understand now what I am doing for you, but later you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied to him, “If I do not wash you, then you have nothing to do with me.” ⁹ So Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash not only my feet! Wash my hands and my head also!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “One who has taken a bath needs only to wash his feet. The rest of his body is already clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ He knew who was going to hand him over. That is the reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹² After he finished washing their feet, he put his outer clothing on again. Then he sat down at his place again and said, “Do you understand what I have done for you? ¹³ You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘Lord. You are right to say this, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ If I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, you also ought to serve each other by doing things like washing each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example to follow in order that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ I am telling you the truth: A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who has sent him. ¹⁷ Since you now know these things, God will be pleased with you if you do them.

¹⁸ I am not saying this about all of you. I know the ones I have chosen. However, what is written in scripture must come true: ‘The one who ate my food with me as a friend, he has turned against me and treated me like an enemy.’

¹⁹ I am telling you this now before he hands me over so that when it does happen, you may believe that I am God. ²⁰ I am telling you the truth: If you receive the one I send to you, you are also receiving me; and whoever receives me, is also receiving {my Father} who sent me.”

²¹ After Jesus said this, he was disturbed within himself. He solemnly declared, “I am telling you the truth: One of you is going to hand me over to my enemies.” ²² The apprentices looked at one another. They were confused about which of them he was talking about. ²³ One of his apprentices, John, the one whom Jesus especially loved, was at the table next to Jesus. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to John that he should ask Jesus which apprentice he was talking about. ²⁵ So John leaned back against Jesus and asked him quietly, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread after I dip it in the bowl.” Then he dipped the bread and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered in to him and took control of him. Jesus said to him, “Whatever you need to do, do it quickly.” ²⁸ No one else at the table knew why Jesus had said that to him. ²⁹ Some thought that because Judas had the money bag, Jesus was telling him to go and buy some things needed for the Passover Festival. Others thought Jesus was telling Judas to give something to the poor. ³⁰ After receiving the bread, immediately Judas went out. It was night.

³¹ After Judas left, Jesus said, “Now God will make people know what I, the Son of Man, am doing. I, the Son of Man, will make people know what God is doing as well, and people will praise him for it. ³² Since I, the Son of Man, make God known to people and since I honor him, God will also honor me. God will do this immediately.

³³ You whom I love as though you were my children, I will continue with you only a short time longer. Then you will look for me, but I will not be here. Just like I told the Jewish leaders, I am telling you now, that where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴ I will give you this new command: You must love one another, just as I have loved you. ³⁵ If you love one another, all people will know that you are my apprentices.”

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot come with me now; but you will come later.” ³⁷ Peter said, “Lord, why can I not come with you now? I am ready to die for you!” ³⁸ Jesus answered, “You say that you are ready to die for me. I am telling you the truth: The rooster will not crow in the morning before you will say three times that you do not know me!”

Chapter 14

¹ “Do not be upset or anxious. You are trusting in God; trust also in me. ² Where my Father lives there are many places to live. If that were not true, I would have told you. I will go there to prepare a place for you. ³ And because I will go there to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me, so that where I am, there you may be with me. ⁴ You know where I am going, and you know the way.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way to where my Father is. I am the one who reveals the truth about God, and the one who gives eternal life to people. I am the only one who can enable people to come to my Father. There is no other way. ⁷ If you really knew who I was, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you know him, and it is as though you have seen him”

⁸ Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be all we will ever want!” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Philip, I have been with you so long, and still you do not know me. Those who have seen me, have seen my Father. So why do you say ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am joined to my Father and that my Father is joined to me? The things I have told you—I did not think of these things; rather, it is my Father who has sent me to tell you all of these things, for my Father is joined to me and works through me. ¹¹ Trust me because I have told you that I am joined to the Father and that the Father is joined to me, or else trust me because of all the signs and mighty acts you have seen me do. ¹² I am telling you the truth: Whoever trusts in me will also do the things that I do. He will do even greater works because I am going to be with the Father. ¹³ Whatever you ask in my name, that I will do. I will do this in order that everyone might honor the Father and that they might know the Father because of everything that I, his Son, do. ¹⁴ If you ask the Father for anything because you belong to me, I will do it.

¹⁵ If you love me, you will live as I have taught you. ¹⁶ Then I will ask the Father to give you another gift, and he will send you another Helper, one who will come alongside you to be with you forever. ¹⁷ He is the Spirit who tells the truth about God. The unbelieving people in this world will never welcome Him. The world cannot see him or know him. You know him because he lives with you and he will be joined to you. ¹⁸ I will not abandon you and leave you with no one to care for you; I will come to you. ¹⁹ Soon the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live. ²⁰ When you see me again, you will know that I am joined to my Father and that you are joined to me and I to you. ²¹ Everyone who has heard my commandments and obeys them, they are the ones who love me. And the ones who love me, my Father will love them, too; I will love them and I will reveal myself to them.”

²² Then Judas (not Iscariot, but the other apprentice with the same name) spoke to Jesus. He said, “Lord, how will you reveal yourself just to us and not to the whole world?” ²³ Jesus replied to him, “This is how you can tell whether people love me: Whether they do what I have told you to do. Any people like this, my Father will love them. He and I will come to them and live with them. ²⁴ As for those who do not love me, they will not obey what I have told them to do. The things I have told you are not things that I have decided to say on my own; instead, they are things that {my} Father has sent me to tell you. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But my Father will send the Holy Spirit. He is the one who will encourage you. He will come with my authority. He will teach you all of God’s truth that you need to know. He will also cause you to remember all the things that I have told you. ²⁷ As I leave you with peace, it is my peace that I am giving to you. I give you a kind of peace no one and nothing that belongs to this world can give you. So do not be upset or anxious; and do not be afraid.

²⁸ You heard me say to you that I am going away and will later come back to you. If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going back to the Father because the Father is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you these things now before they happen so that, when they do happen, you will continue to trust me. ³⁰ I will not be able to talk with you much longer because Satan, the ruler of this world is coming. But he has no control over what happens to me, ³¹ and I will do what the Father has commanded me to do. This is so that the world will know forever that I love the Father. Come, let us go from here.”

Chapter 15

¹ ““I am like a genuine vine (not like those Jewish leaders who do not teach the truth). My Father is like a gardener who works to take care of a vineyard. ² Every branch in me that does not grow fruit—my Father cuts it off and takes it away. As for every branch that gives good fruit, he makes it clean by pruning it so that it may produce even more fruit. ³ You are already pure because of the message I spoke to you. ⁴ Remain joined to me, and I will remain joined to you. As the branch cannot bear any fruit on its own, neither can you bear fruit unless you stay joined to me and depend upon me for everything.

⁵ I am like the vine; you are like the branches. If you remain joined to me and I remain joined to you, you will bear much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing at all. ⁶ The gardener cuts off and throws away useless branches. Then, after they dry up, he picks them up and throws them into a fire and burns them. Similarly, everyone who does not stay joined to me, God will get rid of. ⁷ If you stay joined to me and live by my message, you can ask God for anything, and he will do it. ⁸ When you bear much fruit, it causes people to honor my Father. By doing that you will show that you are my apprentices.

⁹ I have loved you just as my Father has loved me. Now keep living in a way that is appropriate for those whom I love. ¹⁰ If you obey what I have commanded you, you will be acting in a way that is appropriate for those whom I love, just like I have obeyed what my Father has commanded me and I act in a way that is appropriate for someone whom he loves. ¹¹ I told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and so that you may rejoice to the fullest extent. ¹² What I command you to do is this: Love each other in the way that I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than a person who gives up his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you not only listen to my commands but also live by them. ¹⁵ I no longer call you my servants, for the servant does not understand what his master is doing. I now call you friends, for everything I heard from my Father I made it all known to you so that you also could understand it. ¹⁶ You did not decide to become my apprentices. Instead, I chose you, so that you should go out and bear much fruit and so that your fruit should last forever. As a result, everything you ask my Father using my authority, he will do for you. ¹⁷ This is what I command you to do: Love one another.

¹⁸ If the world despises you, you should realize that it hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the unbelievers in this world, the world would love you, and you would love what they love and do what they do. But you do not belong to them; instead, I chose you to come out from among them. That is the reason the unbelievers in this world despise you. ²⁰ Remember when I taught you this: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ Since they have made me suffer, you can be sure they will make you suffer also. If any of them have received my teachings and followed them, they will also follow what you teach them. ²¹ The unbelievers in this world will do horrible things to you because you represent me and because they do not know {my Father} who has sent me to you. ²² If I had not come and spoken God’s message to them, they would not have been guilty of rejecting me and my message. However, now I have come and told them God’s message, and they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ If I had not done those things among them, those things in which I showed my power, things that no one else has ever done, they would not have been guilty of sin. Yet now that they have seen me, they hate me, and they hate my Father, too. ²⁵ These words were written in their law and have now come true: ‘They hated me for no reason.’

²⁶ When I send you the Helper, he is the one who will come from the Father and who will comfort you. He is the Spirit who tells the truth about God and me. He will tell everyone who I am, and he will show everyone all that I have done. ²⁷ You also must tell everyone what you know about me because you have been with me the whole time from the very first days when I began to teach the people and to do miracles.”

Chapter 16

¹ I told you these things so that you would not stumble or stop trusting in me because of the difficulties you must face. ² Difficult days are ahead. Your enemies will stop you from worshiping in the synagogues. However, something even worse will happen. The days are coming when people will put you to death and think that they are pleasing God. ³ They will do such things because they have never known who I really am, nor who my Father is. ⁴ I have told you these things so that at the time when these hardships come, you will remember that I warned you. I did not tell you these things at the beginning because I was with you then.

⁵ “Now I am going back to {my Father} who sent me. Yet none of you dares to ask me, ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ Because I have said these things to you, now you are very sad. ⁷ I tell you the truth, it is good for you that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Helper who comforts you will not come. If I go away, I will send him to you. ⁸ When the Helper comes, he will convict them of the sins they have committed; he will show them that they do not reach God’s standard of goodness; and he promises them that God will judge them because they did what God commanded them not to do. ⁹ He will tell people that their greatest sin is that they do not believe in me. ¹⁰ He will tell people that because I am going back to my Father, and you will no longer see me, you will know that I am the one who was truly righteous. ¹¹ He will tell people that the fact that God has already determined that he will punish Satan, the one who rules this world, shows that some day God will also punish those who do not belong to him.

¹² I have many more things I want to tell you. However, if I tell you now, you will not be able to live well knowing these things. ¹³ When the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you into all the truth you need to know. He will not speak from his own authority, but whatever he hears he will tell you, and he will tell you ahead of time about things that will happen. ¹⁴ The Spirit will honor me by telling you who I am and showing you what I have done. He will explain to you everything he heard from me. ¹⁵ Everything my Father has belongs to me. That is why I said that the Spirit will take whatever he receives from me and will explain it to you.

¹⁶ In a little while, you will not see me. Then after a little while, you will see me again.” ¹⁷ So some of his apprentices said to one another, “What does Jesus mean when he says to us, ‘In a little while, you will not see me,’ and ‘after a little while, you will see me again’ and what does he mean by ‘because I am going back to my Father’?” ¹⁸ They kept asking, “What does he mean by saying, ‘after a little while’? We do not understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him more questions. So he said to the apprentices, “Why are you asking each other what I meant? I said that in a little while, you would not see me; and then after a little while, you would see me again. ²⁰ I am telling you the truth: You will cry and grieve, but those who belong to this world will rejoice. You will go through great sadness, but your sadness will change into joy. ²¹ This is like a woman who is suffering the pains of labor when giving birth. After her baby is born, she forgets her anguish because of the joy she has that her child has been born into the world. ²² You, like her, have sorrow now, but I will see you again and God will give you great joy, joy no one can take from you. ²³ On that day, you will have no more questions to ask me. I am telling you the truth: Whatever you ask the Father, he will give it to you when you ask because you are joined to me. ²⁴ Up until now, you have not asked for anything like that. Ask and you will receive it, and God will give you such joy that fills everything.

²⁵ I have been speaking these things using language of parables, but there will soon be a time when I will no longer use that kind of language. Instead, I will tell you all about my Father in language that you can clearly understand. ²⁶ At that time you will make your requests to God in my name and according to God’s purposes. I will not have to ask the Father to meet your needs, ²⁷ for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have put your trust in me and because you know that I came from God. ²⁸ I came from the Father, and I entered this world. Very soon I will be leaving this world, and I am going back to my Father.”

²⁹ Then his apprentices said, “Finally! Now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative language. ³⁰ Now we understand that you know everything. There is no need to ask you questions. This is why we gave you our trust, and we know for certain that you came from God.”

³¹ Jesus replied to them, “Do you now finally put your trust in me? ³² Look! The time is coming when others will scatter you everywhere! Each one will go toward his own home, and you will leave me. However, I will not be alone because the Father is always with me. ³³ I have told you these things in order that you may have inner peace because of your relationship with me. In this world you have trials and sorrows, but be brave! I have conquered the world!”

Chapter 17

¹ After Jesus said these things, he looked up to the sky and said, “Father, it is time for you to announce to everyone and to tell them who I, your Son, am, and to show them all that I have done. Do this so that I, your Son, may reveal you to everyone who you really are, the great King who can do anything. ² You gave me authority over all people, in order that I might enable all those whom you chose to come to me to live eternally. ³ This is everlasting life: To know you, Father—you, who are the only true God, and to know me, Jesus the Messiah, the one whom you have sent into the world. ⁴ I have brought all kinds of people to you to show them all about you. I did this by finishing the work you gave me. ⁵ Father, give me honor by bringing me into your own presence, as we were before the time we created the world.

⁶ Those whom you chose from everyone in this world to belong to me—I have taught them who you really are and what you are like. They belonged to you and you have given them to me. They have believed in what you said to them, and they have obeyed it. ⁷ Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. ⁸ I gave them the message that you gave me. They accepted it, and now they know for sure that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me. ⁹ I am praying for them. I am not praying for those who belong to this world, those who continue to oppose you. I am praying for those whom you gave me because they belong to you. ¹⁰ All I have belongs to you, and all you have is mine. They know who I am, and they sincerely tell the truth about who I am. ¹¹ I am not staying in the world any longer. However, they are staying in the world. I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe; keep them belonging to yourself by the same power that you gave to me so that they may be united together, just as we are. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe and watched over them by your own power. Not one of them was lost, except the one whom you had destined for destruction, as the scriptures foretold long ago.

¹³ Now I am coming to you, Father. I have said these things while I am here in the world so that I may give them my complete joy. ¹⁴ I have spoken your messages to them, and the world has hated them and would not listen to your message. The world hated them because, like me, they do not belong to this world, but they have another home. ¹⁵ I am not asking for you to take them out of this world, but instead for you to protect them from the harm that the evil one can do to them. ¹⁶ They do not belong to those in this world who are opposed to you, just like I also do not belong to them. ¹⁷ Set my apprentices apart so that they may completely belong to you, by enabling them to live in accordance with what is true. Your message is true. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. ¹⁹ I dedicate myself to completely belong to you for their sakes, so that they also may dedicate themselves completely to you.”

²⁰ “I am praying not only for these apprentices here, but also I am praying for those who will trust in me when they hear their message. ²¹ I pray that they may all be united, just as you and I are united. Father, you are united to me, and I am to you—may they also be united to us. Do this so that the world will know you sent me. ²² I have shown them who I am, and they have seen what I have done. I have taught them this so that they may be united together, as you and I are united. ²³ I am united with them and you are united with me. I have done this so that they may be perfectly united together and so that the unbelievers may know that you sent me and that you love them, just as you love me.

²⁴ “Father, I want these whom you have given to me to be with me always where I am so that they can see the splendor and majesty you will give to me when I am with you. You do this because you have loved me from before the time we created the world.

²⁵ O Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these with me here know that you have sent me to them. ²⁶ I have made them know who you are. I will continue to do this so that you may love them like you love me and so that I may be united with them.”

Chapter 18

¹ When Jesus finished his prayer, he went with his apprentices and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a grove of olive trees, and they entered it.

² Judas, the one who was about to hand Jesus over to his enemies, knew where the place was because Jesus often went there with his apprentices. ³ So Judas came to that grove. He was leading a troop of Roman soldiers and some Temple guards who had been sent by the Pharisees and chief priests. They were carrying torches and lamps and weapons. ⁴ Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, so he went forward and asked them, “Who are you looking for?” ⁵ They replied to him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said to them, “I am that person.” (Now Judas, the one who was handing him over, was standing with them.) ⁶ When Jesus said to them, “I am that person,” they swiftly moved back and fell to the ground because of his power. ⁷ So he asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁸ Jesus replied to them, “I told you that I am that person. Since I am the one you are looking for, let these other men go. ⁹ This happened in order to fulfill the words he had said when he was praying to his Father, “I did not lose even one of those you gave me.”

¹⁰ Then Simon Peter drew out a short sword and struck the high priest’s servant, a man named Malchus, and cut off his right ear. ¹¹ Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back into its sheath! Of course I will suffer in the way that my Father has planned for me to do.”

¹² Then the group of soldiers, along with their captain and some of the temple guards, seized Jesus and tied him to prevent him from escaping. ¹³ Then they took him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. ¹⁴ It was Caiaphas who had advised other leaders that it would be better that one man should die for the people than that all the people should perish.

¹⁵ Simon Peter followed Jesus and so did one other apprentice. The other apprentice was known to the high priest, so he had permission to enter the high priest’s courtyard when the soldiers took Jesus. ¹⁶ Peter had to stop outside at the gate. So the other apprentice went out again and spoke to the servant girl who was watching the gate, and she let Peter in. ¹⁷ That servant girl said to Peter, “You are one the apprentices of the man whom they have arrested, are you not?” He said, “No, I am not.” ¹⁸ It was cold, so the high priest’s servants and temple guards made a charcoal fire and were standing and warming themselves around it. Peter was also there with them. He was standing and warming himself.

¹⁹ The high priest questioned Jesus about his apprentices and what he had been teaching them. ²⁰ Jesus replied, “I have spoken openly to everyone. I have always taught in the Jewish preaching places and in the temple, in the places where our people come together. I have said nothing in secret. ²¹ So why are you asking me these questions? Ask the people who heard what I taught them. They know what I said.” ²² When Jesus said these things, one of the temple guards standing near him struck him hard with his hand. He said, “That is not the right way to answer the high priest.” ²³ Jesus replied to him, “If I had said something wrong, tell me what it was. However, if what I said was right, you should not slap me!” ²⁴ Then Annas sent Jesus, who was still tied up, to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵ Simon Peter was still standing and warming himself. Another person said to him, “You are one of the apprentices of the man whom they have arrested, are you not?” He said, “No, I am not.” ²⁶ One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said to him, “Surely I saw you in the olive tree grove with the man they have arrested, did I not?” ²⁷ Peter again denied it, and immediately a rooster crowed.

²⁸ Then the soldiers led Jesus from Caiaphas’ house to the headquarters of Pilate, the Roman governor. It was early morning. Pilate was not a Jew, so Jesus’ accusers thought that if they entered his headquarters, they would defile themselves and be unable to celebrate the Passover Festival. So they did not go in. ²⁹ So Pilate came out to talk to them. He said, “Of what are you accusing this man?” ³⁰ “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have brought him to you!” they replied. ³¹ Then Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves, and judge him by your own law.” Then the Jewish leaders said, “We want to execute him, but your Roman law prevents us from doing that.” ³² They said this in order to make true what Jesus had said about the kind of death he was going to die.

³³ Pilate then went back inside his headquarters. He summoned Jesus and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you asking because you yourself want to know, or did others tell you to ask me this question?” ³⁵ Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew! Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done wrong?” ³⁶ Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not part of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting to keep me from being handed over to my Jewish opponents, but my kingdom is not of this world.” ³⁷ Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus replied, “Yes, what you have said about my being a king is correct. I was born to become a king, and I came into this world to tell people the truth about God. Everyone who believes the truth pays attention to what I say.” ³⁸ Pilate asked him, “How can anyone know what the truth is?”

After Pilate asked that question, he went outside and talked to the Jewish leaders again. He said to them, “I find he has broken no law. ³⁹ However, you Jews have a custom where every year during the Passover Festival, you ask me to release one man who is in prison. So would you like me to release for you the man who you Jews say is your king?” ⁴⁰ They shouted again, “No, do not release this man, but release Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

Chapter 19

¹ Then Pilate sent for Jesus. He had his soldiers beat him severely using whips. ² The soldiers also took some branches with thorns and wove them to make something like a crown. Then they put it on his head. They also put a purple robe on him. They did these things to ridicule him by pretending that he was a king. ³ They mocked him and said, “Hooray for the King of the Jews!” and they struck him over and over again.

⁴ Pilate came outside again and said to the people, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you can know that I find no reason to punish him.” ⁵ So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look, here is the man!” ⁶ When the chief priests and temple guards saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him! As for me, I find no reason to punish him.” ⁷ The Jewish leaders replied to Pilate, “We have a certain law that says he ought to die because he claimed to be the Son of God.” ⁸ When Pilate heard that, he was more afraid of what would happen to himself if he commanded the soldiers to kill Jesus. ⁹ He entered his headquarters once more and called the soldiers to bring Jesus back inside. Then he said to Jesus, “From where do you come?” However, Jesus did not answer him. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “Will you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you, and I also have authority to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all, if God had not given it to you. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a worse sin.”

¹² From that moment on, Pilate kept trying to release Jesus. However, the Jewish leaders cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Roman emperor Caesar! Anyone who makes himself a king, stands opposed to Caesar.” ¹³ When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus out. Then Pilate sat down in front of him in the judgment seat, the place where he usually pronounced verdicts. This was called “The Stone Pavement,” and in Hebrew it was “Gabbatha.” ¹⁴ Now it was the day before the Passover Festival, the day of preparation. It was almost noontime when Pilate said to the Jews, “See, here is your king!” ¹⁵ They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?” The chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar!” ¹⁶ Then at last Pilate agreed to do what they wanted, and he told the soldiers to crucify Jesus. Then the soldiers took Jesus away.

¹⁷ He went out, carrying his own cross by himself to the place called “The Place of a Skull,” which in Hebrew is called “Golgotha.” ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and at the same time they also nailed two other men who were both criminals to their crosses. One was on either side, with Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate also told someone to write a notice on a board and fasten it to Jesus’ cross. It read, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ ²⁰ Many Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the sign was written in three languages: Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. ²¹ The chief priests went back to Pilate and said, “You should not have written, ‘King of the Jews’, but rather, ‘This man said that he is the King of the Jews’.” ²² Pilate replied, “What I told them to write is what they have written, and I will not change it.”

     ²³ After the soldiers had put Jesus on the cross, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. However, they kept his tunic separate. This tunic had been woven from top to bottom from one piece of cloth. ²⁴ So they said to each other, “Let us not tear it. Instead, let us decide who will keep it as one piece by casting lots for the one who will get it.” When this happened it made the scripture come true that said,

     “They divided my clothes among them.

     They cast lots for my clothing.”

Indeed the soldiers did those things.

²⁵ Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were all standing near his cross. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother standing there and John, the apprentice whom he especially loved, standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Mother, here is the one who will act like a son to you.” ²⁷ And he said to the apprentice, “Here is your mother!” So from that very moment, that apprentice took her to live in his home.

²⁸ A little later, Jesus knew that everything that God sent him to do had now been done, and in order to make come true one final thing that the scriptures had foretold, he said, “I am thirsty!” ²⁹ A jar of sour wine stood there, so they took a short branch from a hyssop plant and put a sponge on it, and they dipped in the sour wine and held it up to Jesus’ mouth. ³⁰ After Jesus drank the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and died.

³¹ This was the day of preparation for the Passover (and the next day was a very special day of rest for the Jews). It was against their law to allow dead bodies to remain on the crosses on the holiday, so they went to Pilate and asked him to break the legs of the three men so that the men would die quickly and their bodies would be taken down. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and then of the other, the two men who had been crucified with Jesus. ³³ When they came to Jesus, they saw he was dead already. So they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, and right away blood and water poured out of his body. ³⁵ The one who saw this bears witness—his testimony is true, and he knows he is telling the truth—so that you may put your trust in Jesus. ³⁶ These things happened in order to fulfill what was written in scripture: “No one will break any of his bones.”

³⁷ And they fulfilled another scripture that read: ‘They will look on the one whom they have pierced.’

³⁸ After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, an apprentice of Jesus, but a secret apprentice because he was afraid of the Jews, went to Pilate and asked him if he might take away Jesus’ body. Pilate gave Joseph permission, so he came and took away the body of Jesus. ³⁹ Nicodemus, who had once come to Jesus at night, also came and brought with him a mixture of myrrh and aloe spices to prepare the body for burial. The spices weighed about 33 kilograms. ⁴⁰ They took the body of Jesus and wrapped strips of linen cloth around it, putting the spices under the strips of cloth. They did this according to the Jewish customs about burying bodies in caves. ⁴¹ Now in the place where Jesus was crucified was a garden, and at the edge of the garden was a newly-made burial cave in which no one had been buried. ⁴² The Passover was about to begin that evening, and they chose this tomb because it was close at hand and because they could bury Jesus quickly. So they laid Jesus there.

Chapter 20

¹ Now on Sunday, the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb very early in the day, while it was still dark. She saw that someone had moved the stone away from the entrance to the cave. ² So she ran to Jerusalem, where Simon Peter and the other apprentice—the one whom Jesus loved—were staying, and told them, “They have taken the Lord’s body from the tomb, and we do not know where they have put it!” ³ When they heard this, Peter and the other apprentice rushed out to the tomb. ⁴ They were both running, but the other apprentice was faster than Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent down and looked into the cave; he saw the strips of linen lying there, but he hesitated to go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter, who was running behind him, arrived there, but he went inside the tomb. He, too, saw the strips of linen cloth lying there, ⁷ but he also saw the cloth cover that had been on Jesus’ head, folded and put aside, separate from the linen strips. ⁸ Then the other apprentice also went inside; he saw these things and began to believe that Jesus had truly become alive again. ⁹ Before this happened, they did not understand from what the prophets had written in the scriptures, that he had to become alive again after he died.

¹⁰ So the apprentices went back to their homes. ¹¹ Mary was left standing just outside the tomb, weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the cave. ¹² She saw two angels dressed in white robes sitting on the very place where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away the body of my Lord, and I do not know where they have put it!” ¹⁴ After she said that, she turned around and saw someone standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ He said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought the man speaking to her was the gardener, and she said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have put his body, and I will take it.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet gone up to heaven to be with my Father. Go to my apprentices and tell them, ‘I am about to return to heaven to be with my Father and your Father, to the one who is my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to the apprentices and announced, “I have seen the Lord”—and she reported to them what Jesus had said to her.

¹⁹ On that Sunday evening, the first day of the week, the doors were locked, and the apprentices were staying inside because they were afraid that the Jewish authorities might arrest them. Suddenly Jesus came and stood in the middle of their group; he said to them, “May God give you peace.” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The apprentices were very happy when they saw the Lord! ²¹ Jesus said to them again, “May God give you peace. Just as the Father sent me, now I am sending you.” ²² After he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of anyone, God will forgive them. If you do not forgive another’s sins, they will be held against them.”

²⁴ Now Thomas, one of the twelve apprentices, who was called “The Twin,” was not with the other apprentices when Jesus came to them. ²⁵ The other apprentices told him, “We have seen the Lord.” However, he said to them, “Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands and put my fingers in the holes made by the nails, and unless I put my hand into the gaping wound on his side, I will never put my trust in him.”

²⁶ Eight days later, his apprentices were again inside the house, and this time Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them, and he said to them all, “May God give you peace.” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and put out your hand and place it in my side! Stop doubting that it is I; put your trust in me.” ²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Now you believe that I have risen because you see me. Yet God gives great happiness to those who have not seen me and still believe.”

³⁰ Now Jesus did many other works of power and miracles that proved who he is. His apprentices witnessed them, but they were so numerous that I have not written them all down in this book. ³¹ Nevertheless, I have written these so that you may have complete confidence that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that by trusting in him, you may have everlasting life in his name.

Chapter 21

¹ After that, Jesus appeared to the apprentices by Lake Tiberias (also known as Lake Galilee). He made himself known in this way: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (called The Twin), Nathaniel of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee (James and John), and two other apprentices, were together. ³ Simon Peter said to the others, “I am going fishing.” They said, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. ⁴ In the morning as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore, but the apprentices did not know that it was Jesus. ⁵ Jesus said to them, “My friends, do you have any fish?” They said, “No.” ⁶ He said to them, “Throw your net out off the right side of the boat and you will find some.” They cast it as he told them, and they caught so many fish in the net that they were unable to pull the net into the boat! ⁷ John, the apprentice whom Jesus especially loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard him say this, he tucked up his outer garment around himself (he had worn almost nothing while working), and jumped into the water. ⁸ The other apprentices came to shore in the boat, pulling behind the net full of fish. They were not far from shore, only ninety meters away. ⁹ When they got to shore, they saw a charcoal fire ready and hot, with fish cooking on it, and there was some bread. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught!” ¹¹ Simon Peter got back in the boat and dragged the net to the shore, full of large fish. There were 153 of them. Even so, the net was not torn. ¹² Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast!” None of the apprentices dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them. He did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This was the third time that Jesus appeared to the apprentices after God had brought him back from the dead.

¹⁵ When they finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others love me?” Peter said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Be a shepherd to my sheep.” ¹⁷ Jesus said to him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love me?” Peter said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” ¹⁸ I am telling you the truth: When you were young, you put your own clothes on and you walked about wherever you wanted to go. However, when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone will dress you and will lead you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to indicate how Peter would die in order to honor God. Then Jesus said to him, “Follow me.”

²⁰ Peter turned around and saw John, the apprentice whom Jesus especially loved following them. He was the one who had leaned close to Jesus at the table and said, “Lord, who is going to hand you over to your enemies?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what is going to happen to this man?” ²² Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, that is not your concern! You follow me.” ²³ So the report circulated among the brothers and sisters that this disciple was not going to die. Yet Jesus did not say that he would not die. He said only, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, that is not your concern!”

²⁴ I, John, am the apprentice who is bearing witness about all these things, and I have written them down. We know that his testimony is true.

²⁵ Jesus did many other things, so many that if they were all written down, I suppose the whole world could not contain the books that would be written.