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 declare to people about {Jesus, who is} the light. {He declared this} 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 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 to everyone who accepted him and trusted in him he gave 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 know the Word fully possesses God’s kind acts and true teachings} because all of us have benefited from what he fully possesses, {having benefited from} one kind act after another. 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 himself 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 declared, “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 declare 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! {He is} 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 Jewish 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 PM)

⁴⁰ One of those two disciples who had heard what John had said and followed Jesus was 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 the Greek language.) 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 an Aramaic word that 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, “Come be my disciple.” 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 him, 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 {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 can 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 where God rules without being born a second time.” 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 where God rules 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 do not understand these things,} so {also you do 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 disciples 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 certainly 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 perspective of someone} from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is greater than everyone and everything on the earth. ³² Jesus tells people 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 pull up 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 said this} because Jews usually would not 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 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 those things happened, 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 which people 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 Jewish 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 lives forever {with me in heaven}, and God does 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 declare 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 After those 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. 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 be united with me, and I will be united 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 12 representatives, “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 12 men to represent me, 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 Jesus’ 12 representatives 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 the Jewish leaders {expected Jesus to be} at the celebration, they tried to find him. 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 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} did not 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 your male babies. 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, others {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 since you sinfully reject me, you will die without God forgiving you. 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 sinful 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 Pharisees questioned the man for a second time. {This time} as well, they 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 for a second time the man who had been blind. 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 have done 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 of sin. However, because you claim to perceive God’s truth, like someone who sees, you are still guilty of 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 {The hired man 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 as 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 Then the feast to celebrate the temple dedication in Jerusalem took place. 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 one God.”

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. For which one of them are you going to kill me with stones?” 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 the Old Testament 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 works 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 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 actually 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 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 sister Mary. She told Mary, “The Teacher has arrived, and he is summoning you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard what her 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 buried 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 people 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 during 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 whom God has dispersed throughout the world.) ⁵³ So in the days following the day that Caiaphas prophesied, 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 the village of Bethany six days before the Jewish Passover celebration began. {Bethany was the village} where Lazarus dwelled. He was the man whom Jesus made alive again after he had died. ² There in Bethany, some of Jesus’ friends gave a dinner to honor Jesus. Martha served the food to the guests, and Lazarus was among those who were sitting together and eating with Jesus. ³ Mary then took a bottle that contained about half a liter of very expensive perfume, which was pure oil from nard plants, and she poured it out on Jesus’ feet and then wiped his feet with her hair. The pleasant scent of the perfume filled the entire house.

⁴ However, Judas Iscariot {objected}. (He was the one among Jesus’ disciples who would soon help the Jewish leaders arrest Jesus.) He said, ⁵ “We should have sold this perfume for the money that a man can earn in 300 days of work. Then we could have given that money to poor people!” ⁶ (Judas did not say this because he cared about poor people. Rather, {he said this} because he was a thief. He kept charge of the bag that held their money, but he would steal the money that people gave him to put in the bag.) ⁷ So Jesus said, “Leave her alone! She saved the perfume in order to keep it to prepare me for the time when I {die and} am buried. ⁸ {She did the right thing} because poor people will always be among you {whom you can help}, but I will not be with you much longer.”

⁹ A large crowd of Jews heard that Jesus was {in Bethany}, so they went there. {They came} not only because Jesus was there, but also because they wanted to see Lazarus. He was the man whom Jesus made alive again after he had died. ¹⁰ By contrast, the ruling priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well as Jesus. ¹¹ {The ruling priests wanted to kill Lazarus} because he was the reason why many of the Jews were no longer believing what they were teaching and were trusting in Jesus instead.

¹² The next day the large crowd of people that had come {to Jerusalem} to {celebrate} the Passover celebration found out that Jesus was on his way there. ¹³ So they cut branches off of palm trees and went out to the road to welcome him {as he came into the city}. They were shouting, “Please, save us! May God bless the one who comes with his authority. That one is the King of Israel!” ¹⁴ When Jesus came near to Jerusalem, he found a young donkey and sat on it {in order to ride it into the city}. {By doing this,} he fulfilled what some prophets had 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 these events happened, his disciples did not understand that they were a fulfillment of what those prophets had written. However, after God glorified Jesus {by bringing him back to life}, they remembered what the prophets had written about him and that people had done those things to him.

¹⁷ The crowd of people that was following along with Jesus kept telling others that they had seen Jesus summon Lazarus to come out of the tomb and had seen Jesus make him alive again after he had died. ¹⁸ A different crowd of people went out of the city gate to meet Jesus. {They did so} because they heard that he had done the miraculous sign of {making Lazarus alive again}. ¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to each other, “See! We are failing to stop him. Look! Everyone is becoming his disciples!”

²⁰ Some people who were not Jews were among the people who went up {to Jerusalem} in order to worship God during the Passover celebration. ²¹ They came to Philip, who was from the city of Bethsaida, which is in the region of Galilee. They asked him, “Sir, would you introduce us to Jesus?” ²² Then Philip reported this to Andrew, and they both went and told Jesus {about the Greeks}. ²³ Jesus answered Philip and Andrew, “It is now the time for God to show everyone how great I, the Son of Man, am. ²⁴ I am telling you the truth: {My life is like a seed.} Unless a seed of wheat is planted in the ground and dies, it will only be one seed. But if it dies in the ground, then it will grow and produce much wheat. ²⁵ Anyone who wants to keep on living more than {be my disciple} will die, but anyone who wants to {be my disciple} more than to keep on living in this sinful world will keep his life forever. ²⁶ Anyone who wants to serve me must be my disciple. My servant will be with me {in heaven}. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

²⁷ At this moment I feel greatly distressed. I should surely not say, ‘Father, prevent me from experiencing this time {when I will suffer and die!}’ No, {I will not do that,} because this is the very reason I have lived up to this time {when I will suffer and die}. ²⁸ Father, show how great you are!”

Then God spoke from heaven, “I have already shown how great I am; I will do it again!” ²⁹ The crowd of people that was standing there heard the voice of God as well. Some of them said it was just the sound of thunder. Some other people said that an angel had spoken to Jesus. ³⁰ Jesus replied to them, “The voice that you heard was God’s voice. {He did not speak} for my benefit, but for yours! ³¹ Now is the time for God to judge the people in this world. Now is the time when he will throw out {Satan, who is} the one who rules this world. ³² As for me, when people raise me high {on a cross}, I will cause all peoples to come to me.” ³³ (He said this to let the people know the way he would soon die.)

³⁴ The crowd of people then replied to him, “We have learned from Scripture that the Messiah will live forever. So why do you say that the Son of Man will be lifted up {to die on a cross}? Who is this ‘Son of Man’ you are speaking about?” ³⁵ Jesus told them, “I am the light {that reveals God’s truth and goodness}. I will be with you only a little longer. Live according to my example while I am still here in order to prevent the darkness {that is sin and evil} from controlling you. Those who live sinfully are like people who wander around in darkness, not knowing where they are going! ³⁶ Trust in me, the light {that reveals God’s truth and goodness}, while I am still with you. {Do this} in order to be God’s people, {those who know his truth and goodness}.”

After he said those things, Jesus left them and hid himself from the people. ³⁷ Even though Jesus had done many miraculous signs in front of the people, most of them did not trust in him. ³⁸ Their unbelief happened in order to make come true what Isaiah the prophet had written {long ago}:

     “Lord, no one has believed what we said!

     {It seems like} no one has seen the power that the Lord has revealed!” ³⁹ They could not trust in Jesus for this reason: Isaiah had also written, ⁴⁰ “The Lord has made them unable to perceive what they see,

     and he has made them stubborn.

     {He has done this} in order that they would not perceive what they see,

     and would not truly understand,

     and would not turn away from sin to God, and I would not forgive them.”

⁴¹ Isaiah wrote that {long ago}, because he saw how great Jesus is and spoke concerning him.

⁴² Although this was true, many members of the highest Jewish governing council trusted in Jesus. Nevertheless, they did not tell others {that they trusted in Jesus}, because they feared that the Pharisees would ban them from entering the Jewish meeting place. ⁴³ {They feared this} because they preferred that other people honor them rather than that God would honor them.

⁴⁴ Jesus spoke loudly {to a crowd of people}, “Those who trust me are not only trusting me but also {are trusting my Father}, who sent me. ⁴⁵ Those who see me are also seeing my Father, who sent me. ⁴⁶ I came into this world as the light {that reveals God’s truth and goodness} to everyone in the world in order that anyone who trusts in me will not stay in the darkness {that is sin and evil}.

⁴⁷ I do not condemn anyone who listens to my teachings but refuses to obey them, because I did not come into this world in order to condemn the people in the world. Rather, I came into this world in order to save them {from being punished for their sins}. ⁴⁸ Anyone who rejects me and does not accept {and obey} my teachings will be condemned according to the very teachings I have spoken. On the last day {when God judges everyone,} God will judge that person on the basis of my teachings. ⁴⁹ {This will happen} because I did not speak on my own authority. Rather, my Father himself, who sent me, commanded me regarding what I should say and how I should say it. ⁵⁰ I am certain that what my Father has commanded me to say is what people must believe in order to live forever {in heaven}. So I say exactly what my Father has told me to say.”

Chapter 13

¹ On the day before the Passover celebration would begin, Jesus knew that it was the time for him to leave this world and to return to his Father. He always loved his disciples who were with him in this world, and he loved them to the uttermost. ² When Jesus and his disciples were having their evening meal, the devil had already caused Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to think that he should help the Jewish leaders arrest Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that his Father had given him complete power and authority over everything, and he also knew that he came from God and would soon return to God. ⁴ {Because he knew those things,} Jesus got up from the table where they were eating the evening meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ He poured some water into a large bowl and started washing his disciples’ feet and wiping them dry with the towel that he had wrapped around his waist.

⁶ When he came to Simon Peter {to wash his feet}, Peter told him, “Lord, you should not wash my feet!” ⁷ Jesus replied to him, “Right now you do not understand what I am doing, but later you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said, “You will surely never wash my feet!” Jesus replied to him, “If I do not wash you, then you will not inherit God’s blessings with me.” ⁹ Simon Peter told him, “Lord, do not wash my feet only! Wash my hands and my head also!” ¹⁰ Jesus told him, “Anyone whom someone has washed only needs to wash his feet. The rest of his body is clean. You disciples are clean, but not all {of you are clean}.” ¹¹ ({Jesus said this about being spiritually clean,} because he knew who was going to help the Jewish leaders arrest him. 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 the table again and told them, “You must understand what I have just done for you! ¹³ You rightly call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ because that is what I am. ¹⁴ Since I, your teacher and Lord, have {humbly served you by} washing your feet, you also should {humbly serve each other by} washing each other’s feet. ¹⁵ {By washing your feet} I have given you an example to follow in order that you should {humbly serve each other} as I have {humbly} served you. ¹⁶ I am telling you the truth: Just as a servant is not more important than his master, nor is a messenger more important than the person who has sent him, {you are not more important than me}. ¹⁷ Since you now know {that you should humbly serve each other}, God will bless you if you do so.

¹⁸ I am not saying that all of you will be blessed. I know well the people whom I have chosen {to be my disciples}. However, what is about to happen must take place in order that what a prophet wrote in scripture can come true: ‘The one who shared a meal with me as a friend has opposed me.’

¹⁹ From now on I am telling you what will happen before it happens in order that, when it does happen, you may trust that I am {God}. ²⁰ I am telling you the truth: Whoever accepts the one I send out also accepts me; and whoever accepts me also accepts my Father who sent me.”

²¹ After Jesus said this, he felt disturbed. He solemnly declared, “I am telling you the truth: One of you is going to give me up {to my opponents}.” ²² His disciples kept looking at one another and wondering who among them he was talking about. ²³ One of his disciples, {John} whom Jesus loved, was sitting at the table beside Jesus. ²⁴ Simon Peter made a gesture to him to indicate that he should ask Jesus which disciple he was talking about. ²⁵ So John leaned back against Jesus and {quietly} asked him, “Lord, who is the one who will betray you?” ²⁶ Jesus replied, “It is the man to whom I will give this piece of bread after I dip it in the bowl.” Then he dipped the bread in the bowl and gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the piece of bread from Jesus, Satan took control of him. Jesus then told him, “Do quickly what you have planned to do.” ²⁸ (No one else among those sitting at the table knew why Jesus had said that to Judas. ²⁹ Some of them thought that Jesus was telling him to go and buy some things that they needed for the Passover celebration or to give some money to the poor. {They thought this} because Judas had the bag that held their money.) ³⁰ So after Judas took the bread from Jesus, he immediately went out. (It was night.)

³¹ So after Judas left, Jesus said, “Now God has shown people how great I, the Son of Man, am. I have also shown people how great God is. ³² God himself will show {people} how great I, the Son of Man, am, and he will do this right away.

³³ {You whom I love as though you were my} children, I will be with you only a little while longer. Then you will look for me, but it will be just like I told the Jewish leaders and am telling you now: You will not be able to come to the place where I am going. ³⁴ I now give you this new command in order that you might love each other: You must love each other in the same way that I have loved you. ³⁵ If you love each other, everyone {who sees that love} will know that you are my disciples.”

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “You cannot go with me now to the place where I am going, but you will go there later.” ³⁷ Peter told him, “Lord, why can’t I go with you now? I am willing to die for you!” ³⁸ Jesus replied, “You are not really willing to die for me! I am telling you the truth: You will surely say three times that you do not know me before the rooster crows {in the morning}!”

Chapter 14

¹ “Do not be distressed. Trust God. Trust me as well. ² There are many places for people to dwell where my Father dwells. If that were not true, I would have told you so, because I will go there to prepare a place for you to dwell. ³ And after I go there to prepare a place for you to dwell, I will return and take you to be with me, in order for you also to be with me where I am. ⁴ You know how to go to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we have no idea where you are going! We cannot possibly know how to go there!” ⁶ Jesus told him, “I am how people can go there. I am the one who reveals what is true about God, and the one who gives eternal life to people. The only way people can come to my Father is by trusting me. ⁷ Since you know who I am, you know my Father also. From this time forward, you know him, and it is as though you have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, let us see the Father and that will satisfy us!” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “I have been with you all for such a long time. Surely you know me, Philip! Those who have seen me are like those who have seen my Father. So you have no reason to say ‘Let us see the Father’! ¹⁰ You surely must believe that I and my Father are completely united! I did not speak all that I have spoken to you on my own. Rather, my Father who is united with me is working his own miraculous works through me. ¹¹ Trust me when I say that I and my Father are completely united! Otherwise, if you are not going to trust what I say, at least trust me on account of all the miraculous works {that you have seen me do}. ¹² I am telling you the truth: Whoever trusts in me will also do the miraculous works that I do. He will do even greater works than those I do, because I am going to my Father. ¹³ I will do anything that you request as my representative. I will do this in order that I, his Son, might show how great my Father is. ¹⁴ I will do anything that you request from me as my representative.

¹⁵ If you really love me, you will obey everything that I have commanded you. ¹⁶ Then I will request from my Father, and he will answer me by giving you another one to help you in order for him to be with you forever. ¹⁷ {He is} the Holy Spirit who declares what is true about God. The unbelieving people in the world cannot accept him, because they do not see him or know him. You disciples know this Spirit because he dwells with you, and he will later dwell in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you without anyone to take care of you. I will soon return to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the unbelievers in the world will not see me anymore, but you yourselves will see me again. Because I will soon live again, you too will live again. ²⁰ When you see me again, you will know that I am united with my Father and that you and I are completely united. ²¹ Whoever knows and obeys what I command truly loves me. And my Father loves whoever loves me. I will love that person too, and I will reveal myself to that person.”

²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot, {but a different disciple with the same name}) spoke to Jesus. {He said,} “Lord, what has changed to cause you to reveal yourself just to us and not to all the people in the world?” ²³ Jesus replied to him, “Whoever loves me obeys my teaching. My Father will love that person. He and I will come to that person and dwell inside that person. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not obey my teachings. What you have just heard me say I did not say on my own. Rather, {what I have said has come} from my Father, who has sent me. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But my Father will send the Holy Spirit in my place. He is the one who will help you. 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 I give you a peaceful feeling. It is my peaceful feeling that I am giving to you. I give to you {a peaceful feeling} in a different manner than the people in the world give it. Do not be distressed or afraid.

²⁸ You heard me tell you that I am going away and will later return to you. If you really loved me, you would rejoice that I am returning to my Father {in heaven}, because he is superior to me. ²⁹ I have told you these things now before they happen so that you will continue to trust me when they do happen. ³⁰ I will not be able to talk with you much longer, because {Satan,} the one who rules this world, is coming. But he has no control over me. ³¹ However, this will happen in order for the people in the world to know that I love my Father and I will do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do. Rise, let us leave this place.”

Chapter 15

¹ “I am like a genuine vine {that grows fruit}. My Father is like a gardener {who takes care of it}. ² My Father cuts off and removes every branch that seems to be part of me but does not produce fruit. As for every branch that produces fruit, he cleans it by pruning it so that it may produce even more fruit. ³ You are like branches that have already been cleaned by pruning because of the teaching that I have told you before. ⁴ Stay united with me, and I will stay united with you. As the branch cannot produce any fruit unless it stays attached to the vine, so you cannot produce spiritual fruit unless you stay united with me.

⁵ I am like the vine; you are like the branches. If you stay united with me and I stay united with you, you will produce a lot of fruit. {This is true} because you cannot do anything without my help. ⁶ As for anyone who does not stay united with me, that person is like a branch that the gardener cuts off and throws away. After such branches dry up, the gardener’s workers pick them up and throw them into a fire and burn them up. ⁷ If you stay united with me and obey what I have taught you, you can request anything from God that you want, and he will grant your request. ⁸ You show people how great my Father is by producing a lot of fruit and being my disciples.

⁹ I have loved you in the same way that 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 in order that you may be as joyful as I am and {in order that} you may be joyful to the greatest degree. ¹² This is what I am commanding you to do: Love each other in the way that I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than a person who is willing to die for his friends. ¹⁴ You are really my friends if you keep doing what I have commanded you to do. ¹⁵ I am not going to call you my servants any longer, because a servant does not understand what his master is doing. I now call you friends, because I have made you understand everything that my Father has told me. ¹⁶ You did not choose {to be my disciples}. Rather, I chose you {to be my disciples} and assigned you {to this role} in order that you would go out and produce spiritual fruit and {in order that} the fruit you produce should last forever. {I also chose you} in order that my Father would give you everything that you request from him as my representatives. ¹⁷ I command you to do these things in order that you would love one another.

¹⁸ Since the people who oppose God in the world detest you, you must realize that they detested me first. ¹⁹ If you were part of the people who oppose God in the world, those unbelievers would love you as they love their own. However, I chose you to come out from among them. The people who oppose God in the world detest you because you are not part of them. ²⁰ Remember that I told you that a servant is not more important than his master. Since they have caused me to suffer, they will certainly cause you to suffer as well. If any of them have obeyed my teaching, they will also obey what you teach. ²¹ Yet the unbelievers in this world will do all these hateful things to you because you represent me {and} because they do not know my Father who has sent me here. ²² If I had not come and taught them {God’s truth}, they would not have been guilty {of rejecting me and my message}. However, {since I have come and taught them}, now they do not have any excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever detests me also detests my Father. ²⁴ If I had not performed miraculous works among them that no one else has ever done, they would not be guilty of sin. Yet, as it is, they have seen these works and detest me. They also detest my Father. ²⁵ However, this has happened in order that these words that a prophet wrote in their scriptures would come true: ‘They hated me for no reason.’

²⁶ When I send to you from my Father the one who will help you, he will tell people who I am. He is the Holy Spirit, who declares what is true about God and goes forth from my Father. ²⁷ You also must tell everyone about me, because you have been with me since the very first days when I began my work.”

Chapter 16

¹ I told you about these things that will happen so that you would continue trusting in me {when they do happen}. ² The Jews who oppose me will ban you from entering the Jewish meeting places. Yet {something even worse will happen.} The time is coming when all the people who will kill you will think that they are pleasing God by doing so. 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 about these things that will happen in order that when they happen, you will remember that I told you they would happen. I did not tell you about them in the very first days when I began my work, because I was with you then.

⁵ “Now I am going back to my Father who sent me. Yet now none of you is asking me where I am going! ⁶ You are very sad because I have told you these things. ⁷ Nevertheless, I now tell you true information: It is better for you that I leave {than that I stay}. {This is true} because if I do not leave, then the one who will help you will not come to you. However, If I go away, then I will send him to you. ⁸ When that one who will help comes, he will convict people in the world of the sins {they have committed}. {He will convict them} of not being righteous, and {he will convict} them that God will judge them. ⁹ {He will convict people} of their sin, because they have sinned by not trusting in me. ¹⁰ {He will convict people} of not being righteous, because I am going back to my Father, and you will no longer see me {as the example of how to be righteous}. ¹¹ {He will convict people} that God will judge them, because he has condemned {Satan, who is} the one who rules this world.

¹² I want to tell you many more things. However, if I tell you now, you will not be able to accept them. ¹³ When the Holy Spirit, who declares what is true about God, comes, he will enable you to understand all the truth {you need to know}. {He can do so} because he will not speak from his own authority. Rather, he will say whatever he hears from God, and he will tell you ahead of time about things that will happen. ¹⁴ The Holy Spirit will show how great I am by telling you what he has heard from me. ¹⁵ Everything my Father has belongs to me. That is why I said that the Holy Spirit will tell you what he has heard from me.

¹⁶ After a short time you will not see me, and after a short time, you will see me again.” ¹⁷ Some of his disciples then asked one another, “What does Jesus mean when he says to us, ‘After a short time you will not see me, and after a short time, you will see me again’? And {what does he mean when he says}, ‘Because I am going back to my Father’?” ¹⁸ So they kept asking, “What does ‘after a short time’ mean? We do not understand what he is saying.”

¹⁹ Jesus recognized that his disciples wanted to ask him more questions. So he said to them, “You are asking each other what I meant when I said, ‘After a short time you will not see me, and after a short time, you will see me again.’ ²⁰ I am telling you the truth: You will cry and mourn, but the people who oppose God in the world will rejoice. You will be very sad, but you will change from being sad to being joyful. ²¹ A woman experiences pain when she gives birth to a child, because it is the time for her to give birth. Yet she forgets that she suffered after she has given birth to the child, because she is joyful about the fact that she has brought a human being into the world. ²² In the same way, although you are sad at this time, I will see you again, and you will rejoice, and no one will stop you from rejoicing. ²³ When you see me again, you will not ask me anything. I am telling you the truth: My Father will give you whatever you request from him as my representatives. ²⁴ Up to now you have not requested anything {from my Father} as my representatives. Request {anything from my Father} and you will receive {whatever you request}. God will give it to you in order that you may be joyful to the greatest degree.

²⁵ I have told you these things using figurative language, but there will soon be a time when I will not use that kind of language to speak with you anymore. Rather, I will tell you about my Father using language that you can easily understand. ²⁶ When you see me again, you will request {anything from God} as my representatives, and I will not have to ask my Father on your behalf, ²⁷ because my Father himself loves you because you love me and trust that I came here from God. ²⁸ I came from my Father and entered this world. Again I tell you that I will leave this world and go back to my Father.”

²⁹ His disciples responded, “Finally! Now you are using language that we can easily understand and not using figurative language. ³⁰ Now we understand that you know everything. There is no need for anyone to ask you questions {because you already know what that person will ask}. This is why we trust that you came here from God.”

³¹ Jesus replied to them, “Now you finally trust me! ³² Look! There will soon be a time, and that time will be very soon, when others will scatter you everywhere. Each of you will go to his own home, and you will leave me by myself. However, I will not be by myself, because my Father is always with me. ³³ I have told you all these things that will happen in order that you may feel peaceful {because you are united} with me. In this world you will be afflicted, but be brave! I have defeated the people who oppose God in the world!”

Chapter 17

¹ After Jesus told his disciples about these things that would happen, he looked up toward heaven and said, “Father, it is now time {for me to suffer and die}. Show everyone how great I, your Son, am in order that I may show everyone how great you are. ² {Please do this} because you gave me authority over all people in order that I might enable all those whom you chose to come to me to live forever {with me in heaven}. ³ This is what it means to live forever: to know you, who are the only real God, and to know me, Jesus the Messiah, the one whom you have sent into the world. ⁴ I have shown everyone how great you are while I have been on the earth. {I did this} by finishing the work that you assigned me to do. ⁵ Father, at this time show how great I am in your presence with the same greatness that I had in your presence before the time we created the world.

⁶ I have shown who you really are to the men whom you have given me from among the people in the world. They belonged to you and you have given them to me. They have obeyed your teaching. ⁷ At this time they know that everything you have given me has come from you. ⁸ {They know this} because I have told them the teachings that you told me. They themselves accepted those teachings, and they are certain that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me here. ⁹ I am praying for them. I am not praying for the people who oppose you in the world. Rather, {I am praying} for those people whom you gave me, because they belong to you. ¹⁰ All the disciples that are mine belong to you, and {all the disciples} that belong to you are mine. They show everyone how great I am. ¹¹ I will not stay in this sinful world any longer. However, my disciples are staying in it. I will soon return to you. My Father, who is set apart, keep them safe by your same power that you gave to me, in order that they may be united in the same way that we are united. ¹² During the time that I have been with them, I have kept them safe by your same power that you gave to me. I have guarded them, and only one of them will be eternally ruined. {He is} the one whom you had destined to be eternally ruined in order that the scriptures would come true.

¹³ At this time I am about to return to you. I have said these things while I am in this sinful world in order that I may give them my complete joy. ¹⁴ I have told them your teaching. {Thus the people who oppose you in} the world have detested them because, like me, they do not belong to those who oppose you. ¹⁵ I am not requesting that you take my disciples out of this sinful world. Rather, {I am requesting} that you keep them safe from being harmed by Satan, the evil one. ¹⁶ Like me, they do not belong to the people who oppose you in the world. ¹⁷ Set my disciples apart to serve you by {enabling them to know and live according to} what is true. Your teaching is what is true. ¹⁸ I am sending them among the people in the world in the same way that you sent me among them. ¹⁹ I set myself apart as a sacrifice on their behalf in order that they also may set themselves apart to serve you by {knowing and living according to} what is true.”

²⁰ Now I am praying not only for these disciples here, but {I am praying} also for those people who will trust in me by means of what my disciples say. ²¹ {I pray} that they may all be united in the same way that you, my Father, and I are completely united. {I pray} that they may also be united to us in order that the people in the world might know that you sent me here. ²² In order that they may be united in the same way that we are united, I have honored the people who trust in me just like you honored me. ²³ {This means that} I am united with them, and you are united with me. {I have done this} in order that they may be completely united together in order that the people in the world may know that you sent me here and that you love the people who trust in me in the same way that you love me.

²⁴ “My Father, I want these people whom you have given to me to be with me where I will be in heaven in order that they can see how glorious I am. You made me glorious because you have loved me from before the time when we created the universe.

²⁵ My Father, who always does what is right, the people who oppose you in the world do not know who you are, but I know who you are. These people who trust me know that you have sent me here. ²⁶ I have made them know who you are. I will continue to do so in order that they may love others like you love me and in order that I may be united with them.”

Chapter 18

¹ After Jesus finished praying, he left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side of the valley they entered into a grove {of olive trees}.

² Judas is the one who was about to help Jesus’ opponents arrest him. He knew the place where Jesus was because Jesus often went there with his disciples. ³ So Judas brought to that grove a group of Roman soldiers and some temple guards who had been sent by the ruling priests and Pharisees. They were carrying torches, lamps, and weapons. ⁴ Because Jesus knew what was going to happen to him, he went forward and asked the soldiers and temple guards, “Who are you looking for?” ⁵ They replied to him, “Jesus from Nazareth.” Jesus told them, “I am {that person}.” (Judas was standing with them. He was the one who was helping Jesus’ opponents arrest him.) ⁶ When Jesus told them, “I am {that person},” they stepped back and involuntarily fell down to the ground. ⁷ Jesus then asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” They answered, “Jesus from Nazareth.” ⁸ Jesus replied, “I told you that I am {that person}. Since I am the one whom you are looking for, let these other men go.” ⁹ (This happened in order that these words that he had said to his Father would come true: “I did not lose even one of those whom you gave me.”)

¹⁰ Simon Peter had a short sword. He took it out of its sheath and struck the high priest’s servant with it, cutting off his right ear. Malchus was that servant’s name. ¹¹ Jesus then told Peter, “Put your short sword back into its sheath! I must surely suffer in the way that my Father has planned for me {to suffer}!”

¹² The group of Roman soldiers, along with their leader and some of the temple guards from the Jewish leaders, seized Jesus and tied his hands. ¹³ Then they took him to Annas first, because he was Caiaphas’s father-in-law, and Caiaphas was the high priest that year. ¹⁴ (It was Caiaphas who had advised the other Jewish leaders that it would be much better to have one man die on behalf of the people {than to let the Romans kill them}.)

¹⁵ Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did one other disciple. Annas the high priest knew the other disciple, so he was allowed to enter the high priest’s courtyard {when the soldiers and guards took} Jesus there. ¹⁶ However, Peter had to stay outside at the door. Therefore, that disciple who knew the high priest went out again and spoke to the servant girl who was watching the door. Then he was allowed to bring Peter into {the courtyard}. ¹⁷ That servant girl who was watching the door then told Peter, “You are surely one of the disciples of the man {whom they have arrested}!” He replied, “No, I am not!” ¹⁸ (It was cold, so the high priest’s servants and the temple guards made a fire and were standing and warming themselves around it. Peter was also standing and warming himself there with them.)

¹⁹ The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and what he had been teaching them. ²⁰ Jesus replied to him, “I have spoken in public to everyone {who would listen}. I have always taught in the Jewish meeting places and in the temple. {I have taught in the places} where many Jews gather. I have never said anything secretly. ²¹ You should not ask me! Ask the people who heard what I taught them. They certainly know what I said.” ²² After Jesus said this, one of the temple guards who was standing near him slapped him. He said, “You should not answer the high priest like that!” ²³ Jesus replied to him, “If what I said was wrong, tell me what it was. However, if what I said was right, you should not slap me.” ²⁴ Then Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the other high priest, while his hands were still tied.

²⁵ Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing and warming himself {in the courtyard}, when someone said to him, “You are surely also one of the disciples of this man whom they have arrested!” Peter denied this and said, “No, I am not!” ²⁶ One of the high priest’s servants was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off. He said to Peter, “Surely I saw you in the {olive tree} grove with the man whom they have arrested!” ²⁷ Peter then again denied {that he had been with Jesus}. A rooster crowed immediately {after he did that}.

²⁸ The Jewish leaders then brought Jesus from Caiaphas’ house to the headquarters of Pilate, the Roman governor. (It was early morning. The Jewish leaders did not enter Pilate’s headquarters {because Pilate was not a Jew. If they entered a non-Jew’s home, they thought} they would defile themselves and be unable to eat the Passover celebration meal.) ²⁹ So Pilate came out to talk to them. He asked them, “What are you accusing this man of doing?” ³⁰ The Jewish leaders replied, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have brought him to you!” ³¹ So Pilate told them, “You yourselves take him and judge him by your own law.” The Jewish leaders replied, “We want to execute him, but your Roman law prevents us from doing that.” ³² (This happened in order that what Jesus had said about how he would soon die would come true.)

³³ Pilate then went back inside his headquarters. He commanded soldiers to bring Jesus to him, and he asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you asking me this question because you thought of it yourself, or did others tell you this concerning me?” ³⁵ Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew! Your own countrymen and the ruling priests brought you to me. What wrong have you done?” ³⁶ Jesus replied, “The kingdom that I rule over does not belong to this sinful world. If it did, my servants would have fought in order to prevent the Jewish leaders from arresting me. But, as it is, the kingdom that I rule over does not belong to this sinful world.” ³⁷ Then Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus replied, “You yourself say so. This is why I was born into this world: I came in order to tell people what is true about God. Everyone who believes what is true about God accepts and obeys what I say.” ³⁸ Pilate said to him, “Nobody knows what is really true!”

After Pilate said that, he went outside and talked to the Jewish leaders again. He told them, “I have found no evidence that this man has broken a law. ³⁹ However, you Jews have a custom: Every year during the Passover celebration you ask me, and I release to you someone who is in prison. So do you want me to release your king to you?” ⁴⁰ The Jewish leaders then shouted again, “No, do not release this man, but release Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a revolutionary.)

Chapter 19

¹ So at that time Pilate {ordered his soldiers to} take Jesus and beat him with whips. ² The soldiers also took some branches with thorns on them and wound them together to make something like a crown. Then they put it on Jesus’ head and put a purple robe on him {in order to mock him}. ³ They kept approaching him and jeering at him, saying, “We salute you, King of the Jews!” and kept slapping his face.

⁴ Pilate came outside again and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, I am about to bring him out to you in order that you can know that I have found no evidence that this man has broken a law.” ⁵ So Jesus came out. He was wearing the crown made of branches with thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, here is the man!” ⁶ When the ruling priests and temple guards saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate told them, “You yourselves take him and crucify him! As for me, I have found no evidence that this man has broken a law.” 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 {than before of what would happen to himself if he condemned Jesus to die}. ⁹ He entered his headquarters once more {and commanded the soldiers to bring Jesus back inside. Then} he asked Jesus, “Where did you come from?” However, Jesus did not answer his question. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “You should answer me! You surely know that I have the power to release you, and I also have the power to crucify you!” ¹¹ Jesus replied to him, “The only power you have over me is the power that God has given you. So the man who brought me to you has committed a worse sin than you are committing.”

¹² From that moment on, Pilate kept trying to release Jesus. However, the Jewish leaders cried out, “If you release this man, you are not loyal to Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard that, he {ordered his soldiers to} bring Jesus out. Then Pilate sat down {to pronounce a verdict} on the seat where he usually pronounced verdicts. This was at a place people called “The Stone Pavement,” which was “Gabbatha” in the language spoken by the Jews. ¹⁴ (It was {the day before the Passover celebration, which was} the day when the Jewish people prepared for the celebration. It was almost noon.) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, here is your king!” ¹⁵ They shouted, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!” Pilate {mocked} them by saying, “Should I {order my soldiers to} crucify your king?” The ruling priests replied, “Caesar is our only king!” ¹⁶ Then, because of what they said, Pilate ordered his soldiers to crucify Jesus. Then the soldiers took Jesus away {in order to crucify him}.

¹⁷ Jesus went out, carrying his cross by himself to the place that people called “The Place of a Skull,” which was “Golgotha” in the language spoken by the Jews. ¹⁸ The soldiers crucified him at that place. They also crucified two other men with him. One man was on either side of Jesus, so that Jesus was between them.

¹⁹ Pilate also {ordered someone} to write a notice on a board and fasten it to Jesus’ cross. {That person} wrote on it, ‘Jesus from Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’ ²⁰ Many Jewish people read this notice because the place where the soldiers crucified Jesus was close to the city of Jerusalem and {because} someone wrote the notice in three languages, which were the languages spoken by Jews, Romans, and Greeks. ²¹ The ruling Jewish priests returned to Pilate and said, “You should not have written on that notice, ‘The King of the Jews.’ Rather, {you should have written,} ‘This man said that he is the King of the Jews’.” ²² Pilate replied, “What I {ordered my soldiers} to write on the notice is what they have written. {I will not change it.}” ²³ After the soldiers had put Jesus on the cross, they took his clothes and divided them into four equal parts, one part was for each soldier. {However, they kept his} tunic {separate}. The weaver had woven this tunic from top to bottom from one piece of cloth that did not have any seams. ²⁴ So the soldiers said to each other, “Let us not tear this tunic. Instead, let us decide who will keep it by gambling {and giving it to the winner}.” That occurred in order to make this scripture come true:

     “They divided my clothes among them.

     They gambled for my clothing.”

That is why the soldiers did those things.

²⁵ Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were all standing near the cross that he was hanging on. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother {standing there} and the disciple John whom Jesus loved standing near her, he told his mother, “Madam, here is the one who will take care of you like a son would.” ²⁷ Next, he said to John, “Here is the one whom you will take care of like you would your own mother!” From that moment, John took her to live in his own home.

²⁸ A little while later, because Jesus knew that he had already done everything that God had sent him to do, {and} in order to make another {prophecy in} scripture come true, he said, “I am thirsty!” ²⁹ Someone had put a jar containing cheap wine there {and Jesus was thirsty}. So the soldiers took a reed from a hyssop plant and put a sponge on it. {Then they dipped the sponge} in the cheap wine and held it up to Jesus’ mouth. ³⁰ So Jesus drank the cheap wine and then said, “I have completed {everything that I came here to do}!” And he bowed his head and voluntarily died.

³¹ The Jewish leaders then asked Pilate to {order his soldiers to} break the legs of the three men on crosses {so that the men would die more quickly} and take away their bodies in order that the bodies would not remain on the crosses during the Jewish day for rest. {They asked this} because it was the day when the Jewish people prepared for the Passover celebration {and the day for rest, and leaving dead bodies on crosses during those days violated Jewish law}. (Since the next day was also the day for rest, it was a very important day.) ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, who had been crucified at the same time as Jesus. {Then they broke the legs} of the other man. ³³ However, when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already. So they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus’ side with a spear, and right away blood and water poured out {of the wound}. ³⁵ (I, John, am the one who saw this happen and have testified about it and what I have testified is true. I am certain that I am saying what is true; I say it in order that you may trust in Jesus as well.) ³⁶ These things happened {to Jesus’ body} in order to make {this prophecy in} scripture come true: “No one will break any of his bones.”

³⁷ {They} also {made} another {prophecy in} scripture {come true}. It states: “They will look at the man whom they have stabbed.”

³⁸ After these things happened, Joseph, who was a man originally from the city of Arimathea, asked Pilate to allow him to take away Jesus’ body. {He did this} because he was one of Jesus’ disciples. However, he did not tell anyone that, because he was afraid of the other Jewish leaders. Pilate allowed Joseph to take away Jesus’ body, so Joseph went and did so. ³⁹ Nicodemus also came. {He was the man} who had once come {and spoken} with Jesus at night. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloe spices {to prepare Jesus’ body for burial}. Those spices weighed about 33 kilograms. ⁴⁰ They took Jesus’ body and wrapped strips of linen cloth around it and put the {myrrh and aloe} spices {under the strips of cloth}. {They did this} according to the Jewish customs about burying bodies. ⁴¹ (There was a garden near the place where the soldiers had crucified Jesus. In the garden was a newly made burial cave. No one had yet buried anyone in that cave.) ⁴² So they put Jesus’ body in that tomb because it was nearby and because it was the day when the Jewish people prepared for the Passover celebration {so they had to bury the body before sundown}.

Chapter 20

¹ Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb {where they had buried Jesus}. She saw that someone had moved the stone away from the entrance to the tomb. ² So she ran to where Simon Peter and the other disciple, John, whom Jesus loved, {were staying}. She told them, “Some people have removed the Lord Jesus’ body from the tomb, and we do not know where they have put it!” ³ When they heard this, Peter and John left where they were staying and went to the tomb. ⁴ They were both running, but John ran faster than Peter and reached the tomb before him. ⁵ When John bent down {and looked into the tomb}, he saw the strips of linen cloth {that they had wrapped around Jesus’ body} lying where his body had lain, but he did not go into the tomb. ⁶ Simon Peter was running behind John. He arrived there as well and went inside the tomb. He also saw the strips of linen cloth lying where Jesus’ body had lain. ⁷ Peter also saw the cloth that someone had wrapped around Jesus’ head. {It was} not lying with the strips of linen cloth. Rather, someone had folded it and set it apart from them. ⁸ Then John, that other disciple who had reached the tomb before Peter, went inside as well. He saw these things and believed {that Jesus had become alive again}. ⁹ (At that time they did not understand what the prophets had written in those scriptures which said that Jesus had to die and become alive again.)

¹⁰ The disciples then returned to the places where they were staying {in Jerusalem}. ¹¹ Mary Magdalene remained standing and crying outside of the tomb. While she was crying, she bent down {and looked} inside the tomb. ¹² She saw two angels wearing white clothing. {They were} sitting on the place where people had laid Jesus’ body. One angel was sitting on the place where Jesus’ head had been. The other angel was sitting on the place where Jesus’ feet had been. ¹³ They asked her, “Madam, why are you crying?” She told them, “{I am crying} because some people have removed my Lord Jesus’ body {from this tomb}, and I do not know where they have put it!” ¹⁴ After she said that, she turned around and saw someone standing there. {It was Jesus,} but she did not recognize him. ¹⁵ He asked her, “Madam, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?” She thought that the man speaking to her was the gardener, so she told him, “Sir, if you have carried Jesus’ body away, tell me where you have put it. I will take it {and bury it again}.” ¹⁶ Jesus {called her by name,} saying, “Mary!” She turned {toward him again and} said to him, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher” in the language spoken by the Jews). ¹⁷ Jesus told her, “Stop clinging to me, because I have not yet returned to {heaven to be with} my Father. Go to the disciples, my brothers, and tell them that I am about to return to {heaven to be with} my God and Father, who is also your God and Father.” ¹⁸ Mary Magdalene went to Jesus’ disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord Jesus!” {She} also told them what Jesus had told her.

¹⁹ On the evening of that same Sunday, the disciples had locked the doors of the place where they were staying, because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus suddenly arrived and stood among them. He told them, “May God give you peace!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed his disciples the wounds that were in his hands and side. They were very happy when they saw the Lord Jesus! ²¹ Jesus then told them a second time, “May God give you peace! I am sending you {into the world} just like my Father sent me.” ²² After he said this, Jesus blew on them and said, “Accept the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive anyone’s sins, God will forgive that person for those sins. If you do not forgive someone’s sins, God will not forgive that person for those sins.”

²⁴ Thomas, one of Jesus’ 12 representatives, whom they called ‘The Twin,’ was not there among his other disciples while Jesus was there among them. ²⁵ The other disciples told Thomas, “We have seen the Lord Jesus!” However, he told them, “I will only believe you if I see the holes in his hands that were caused by nails and put my fingers in them and if I put my hand into the wound on his side {that was made by a spear}.”

²⁶ Eight days later, Jesus’ disciples were again inside a house, and this time Thomas was with them. Although they had locked the doors, Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, “May God give you peace!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger into the holes here, and see the holes in my hands, and put out your hand, and place it in the wound in my side! Stop doubting {that I became alive again}. Rather, believe {that it is true}!” ²⁸ Thomas replied, “You are my Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus told him, “Now you believe {that I have become alive again} because you see me. God {surely} blesses those who have not seen me but yet believe {that I have become alive again}.”

³⁰ Now Jesus also did many other miraculous signs while his disciples were with him, {but} I did not write about them in this book. ³¹ Nevertheless, I have written about the signs in this book in order that you may trust that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. {I also wrote about these things} in order that, by trusting {that Jesus is the Messiah}, you may have eternal life through him.

Chapter 21

¹ After those things happened, Jesus appeared again to his disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, {which is also known as the Sea of Galilee}. This is how he appeared to them: ² Simon Peter, Thomas (whom they called ‘The Twin’), Nathaniel (who was from Cana, which is a town in the region of Galilee), the sons of Zebedee (James and John), and two of Jesus’ other disciples were together. ³ Simon Peter told the other disciples with him, “I am going to catch some fish.” They told him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat {and fished}, but they did not catch any fish that night. ⁴ At dawn the next morning Jesus stood on the shore of the sea, but the disciples who were fishing did not know that it was him. ⁵ Jesus then called to them, “Dear friends, you do not have any fish, do you?” They replied, “We do not.” ⁶ He told them, “Throw your net off the right side of the boat and you will catch some fish.” So they did so, and they caught so many fish that they were not able to pull the net {into the boat}. ⁷ I, the disciple whom Jesus loved, then told Peter, “It is the Lord Jesus!” So when Simon Peter heard this, he put on his coat (he had taken it off to work) and jumped into the water {to swim to the shore}. ⁸ The rest of the disciples who had been fishing came to the shore in the boat, while pulling the net full of fish {behind the boat}. (They were not far from the shore, only 90 meters away.) ⁹ When they reached the shore, they saw a fire {that Jesus had prepared} and a fish he was cooking on it. {There was} also a loaf of bread. ¹⁰ Jesus told them, “Bring {over here} some of those fish that you have just caught!” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went back {to the boat} and dragged the net to the shore. {It was} full of 153 large fish. Even though there were so many fish, the net did not tear. ¹² Jesus told them, “Come {here and} eat breakfast!” None of the disciples were bold enough to ask him who he was. They knew it was the Lord Jesus. 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 disciples after God had caused him to become alive again.)

¹⁵ When they finished eating breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these {others love me}?” Peter replied to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus told him, “Take care of those who trust in me.” ¹⁶ Jesus asked him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He replied to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus told him, “Take care of those who trust in me.” ¹⁷ Jesus asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was sad because Jesus asked him three times if he loved him. Peter replied to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus told him, “Take care of those who trust in me. ¹⁸ I am telling you the truth: When you were young, you put your own clothes on, and you walked wherever you wanted to go. However, when you are old, you will extend your hands away from your body, and someone else will put clothes on you and take you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ (Jesus said this to indicate how Peter would die in order to show people how great God is). Then Jesus told him, “Come be my disciple!”

²⁰ When Peter turned around, he saw John, the disciple whom Jesus loved, walking behind them. John was the one who had leaned close to Jesus during the dinner {before Jesus died} and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹ So when Peter saw John, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what is going to happen to this man?” ²² Jesus said to him, “If I want him to continue living until I return, that is not your concern! As for you, {continue to} be my disciple!” ²³ Because {Jesus said this}, the rumor that the disciple John was not going to die was repeated among the believers. However, Jesus did not tell Peter that John would not die. Rather, he said, “If I want him to continue living until I return, that is not your concern!”

²⁴ I, John, am the disciple who is testifying about all these things, and I have written them down in this book. We know that what I have testified is true.

²⁵ Jesus also did so many other things that if people wrote down every one of them, I suppose that the whole world would not even be big enough to contain the books that those people would write about them.