The Person and Work of the Word

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things were created through him, and without him nothing came to be that came to be. ⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men. ⁵ And the light shines in the darkness: The darkness¹ did not overcome it.

The True Light

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ This man came as a witness, to testify about the light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He was not the light, but was sent to testify about the light. ⁹ The true light, the light that enlightens every man, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was created through him, but the world did not know him.^{2 11} He came to his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to as many as did receive him—to those who believe in his name—he gave the right to become the children of God, ¹³ children who were begotten,³ neither by⁴ blood,⁵ nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of man,⁶ but by God.

The Fountain of Grace

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us; and we beheld his glory, glory as of the uniquely-begotten⁷ Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵ (John bore witness concerning him; and he cried out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is ranked before me, because he existed before me.’”) ¹⁶ For out of his fullness we have all received, even grace upon grace. ¹⁷ For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has seen God at any time; but the uniquely begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father—he has made him known.

The Testimony of John: “I am not the Messiah.”

¹⁹ Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed the truth, and did not deny it; rather, he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” ²¹ So they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” But he answered, “No.” ²² So they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us, so that we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said: “I am a voice crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ just as the prophet Isaiah said.”⁸

²⁴ Now those who were sent to John belonged to the sect of the Pharisees. ²⁵ So they inquired of him, saying, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them, “I am baptizing in water. But standing among you is one whom you do not know⁹—²⁷ one who comes after me—and I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.” ²⁸ These things were done in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The Testimony of John: “Behold the Lamb of God!”

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him; and he said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is ranked above me, for he existed before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know who he was;¹⁰ but in order that he might be revealed to Israel, I have come¹¹ baptizing in water.” ³² So John bore witness, saying, “I beheld the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove; and he remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know who he was; but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, he is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and testified that this is the Son¹² of God.”

The First Disciples Called

³⁵ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶ And gazing at Jesus as he walked by, John said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ Now his two disciples¹³ heard him saying this; so they followed Jesus. ³⁸ But when Jesus turned around and saw them following him, he said to them, “What is it that you seek?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying; and they remained with him the rest of that day. (It was now about the tenth hour).¹⁴

⁴⁰ Now Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two disciples who had heard John and then followed Jesus. ⁴¹ First he found his own brother, Simon; and he said to him, “We’ve found the Messiah!” (which is translated, “the Christ”). ⁴² Then he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said, “You are Simon, the son of John: You will be called Cephas” (which means “a rock”).¹⁵

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee; so he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ (Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.) ⁴⁵ Then Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We’ve found the one Moses wrote about in the Law—Moses, and the prophets as well—: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ But Nathanael said to him, “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see!” ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and he said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How is it that you know me?” Jesus replied, “Before Philip called you, when you were sitting under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael said to him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus replied, “Do you believe because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree’? You will see greater things than these!” ⁵¹ Then Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you all: You are going to see heaven opened wide, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Notes

1. Lit. and the darkness
2. Or recognize him
3. Or born
4. Lit. out of, from
5. Lit. bloods
6. Or a man (husband)
7. Some interpreters: unique; one and only
   
8. Is. 40:3
9. Or recognize
10. Lit. did not know (recognize) him
11. Lit. came
12. A few mss Chosen One
13. Lit. the two disciples of him
14. Likely 4 PM (Jewish time), possibly 10 AM (Roman civic time)
15. Greek petros; English, Peter

The Wedding at Cana 

2 Now on the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; ² and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. ³ So when the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ But he said to her, “Woman, why are you involving me? My hour has not yet come.” ⁵ Then his mother said to the servants, “Whatever he tells you to do, do it.”

⁶ Now in that place there were six water jars made of stone, set out for the Jewish ritual of purification, each one having a capacity of twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. ⁸ Then he said to the servants, “Now draw some out and take it to the steward of the feast.” And they did so. ⁹ But when the steward of the feast tasted the water that had become wine, and had no knowledge of where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called for the bridegroom. ¹⁰ And he said to him, “Every man sets out the good wine first; then, when the guests have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the good wine till now!” ¹¹ This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

¹² After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum—he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and he stayed there for a brief time.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple 

¹³ Now the Passover of the Jews was drawing near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ But there in the temple courts he found moneychangers¹ seated at their tables, and men who were selling oxen, sheep, and doves. ¹⁵ So after fashioning a whip out of ropes, he drove them all out of the temple, together with the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the coins of the moneychangers and turned over their tables. ¹⁶ Then he said to the men selling doves, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a house of trade!” ¹⁷ And his disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”² 

¹⁸ In response, the Jewish leaders³ therefore said to him, “What sign will you give us proving your authority to do these things?”^{4 19} Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” ²⁰ Then the leaders said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple,⁵ and you will raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But Jesus was speaking of the temple of his body. ²² Therefore, after he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the Scripture, as well as the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus Knows the Heart of Man 

²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem during the Feast of the Passover, many believed in his name when they beheld the miraculous signs he was performing. ²⁴ But as for Jesus, he would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all men, ²⁵ and because⁶ he had no need that anyone should tell⁷ him about man; for he himself knew what was in man.

Notes

1. Lit. the moneychangers
2. Ps. 69:9
3. Lit. the Jews
4. Lit. What sign do you show us since you do these things?
5. Or For forty-six years this temple has been under construction
6. Or that
7. Lit. testify
   

Christ, the Kingdom, and the New Birth  

3 Now there was a man by the name of Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council.^{1 2} This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for these miraculous signs that you are performing: No one could do them unless God was with him.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born again,² he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he’s old? Surely he can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born!” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Don’t be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind blows where it pleases; and you hear the sound of it, but you don’t know where it’s coming from or where it’s going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus replied and said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered, “You are the teacher of Israel, and you don’t know these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we’ve seen; but you men⁴ are not accepting our testimony. ¹² If I’ve told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except him who came down from heaven—the Son of Man.^{5 14} And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his uniquely begotten⁶ Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world, through him, might⁷ be saved. ¹⁸ He who believes in him is not condemned; but he who does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the uniquely begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who practices evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed.^{8 21} But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that all can see⁹ that his deeds have been done in God.”

“I Must Decrease”  

²² After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea; and he spent time with them there and began to baptize. ²³ John was baptizing as well, in Aenon, near Salim, for in that region water was plentiful; and people were coming to him and being baptized ²⁴ (for John had not yet been thrown into prison).

²⁵ Then a dispute arose between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew¹⁰ concerning purification. ²⁶ So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the man who was with you beyond the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, now he is baptizing, and everyone is coming to him!” ²⁷ John replied, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can testify concerning me, that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,’ but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands beside him and listens to him,¹¹ overflows with joy at the sound of¹² the bridegroom’s voice. So then: This, my joy, is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase, and I must decrease.¹³

³¹ “He who comes from above is above all; he who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks from the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² What he has seen and heard—to that he bears witness; and no one accepts his testimony. ³³ But the one who has accepted his testimony has set his seal to this: God is telling us the truth.^{14 34} For he whom God has sent speaks the very words of God, for to him God does not give the Spirit by measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶ He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who disobeys¹⁵ the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Notes

1. Lit. a ruler of the Jews
2. Or from above
3. Or water and (the) Spirit
4. You is plural, and so throughout the rest of the chapter
5. Many mss add who is in heaven
6. Some interpreters: unique; one and only 
7. Or would
   
8. Lit. does not
9. Lit. so that it may be made manifest
10. Some mss certain Jews
11. Or possibly and listens for him
12. Lit. because of
13. Some interpreters close the quote at verse 30
14. Lit. He (the one) who received his testimony set a seal (certified) that God is true (truthful)
15. Or refuses to believe, rejects
    

A Woman at the Well

4 So when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard he was making and baptizing more disciples than John ² (though Jesus himself was not baptizing, but only his disciples), ³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee. ⁴ But it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, near the parcel of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Now Jacob’s well¹ was located there; so Jesus, weary from his journey, was sitting² beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.³

⁷ Then a Samaritan woman arrived to draw water. So Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink” ⁸ (for his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food). ⁹ So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰ In reply, Jesus said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing with which to draw, and the well is deep; where then would you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock?” ¹³ Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; ¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst. Indeed,⁴ the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain⁵ of water, springing up into eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so I won’t get thirsty or have to journey here to draw.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus replied, “In saying, ‘I have no husband,’ you have spoken well, ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband; so in this you have told the truth.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are prophet. ²⁰ Our forefathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people should worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me: An hour is coming when all of you will worship the Father, neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You are worshiping what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ But an hour is coming—and has now arrived⁶—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking people such as these to be his worshipers. ²⁴ God is spirit,⁷ and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming” (who is also called the Christ). “When he does, he will tell us all things.” ²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I—the one who is speaking with you now—am he.” 

²⁷ Now at that very moment his disciples arrived; and they were amazed that he was talking with a woman. Yet no one asked him, “What are you seeking?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”

Fields White for Harvest!

²⁸ So the woman left her water jar behind, went back into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹ “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?”^{8 30} So they left the city and started going out to him. ³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples kept pressing him, saying, “Rabbi, take something to eat.” ³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” ³³ So the disciples were saying to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” ³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to complete his work. ³⁵ Don’t you all say, ‘There are four more months, and then comes the harvest’? Well,⁹ I say to you: Lift up your eyes and look out on the fields, that even now they are white for harvesting! ³⁶ Already he who reaps¹⁰ is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that he who sows and he who reaps can rejoice together. ³⁷ For in this case the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you didn’t toil; others have toiled, and you have entered into their toil.” 

³⁹ Now many of the Samaritans who lived in that city believed in Jesus because of the word of the woman, who had testified, “He told me everything I ever did!” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they began urging him to stay with them; and he remained there for two days. ⁴¹ Then many more believed because of his own word. ⁴² And they were saying to the woman, “No longer do we believe because of what you said, for now we have heard him for ourselves; and we know that this man truly is the savior of the world.”

Welcome in Galilee 

⁴³ Now after the two days, he left that place for Galilee; ⁴⁴ for Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own homeland. ⁴⁵ So when he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, for they had seen everything he did in Jerusalem at the feast (for they too had gone to the feast).

A Nobleman’s Son is Healed 

⁴⁶ Then Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he turned the water into wine. Now in Capernaum there was a certain royal official whose son was sick. ⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, for the child was about to die. ⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you all keep seeing signs and wonders, you refuse to believe.”^{11 49} The official said to him, “Sir, come down quickly before my child dies!” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken to him, and headed off. ⁵¹ But as he was making his way down, his servants met him and told him his son was alive. ⁵² So he asked them when it was that¹² the child began to improve. They said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour¹³ the fever left him.” ⁵³ Then the father realized it had happened precisely when¹⁴ Jesus said to him, “Your son lives!” And he himself believed, along with his entire household. ⁵⁴ This was now the second miraculous sign that Jesus performed after he had come out of Judea into Galilee.

Notes

1. Lit. spring
2. Or sat down; lit. was (began) sitting thus
3. I.e. noon
4. Or But
   
5. Or spring, artesian well
   
6. Lit. now is
7. Or a spirit
8. Lit. This could not be the Christ, could it?
9. Lit. behold, look!
10. Or that they are already white for harvesting. He who reaps
11. Lit. you will by no means believe
12. Lit. So he asked from them the hour
13. I.e. 1 PM
14. Lit. in the hour in which
    

A Sabbath Healing at the Pool of Bethesda 

5 After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ² Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool which in the Hebrew language is called Bethesda.¹ It has five covered walkways, ³ in which a great many people were lying: people who were sick, blind, lame, and wasting away.^{2 5} Now in that place there was a certain man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ Seeing him lying there, and knowing he had already been in that condition for some time, Jesus said to him, “Do you want to get well?” ⁷ The disabled man answered him, “Sir, I have no one³ to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; so while I’m on my way in, someone else steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, pick up your bedding, and walk!” ⁹ And immediately the man became well; and he picked up his bedding and began to walk.

Now that day was a Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jewish leaders were saying to the man who was healed, “This is a Sabbath: It’s not lawful for you to carry your bedding.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your bedding and walk.’” ¹² So they asked him, “Who was it that⁴ said to you, ‘Pick up your bedding and walk’?” ¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd in that area.⁵

¹⁴ Now after these things, Jesus found the man in the temple. And he said to him, “See, you’ve now become well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” ¹⁵ Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Jesus Clashes with the Jewish Leaders  

¹⁶ For this reason the Jewish leaders began to persecute Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But he answered them, “My Father has been at work⁶ till now, and I too⁷ have been at work.” ¹⁸ Then the leaders sought all the more to kill him, not only because he was breaking the Sabbath, but also because he was calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal with God.

¹⁹ Therefore Jesus responded and said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing from himself, but only what⁸ he sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, these the Son does as well. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself is doing; and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be moved to wonder.^{9 21} For just as the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so too the Son brings to life those whom he will. ²² For the Father himself judges no one, but has granted all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes the one who sent me has eternal life: He will never come¹⁰ into judgment, but has crossed over out of death and into life.

²⁵ “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and has now arrived, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life within himself, so too has he granted the Son to have life within himself; ²⁷ and he has given¹¹ him authority to execute judgment, since he is the Son of Man.^{12 28} Don’t be amazed at this; for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹ and come forth: those who did what is good¹³ to a resurrection of life, and those who practiced what is evil¹⁴ to a resurrection of condemnation.

Manifold Witnesses to the Son 

³⁰ “On my own, I can do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, since I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³¹ If I alone testify about myself, my testimony is not true.^{15 32} There is another who testifies about me, and I know that his testimony about me¹⁶ is true. ³³ You sent messengers to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I receive¹⁷ testimony from man, but I am saying these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was a¹⁸ burning and a shining lamp, and for a time you were eager to rejoice in his light. ³⁶ But the testimony I have is greater than John’s; for the works the Father has given me to complete—the very works I am doing—these testify about me, that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have neither heard his voice nor seen his form at any time; ³⁸ nor do you have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹ You search the Scriptures¹⁹ because you think that in them you have eternal life. But these too²⁰ testify about me; ⁴⁰ yet²¹ you are unwilling to come to me so that you might have life.

⁴¹ “I do not receive²² honor²³ from men; ⁴² but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you are not welcoming me; if another comes in his own name, him you will welcome. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you receive glory from one another, yet fail to seek the glory that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I myself will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷ But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Notes

1. Some mss read Bethzatha.
2. Or paralyzed. Some mss insert wholly or in part waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴For at a certain time an angel went down into the pool and stirred up the water; then, after the stirring of the water, whoever stepped in first was healed of whatever disease he had.
3. Lit. no man
4. Lit. who was the man who
5. Lit. slipped away, there being a crowd in that place
6. Lit. is working
7. Or I myself
8. Or unless it is something
9. Or may marvel
10. Lit. life, and does not come
11. Lit. he gave
12. Or a son of man
13. Lit. the things that are good
14. Lit. the things that are evil
15. I.e. admissible in a court of law
16. Lit. that the testimony he testifies about me
    
17. Or accept
18. Lit. the
19. Or Search the scriptures!
20. Or and these [very writings]; lit. and these are they that
21. Lit. and
22. Or am not receiving; do not accept
23. Or glory, praise
    

Bread for the Multitudes  

6 After these things Jesus departed for the other side of the Sea of Galilee (that is, the Sea of Tiberias); ² and a large crowd was following him because they had seen the miraculous signs he was performing on those who were sick. ³ Then Jesus went up on the mountainside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴ Now the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was drawing near. ⁵ So after looking up¹ and seeing a large crowd coming his way, Jesus spoke to Philip, saying, “Where can we buy bread so that all these people may eat?” ⁶ (But Jesus said this only to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was about to do.) ⁷ Philip answered him, saying, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread wouldn’t be enough for each one of them to receive a little.” ⁸ One of his disciples (Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother) said to him, ⁹ “Here’s a little boy with five barley loaves and two small fish, but of what use are they for feeding so many?” ¹⁰ Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”

Now in that place there was an abundance of grass. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹ Then Jesus picked up the loaves. And when he had given thanks, he distributed portions to the people reclining there; and he did the same with the fish, giving them as much as they wanted. ¹² Then, when they all had taken their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing is lost.” ¹³ So they gathered them up; and with the fragments left over by those who had eaten the five barley loaves they filled twelve baskets.

¹⁴ Then the men, having seen the miraculous sign he had just performed, began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world!” ¹⁵ So Jesus—realizing they were about to come and take him by force to make him their king—withdrew once again to the mountainside all by himself.

A Walk on the Water

¹⁶ Now when evening arrived his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷ got into a boat, and headed out across the sea for Capernaum. (It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.) ¹⁸ But a strong wind was blowing, and the sea grew rough. ¹⁹ So when the disciples had rowed about three or four miles, they suddenly beheld Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat; and they were deathly afraid. ²⁰ But he said to them, “It is I! Don’t be afraid!” ²¹ So they gladly received him² into the boat; and all at once the boat arrived at the land where the disciples were heading.

The Manna From Above  

²² The next day the crowd standing on the far side of the sea realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples,³ but that his disciples had departed all by themselves. ²³ But some other boats out of Tiberias had landed⁴ near the place where the people had eaten bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and came to Capernaum, looking for Jesus.

²⁵ Now once they had found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” ²⁶ Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are not seeking me because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷ Don’t work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, food that the Son of Man will give to you, for on him God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸ So they said to him, “What should we do so that we may work the works of God?” ²⁹ Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰ So they said to him, “Then what sign will you perform, so we can see it and believe you? What miracle will you work? ³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”^{5 32} So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it isn’t Moses who has given you the bread from heaven; rather, it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ Then the people said to him, “Sir, from now on⁶ give us this bread!” ³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. ³⁶ But as I told you: You have indeed seen me,⁷ yet you don’t believe. ³⁷ All whom the Father gives me will come to me; and he who comes to me I will never drive out.^{8 38} For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of him who sent me, that of all he has given me I should lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰ For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I myself will raise him up on the last day.”

Whispering Among the Jews  

⁴¹ So the Jews began whispering against him because he said, “I am the bread that came down out of heaven.” ⁴² And they were saying, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can he now say, ‘I have come down out of heaven’?” ⁴³ In reply, Jesus said to them, “Stop whispering among yourselves. ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they all will be taught by⁹ God.’¹⁰ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the one who comes¹¹ from God; he alone has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that a man may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. If anyone partakes of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

⁵² So the Jews began to argue among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ He who feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and just as I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not at all like the bread the fathers ate and then went on to die.¹² He who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus said these things as he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

Divided Disciples  

⁶⁰ So when they heard this, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard saying; who can understand¹³ it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were complaining about this, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² What then if you should see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no use¹⁴ at all. The words I have spoken to you, they are spirit and they are life.^{15 64} But some of you do not believe.” (For from the very beginning, Jesus knew the ones who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him.) ⁶⁵ Then he went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by my Father.”

⁶⁶ As a result of this, many of his disciples went back to their former occupations¹⁶ and no longer walked with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you men also intend to leave?”^{17 68} Simon Peter answered him, saying, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life; ⁶⁹ and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰ In reply Jesus said to them all, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, yet one of you is a devil?” ⁷¹ (Now he was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; for it was Judas, one of the twelve, who was going¹⁸ to betray him.)

Notes

1. Lit. lifting up the eyes
2. Lit. Therefore they were desiring to receive him
3. Or saw that there was no other boat there but one, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples
4. Lit. came
5. Ex. 16:4; Neh. 9:15; Ps. 78:24
6. Lit. at all times
7. Some older mss omit me
8. Lit. throw outside
9. Or of, about
10. Is. 54:13
11. Lit. is
12. Lit. and died
13. Or accept, obey, listen to; lit. hear
14. Or help, benefit, advantage
15. Lit. it is spirit and it is life
16. Lit. went back to the things behind
17. The question anticipates a negative reply
18. Or intending, planning, about to
    

Jesus Teaches at the Feast of Booths   

7 After these things Jesus only walked in Galilee, for he was unwilling to walk in Judea, since the Jewish leaders were trying to kill him.

² Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was drawing near. ³ Therefore Jesus’ brothers said to him, “Leave here and go down to Judea so your disciples who live there can also see the works you are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret when he’s trying to be known publicly. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the whole world.” ⁵ (For not even his own brothers believed in him.) ⁶ So Jesus said to them, “The right time for me has not yet come; but for you, any time is right.^{2 7} The world cannot hate you; but me it hates, because I testify about it that its works are evil. ⁸ You go up to the feast; I am not³ going up to this feast, because the right time for me has not yet fully come.” ⁹ And after saying these things, he remained in Galilee. 

¹⁰ Nevertheless, when his brothers had gone up to the feast, he himself also went up, yet not openly, but⁴ in secret. ¹¹ So during the feast the Jewish leaders were looking for him, saying, “Where is he?” ¹² Moreover, among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some were saying, “He’s a good man,” whereas others were saying, “No, on the contrary, he’s leading the common people astray.” ¹³ But no one would speak of him openly, for fear of the Jewish leaders.

¹⁴ Now when the middle of the feast arrived, Jesus went up into the temple courtyard and began to teach; ¹⁵ and the Jewish leaders stood amazed, saying, “How did this man acquire such knowledge⁵ without formal instruction?” ¹⁶ So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but his who⁶ who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone desires to do his will, he will know if the teaching comes⁷ from God, or if I am speaking from myself. ¹⁸ He who speaks from himself is seeking his own glory; but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him, that man is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. ¹⁹ Did not Moses give you the Law? Yet not one of you is putting it into practice. Why are you trying to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered and said, “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “I performed a single work, and all of you stand amazed. ²² So consider: Moses gave you circumcision (not that it came from Moses, but rather from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging⁸ according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment!”

Could This Man Be the Messiah? 

²⁵ Because of these things, some of the people who lived in Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man the rulers are trying to put to death? ²⁶ But look! He’s speaking openly, and they’re not saying a word to him! Could it be they’ve concluded he really is the Messiah? ²⁷ And yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “So, you ‘know’ me and you ‘know’ where I am from!⁹ And yet I have not come on my own initiative, but the one who sent me is real and true.¹⁰ You do not know him; ²⁹ but I do know him, for I am from him, and he has sent me.” ³⁰ For this reason the rulers were trying to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him, for his hour had not yet come. ³¹ Meanwhile, many among the crowd believed in him; and they were saying, “When the Messiah finally comes, will he perform more signs than the ones this man has performed?”

Jesus and the Religious Leaders 

³² Now the Pharisees overheard the crowd whispering these things about him; so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. ³³ Then Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, and then I will go to him who sent me. ³⁴ You will seek me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.” ³⁵ So the Jewish leaders said to one another, “Where is he planning to go, such that we won’t be able to find him? Surely he’s not planning to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks¹¹ and teach them. Or is he? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said, ‘You will seek me, but you will not find me, and where I am, you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit 

³⁷ Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. ³⁸ Just as the Scripture has said, he who believes in me, from the depths of his being¹² rivers of living water will flow forth.”^{13 39} (Now he said this in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were soon to receive; for the Spirit had not yet been given, for Jesus had not yet been glorified.)

Division Among the People 

⁴⁰ So when they heard these words, some within the crowd began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet!” ⁴¹ Others were saying, “This is the Messiah!” But still others said, “No, for will the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Hasn’t the Scripture said that the Messiah comes from the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?” ⁴³ So because of him a division arose within the crowd. ⁴⁴ Moreover, some of them wanted to seize him; yet no one laid a hand on him. 

⁴⁵ Then the officers came back to the chief priests and Pharisees; and the rulers said to them, “Why haven’t you brought him?” ⁴⁶ The officers replied, “No man ever spoke like this man does!” ⁴⁷ So the Pharisees answered them, “Surely you haven’t been deceived as well? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that doesn’t know the Law is accursed.” ⁵⁰ However, Nicodemus (who had previously gone to see Jesus), being one of the rulers,¹⁴ said to them, ⁵¹ “Does our law judge a man before it gives him a hearing and finds out what he is doing?” ⁵² They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search the Scriptures and see: No prophet is said to arise¹⁵ out of Galilee!” ⁵³ Then each one of them left for his own house.¹⁶

Notes

1. Lit. my time (opportunity)
2. Lit. your time is always opportune (ready)
3. Many mss not yet
4. Many mss but as if
5. Lit. How does this man know letters
6. Or comes from him; lit. is of him
   
7. Lit. concerning the teaching, whether it comes
8. Lit. Do not judge
9. Or where I am from?
10. Lit. true, truthful, real, genuine
    
11. I.e. Jews living in Gentile lands
12. Lit. out of his belly (lowermost bowels)
13. See Is. 44:3, 55:1, 58:11; Zech. 14:8
14. Lit. them
15. Lit. arises
16. Many older mss do not contain 7:53-8:11; in some mss it appears in other locations.

An Adulteress Meets Her Judges 

8 But Jesus departed for the Mount of Olives.

² Now early in the morning he came again into the temple precincts, and all the people were coming to him; so he sat down and began to teach them. ³ Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought him a woman who was caught committing adultery. So after standing her in the midst of the crowd, ⁴ they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. ⁵ Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say?” ⁶ (In saying this, they were testing him, looking for grounds to bring charges against him.) But Jesus, stooping down, began to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷ But when they kept pressing him for an answer, he stood up and said to them, “Whichever one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ And once again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹ Now when they heard this, they began to leave, one by one, starting with the oldest, until Jesus alone remained, and the woman was left standing there in the midst of the crowd.^{1 10} Then, after raising himself up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She replied, “No one, sir.”² Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go your way, and from now on sin no more.”

The Light of the World

¹² So Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³ Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying about yourself; your testimony isn’t true!”^{3 14} But in reply Jesus said to them, “Even if I do testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; you, on the other hand, have no idea where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁵ You are judging according to the flesh; I am judging no one. ¹⁶ But even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone when I judge, but I and the Father⁴ who sent me judge together. ¹⁷ Moreover, even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸ I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me also testifies about me.” ¹⁹ So they said to him, “Where is your father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you had known me, you would have known my Father as well.” ²⁰ Jesus spoke these words in the treasury as he was teaching in the temple; but no one laid hands on him, for his hour had not yet come.

“I am Going Away”

²¹ Then Jesus spoke to them again: “I am going away. And you will look for me, but you will die in your sin; where I am going you cannot come.” ²² So the Jewish leaders said, “Is he going to kill himself, since he’s saying, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?” ²³ So Jesus went on to tell them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You belong to this world; I do not belong to this world. ²⁴ This is why I told you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am he,⁵ you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ So they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus answered them, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have many things to speak and judge concerning you; but he who sent me is real and true,⁶ and the things I have heard from him are the very things⁷ I am speaking to the world.” ²⁷ (They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.) ²⁸ Then Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he,⁸ and that I do nothing on my own initiative; rather, the things I speak, I speak just as my Father has taught me. ²⁹ And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that please him.” ³⁰ As Jesus spoke these words, many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ Then Jesus went on to say to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, “We are Abraham’s seed and have never been enslaved to anyone! How then can you say, ‘You will become free’?” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone engaged in sin is a slave of sin; ³⁵ and a slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son remains forever. ³⁶ If then the Son should set you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are Abraham’s seed; and yet you are bent on killing me, because there is no room for my word within you.^{9 38} The things I have seen in the presence of my¹⁰ Father, I speak. For this reason you also are doing the things you have heard in the presence of your¹¹ father.”

Two Spiritual Families

³⁹ They answered and said to him, “Abraham is our father!” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, then do¹² the works that Abraham did. ⁴⁰ But as it is, you are trying to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth that I heard in the presence of God. This Abraham did not do. ⁴¹ You are doing the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not conceived in fornication; we have but one father, God himself!” ⁴² Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I went forth from God, and now am here.¹³ For I have not even come on my own initiative, but he is the one who sent me.^{14 43} Why is it that you don’t understand what I say? It’s because you cannot hear my word. ⁴⁴ You are from your father the devil, and you want to do your father’s bidding. He was a murderer from the beginning. Moreover, he doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him; whenever he utters a lie, he is speaking from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lying.^{15 45} But because I speak the truth, you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶ Who among you can convict me of sin? If I am speaking the truth, why is it that you don’t believe me? ⁴⁷ He who is from God hears the words of God; this is why you do not hear, because you are not from God.”

Before Abraham Was, I AM

⁴⁸ In reply, the Jews said to him, “Are we not correct when we say you are a Samaritan, and that you have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; on the contrary, I am honoring my Father, and you are dishonoring me. ⁵⁰ Nevertheless, I am not seeking glory for myself; there is one who seeks and judges. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to him, “Now we know you have a demon! Abraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died; and greater than the prophets, who also died? Who are you making yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus replied, “If I honor myself, my honor is nothing. My Father is the one who honors me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵ You have never known him.¹⁶ On the other hand, I do know him; and if I were to say, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be a liar just like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced to know that he would see¹⁷ my day; and he did see it, and he was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸ Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham came to be, I AM.”^{18 59} Then they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus was hidden from them,¹⁹ and then went out from the temple grounds.

Notes

1. Lit. and he was left alone, and the woman being in the midst
2. Or Lord
3. I.e. admissible in a court of law
4. Some mss the one, he
5. Or I am (who I say I am); lit. I am. See Ex. 3:14, Deut. 32:39, Is. 43:10
6. Lit. is true, truthful, real, genuine
   
7. Lit. from him, these are the things
8. See note 5
9. Or possibly my word makes no progress among you
10. Lit. the
11. Lit. the
12. Some mss If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do
13. Lit. and have come (arrived)
14. Lit. but that one sent me
15. Lit. it
16. Lit. You have not come to know him
17. Lit. rejoiced in order that he should see
18. See Ex. 3:14
19. Or possibly, hid himself

A Man Born Blind 

9 Now as Jesus was passing by, his gaze fell upon a man who was blind from birth. ² So his disciples inquired of him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; rather, this has happened so that the works of God may be displayed in his life.^{1 4} We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day; the night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶ After saying these things, Jesus spat on the ground and fashioned some clay with the saliva. Then he spread the clay over the man’s eyes ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “sent”). So he went his way, and washed, and came back seeing.

⁸ As a result of this, the man’s neighbors, along with the people who had previously seen him as a beggar, began to say, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit there and beg?” ⁹ Some of them said, “This is the man!” while others said, “No, it’s only that he looks like him.”² But the man himself kept saying, “I am the man!” ¹⁰ So they began asking him, “How then were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He replied, “The man called Jesus fashioned clay, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went, and washed, and received my sight.” ¹² Then they said to him, “Where is this man?” He replied, “I don’t know.”

The Judgment of the Pharisees 

¹³ Then they brought the man who was previously blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus fashioned the clay and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees again asked the man how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees began to say, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep the Sabbath.” But others were saying, “How could a sinful man perform such miraculous signs?” And a division arose among them. ¹⁷ So once again they addressed the blind man: “What do you say about him, since you are the one whose eyes he opened?”³ He said, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ But⁴ the Jewish leaders did not believe that the man really had been blind and regained his sight until they had called for his parents^{5 19} and interrogated them, asking, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ So his parents answered and said, “We know this is our son, and also that he was born blind. ²¹ But how it is that he now sees, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. He has reached adulthood; ask him and he will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things because they feared the Jewish leaders, for the leaders had already agreed that if anyone confessed Jesus¹ as the Messiah, he would be put out of the synagogue. ²³ This is why his parents said, “He has reached adulthood; ask him.”)

²⁴ Then the leaders summoned the man who was blind a second time, and they said to him, “Give glory to God:⁷ We know this man is a sinner!” ²⁵ So he replied, “Whether or not he’s a sinner, I don’t know; but one thing I do know: Though I used to be blind, now I can see.” ²⁶ Then they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, “I already told you, but you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you men want to become his disciples as well?”^{8 28} Then they began to rail at him, saying,⁹ “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know God spoke to Moses; but as for this man, we have no idea where he is from.” ³⁰ The man answered and said to them, “Now here is an amazing thing: You don’t know where he is from, even though he opened my eyes! ³¹ We all know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; on the other hand, if anyone worships him and does his will, God hears him. ³² Since the beginning of time it is unheard of that anyone has opened the eyes of someone born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered and said to him, “You were altogether born in sins, and you are teaching us?” And they put him out.¹⁰

“Are We Blind?”  

³⁵ Now Jesus heard that they had put the man out of the synagogue. So when he had found him, he said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ He answered and said, “Who is he, Sir,¹¹ that I might believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have not only seen him, but he is speaking with you now.”^{12 38} The man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he knelt down and worshiped him. ³⁹ Then Jesus said, “For judgment¹³ I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may be made blind.” ⁴⁰ Now some of the Pharisees who were standing there with him heard these words. So they said to him, “Surely we are not also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you really were blind, you would have no sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

Notes

1. Lit. in him
2. Lit. No, but he is like him
3. Lit. since he opened your eyes
4. Lit. Therefore
5. Lit. the parents of him who had regained his sight
6. Lit. him
7. Or Give (the) glory to God (but see Josh. 7:19)
8. The question expects a negative reply
9. Lit. And they reviled him and said
10. Lit. drove (threw) him out
11. Or Lord
12. Lit. but the one speaking with you is that one
13. Greek krisis
    

The True Shepherd 

10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door,¹ but climbs up some other way, that man is a thief and a robber. ² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. ³ For him the gatekeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴ Whenever he brings out all his own, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ But a stranger they will never follow; on the contrary, they will flee from him, because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.” ⁶ Using this figure of speech, Jesus spoke to them; but they did not understand the things he was saying to them.

The Good Shepherd 

⁷ So once again Jesus spoke to them: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep would not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved; and he will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief never comes except to steal, kill, and destroy; I have come that they might have life, and have it in abundance. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd: The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² A hireling²—someone who is not the shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep—sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep, and flees; and the wolf snatches³ them and scatters them. ¹³ He flees because he is a hireling and cares nothing for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶ Moreover, I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold; I must bring them as well. And they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ For this reason my Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one can take it⁴ from me; rather, I am laying it down on my own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”

¹⁹ Now because of these words, a division again arose among the Jews. ²⁰ Many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why do you listen to him?” ²¹ But others said, “These are not the words of a man who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

“Are You the Messiah?”  

²² Then came the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking on the temple grounds in Solomon’s portico. ²⁴ So the Jewish leaders gathered around him and asked him, “How long will you to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you don’t believe. The miraculous works I am doing in my Father’s name, these testify about me; ²⁶ but you don’t believe, because you don’t belong to my flock.^{5 27} My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸ I myself give them eternal life, and to all eternity they will never perish, nor will anyone ever snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.” 

³¹ Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone him. ³² In response, Jesus said to them,⁶ “I have shown you many good works from the Father: For which one of them are you stoning me?” ³³ The Jews answered him, saying, “We are not stoning you because of a good work, but for blasphemy, and because you, a mere man,⁷ are claiming to be⁸ God!” ³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”?^{9 35} Now if God refers to those who received his word as gods¹⁰ (and the Scripture cannot be broken), ³⁶ how can you say¹¹ to him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? ³⁷ If I am not performing the works of my Father, then don’t believe me; ³⁸ but if I am, even though you don’t believe me, believe the works, so that you may realize and understand that the Father is in me, and I in him.” ³⁹ So¹² once again they tried to seize him, but he escaped out of their hands.

Faith Beyond the Jordan 

⁴⁰ Then Jesus again went away, across the Jordan, to the place where John was first baptizing; and he remained there. ⁴¹ And many people came to him; and they were saying among themselves, “John performed no miraculous signs, but everything he said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many believed in him there. 

Notes

1. Or gate
2. Lit. the hireling
3. Or possibly attacks
4. Lit. takes it
5. Lit. are not of my sheep
6. Lit. Jesus answered them
7. Lit. being a man
8. Lit. make yourself
9. Ps. 82:6
10. Lit. If he calls them gods to whom the word of God came
11. Lit. do you say
12. Some mss omit so
    

A Death in the Family 

11 Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ² (It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil, and who wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) ³ So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Know,¹ Lord, that he whom you love² is sick.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard that, he said, “This sickness will not end in death, but is meant for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵ Now Jesus loved³ Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the place where he was for two more days. ⁷ After that, he said to his disciples, “Let us go again to Judea.” ⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just seeking to stone you, and you’re going there again?” ⁹ Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ He said these things, and then went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” ¹² So his disciples said, “Lord, if he’s only fallen asleep, he will recover!” ¹³ (Now Jesus had spoken of Lazarus’ death, whereas the disciples assumed he was talking about true sleep.)^{4 14}Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died; ¹⁵ and for your sakes I am glad I wasn’t there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him.” ¹⁶So Thomas (who is called the Twin) said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we can die with him.”

Martha and Her Lord 

¹⁷ So when Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ (Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away; ¹⁹ consequently, many of the Jews of that city had come to Martha and Mary to console them over the loss of their brother.) ²⁰ So as soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him; but Mary remained in the house, sitting. ²¹ Then Martha said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you.” ²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus declared to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies. ²⁶ And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.⁵ Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God: the One whom God promised would come into the world.”⁶

Mary and Her Lord 

²⁸ When she had said this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, saying to her in private, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” ²⁹ And as soon as Mary heard that, she quickly got up and headed out to meet him.^{7 30} Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met with him. ³¹ So when the Jews who were comforting Mary in her house⁸ saw that she had quickly gotten up and gone out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep there. 

³² Now when Mary arrived at the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ So when Jesus saw her weeping, and saw the Jews who had come with her weeping, he was stirred⁹ in his¹⁰ spirit and deeply troubled.^{11 34} He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews began saying, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind, have also done something to keep Lazarus¹² from dying?”

Lazarus and His Lord  

³⁸ So Jesus, again bestirred within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave with a stone laid across its entrance. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him whose life had ended, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for it’s been four days since he died.” ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted up his eyes towards heaven¹³ and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² Indeed, I knew that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing by I have said this, so that they may believe you sent me.” ⁴³ Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ And he who had died came out, his hands and feet wrapped in linen strips, and his face shrouded in a burial cloth. Jesus said to them, “Remove the wraps¹⁴ and let him go.”

A Plot to Kill the Lord of Life  

⁴⁵ As a result of this, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and who saw what Jesus did, believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them left, went to the Pharisees, and told them everything¹⁵ he had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees assembled a council.¹⁶ Then they said, “What should we do?¹⁷ This man is performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them—Caiaphas, who was high priest that year—said to them, “You know nothing at all, ⁵⁰ nor are you stopping to consider that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the entire nation destroyed.”^{18 51} (Now this he did not say on his own; rather, since he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation; ⁵² and not for that nation alone, but also that he would gather together into one all the children of God who are scattered abroad.) ⁵³ So from that day on they entered into deliberations as to how they might put him to death.¹⁹

⁵⁴ Consequently, Jesus no longer walked openly among the people of Judea, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim; and he remained there with his disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was drawing near, and many people went up to Jerusalem from the countryside to purify themselves before the Passover. ⁵⁶ So they began looking for Jesus; and as they stood in the temple courts they would talk with one another, saying, “What do you think—that he won’t come to the feast at all?” ⁵⁷ (Now²⁰ both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew of his whereabouts he must report it to them, so that they could arrest him.)

Notes

1. Lit. Behold
2. Greek phileo
3. Greek agapao
4. Lit. the rest of sleep
5. Lit. will certainly not die to the (unbroken, endless) age
6. Lit. the One coming into the world
7. Lit. began coming to him
8. Lit. who were with Mary in the house and comforting her
9. This verb often connotes anger, indignation
10. Lit. the
11. Lit. troubled himself
12. Lit. this man
13. Lit. lifted his eyes upward (above)
14. Lit. Loose him!
15. Lit. the things
16. Or gathered (the) Sanhedrin
17. Or What are we doing?
18. Lit. nor are you taking into account that it is advantageous for you that one man should die for the people and not that the whole nation should perish
19. Lit. took counsel in order to kill him
20. Or But

The Anointing at Bethany 

12 Then, six days prior to the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ² So they prepared a supper for him there; and Martha was serving, but Lazarus was one of those who were reclining at the table with him. ³ Then Mary, taking up a one-pound jar of pure oil of nard (very costly), anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. ⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who would soon betray him), said, ⁵ “Why wasn’t this oil sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to the poor?” ⁶ (Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and because he used to steal what was put in the money pouch, which was under his care.) ⁷ So Jesus said, “Leave her alone; it was meant that she should keep this for the day of my burial. ⁸ For the poor you¹ always have with you, but me you do not always have.”

A Plot to Kill Lazarus 

⁹ Now at that time a great many of the Jews learned that Jesus was there; and they came to Bethany not only for Jesus’ sake, but also because they wanted to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ So the chief priests took counsel as to how they might put Lazarus to death as well, ¹¹ for because of him many of the Jews were deserting them and placing their faith in Jesus.²

The Triumphal Entry 

¹² On the next day, when the great crowd which had come to the feast heard that Jesus was on his way into Jerusalem, ¹³ they took up palm branches and went out to meet him. And they began crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel himself!”^{3 14} And when Jesus had found a young donkey, he sat on it, just as it was written: ¹⁵ “Daughter of Zion, don’t be afraid! Look! Your king is coming to you, seated on a donkey’s colt!”^{4 16} (At first his disciples did not understand these things; but later, when Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that these things were written about him, and that the people had done these things for him.) ¹⁷ Then the crowd that was with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead began spreading the word⁵ about what they had seen. ¹⁸ This too was why the crowds poured out to meet him: because they heard how he had performed this miraculous sign. ¹⁹ Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are getting nowhere.⁶ Look, the whole world has gone after him!”

Gentiles Desire to See Jesus 

²⁰ Now among those who had gone up to worship at the feast there were a number of⁷ Greeks. ²¹ So they came up to Philip, who was from Bethsaida of Galilee; and they inquired of him, saying, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” ²² So Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip both went and told Jesus. ²³ But in reply, Jesus said to them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone by itself; but if it dies, it yields a rich harvest.^{8 25} He who loves his life will lose⁹ it, but he who hates his life in this world will preserve¹⁰ it for eternal life. ²⁶ If anyone would serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be as well. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

The Son Must Be Lifted Up 

²⁷ “Now my soul is troubled. So should I say,¹¹ ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this very reason I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹ So when the crowd that was standing nearby heard this, they said it had thundered; but others said, “An angel has spoken to him!” ³⁰ But Jesus responded and said, “This voice did not come for my sake, but for yours. ³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³² And as for me, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself.” ³³ (Now Jesus said this in order to signify the kind of death he was about to die.)

³⁴ So the crowd responded and said to him, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah will remain forever; so how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” ³⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, so the darkness does not overtake you. He who walks in darkness doesn’t see where he is going. ³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” These things Jesus spoke; and when he had departed, he was hidden from them.

Jewish Unbelief 

³⁷ Yet even though he had performed so many miraculous signs in their presence, they still would not put their faith in him—³⁸ so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled, who said, “Lord, who has believed our message,¹² and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”^{13 39} For this reason they could not believe, because again Isaiah said, ⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and return to me, so that¹⁴ I might heal them.”^{15 41} Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him. ⁴² Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in him; but because of the Pharisees, they would not declare him openly for fear of being put out of the synagogue. ⁴³ For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

The Word of Christ Will Save and Judge

⁴⁴ Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in me is not believing in me, but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵ And he who sees me is seeing him who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me will no longer live in darkness.^{16 47} Now if anyone hears my words and does not keep¹⁷ them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ He who rejects me and does not accept my words has something that will judge him:¹⁸ The word that I spoke—that is what will judge him on the last day. ⁴⁹ For I did not speak on my own initiative, but he who sent me—the Father himself—has been giving me commands¹⁹ as to what I should say and what I should speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that his command is eternal life. Therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has said to me.”

Notes

1. You is plural
2. Lit. going away and believing in Jesus
3. Lit. even the king of Israel; Ps. 118:26
4. Zech. 9:9
5. Lit. was testifying
6. Lit. profiting (gaining, accomplishing) nothing
   
7. Lit. certain, some
8. Lit. much fruit
9. Or destroy
10. Lit. guard, protect
11. Lit. And what should I say?
12. Lit. the thing heard by us
13. Is. 53:1
14. Lit. and
15. Is. 6:10
16. Lit. might not remain in darkness
17. Or obey; lit. guard
18. Lit. that which judges him
19. Lit. has given me (a) command

The Servant of the Lord

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus—knowing that his hour had come for him to pass from this world to the Father—having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ² The evening meal was under way, and the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot (Simon’s son) to betray him. ³ So Jesus—knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God—⁴ rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments, picked up a towel, and wrapped it around his waist.^{1 5} After that, he poured water into a basin; and he began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ Then he came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you washing my feet?” ⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “For the moment you don’t see clearly what I am doing, but later on you will understand.” ⁸ Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet. Never!”² Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you will have no share in me.” ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Then not my feet alone, Lord, but my hands and head as well!” ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed only needs to wash his feet, since he is³ completely clean; and you men are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ (For he knew the one who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”)

¹² So when Jesus had washed their feet, put on his outer garments, and once again taken his place at the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you speak well, for so I am. ¹⁴ Therefore, if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have given you an example, so that just as I have done for you, you too will do the same. ¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is the one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

“One of You Will Betray Me”

¹⁸ “I am not speaking about all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But in order that the Scripture may be fulfilled, he who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me.^{4 19} From now on I will tell you before it comes to pass, so that when it does, you will believe I am he. ²⁰ Truly, truly I say to you, he who receives the one I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives the One who sent me.”

²¹ When he had said these things, Jesus grew troubled in spirit; and he bore witness and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you: One of you will betray me.” ²² Then the disciples began looking at each other, at a loss to know which of them he was talking about. ²³ Now one of his disciples—one whom Jesus loved—was leaning against his breast.^{5 24} So Simon Peter nodded in his direction, urging him to ask Jesus who he was referring to. ²⁵ Leaning as he was⁶ on Jesus’ breast, the disciple therefore said to him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Jesus answered, “He to whom I give this morsel of bread after I have dipped it in the dish—he is the one.” So when he had dipped the morsel of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ²⁷ And after Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” ²⁸ (Now no one at the table knew why Jesus had said this to him; ²⁹ for since Judas had custody of the money pouch, some of them assumed that Jesus was telling him, “Buy whatever things we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.) ³⁰ So after taking the morsel of bread, Judas immediately went out. And it was night.

The New Commandment

³¹ Then, when Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³² And if God is glorified in him,⁷ God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him at once. ³³ Children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek me; and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you: Where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴ Therefore, I give you a new commandment: that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another.”

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going—you cannot follow me now; but later on you will follow.” ³⁷ Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” ³⁸ Jesus replied, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I say to you, the rooster will not crow⁸ until you have denied me three times.”

Notes

1. Lit. wrapped himself
2. Lit. You will by no means wash my feet to the age (forever)!
   
3. Lit. but is
4. Or But (this was) so the Scripture would be fulfilled: “He . . . against me.” See Ps. 41:9
5. Or possibly seated at the place of honor
6. Lit. thus
7. A number of early mss omit this phrase
8. Lit. will certainly not crow
   

The Way, the Truth, and the Life 

14 “Don’t let your heart be troubled: You believe in God, believe in me as well. ² In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; if it were not so, would I have told you that I am going on to prepare a place for you?^{1 3} And if I go on and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be as well. ⁴ As for where I am going, you know the way.”²

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?” ⁶ Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would also have known my Father; and from now on you do know him, and you have seen him.” ⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that³ will be enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, Philip, and you haven’t come to know me? He who has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I speak to you all, I do not speak on my own initiative; rather, the Father living inside me is performing his works. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me; or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves.

Greater Works Through Prayer  

¹² “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works I am doing, he will do as well; indeed, he will do greater works than these, because I am going to my Father. ¹³ And whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me⁴ anything in my name, I will do it. 

The Promise of the Spirit 

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments; ¹⁶ and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, so that he may be with you forever: ¹⁷ the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, because he is present with you, and will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 

Love and Obedience

¹⁹ “A little while longer and the world will see me no more; but you will see me. Because I live, you will live as well. ²⁰ In that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you.^{5 21} He who has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father; and I will love him and disclose myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will disclose yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with⁶ him. ²⁴ He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word you are hearing is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

The Promise of Peace 

²⁵ “I have told you these things while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper,⁷ the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance everything I told you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; and the peace I give to you is not like that of the world.⁸ Don’t let your heart be troubled, and don’t let it be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and will come back to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that⁹ I am going to the Father, for my Father is greater than I. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen you may believe. ³⁰ I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me;^{10 31} but in order that the world may know that I love the Father, I am doing just as the Father commanded me to do.¹¹ Arise, let us go from here.

Notes

1. Or if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you (but see 13:36)
2. Lit. And where, etc.; many mss and where I am going you know, and the way you know
3. Lit. it
4. Some mss omit me
5. Lit. Father, and you in me, and I in you
6. Lit. alongside of
   
7. Greek Paracletos: one called alongside to help
8. Lit. to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you
9. Or rejoiced, because
10. Lit. and he has nothing in me
11. Lit. and as the Father commanded me, just so I do
    

The True Vine 

15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away;¹ and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes,² so that it will bear more fruit. ³ You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it abides in the vine, so too you cannot bear fruit unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him—he will bear much fruit; for apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown out like a branch and withers away; and they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.³

⁷ “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.^{4 9} Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹ These things I have spoken to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

¹² “This is my commandment: that you love one another, just as I have loved you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this: that he would lay down⁵ his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends, if you do the things I command you. ¹⁵ I am no longer calling you servants, for a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. Rather, I have called you friends, because everything I heard from my Father I made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me; on the contrary, I chose you and appointed you so that you would go forth and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷ I am giving you these commands so that you will love one another.⁶

The World’s Hatred 

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, know⁷ that it hated⁸ me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to⁹ the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you don’t belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world—for this reason the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not above his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept my word, they will also keep yours. ²¹ But all these things they will do to you because of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. ²² If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin;¹⁰ but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father as well. ²⁴ If I had not performed among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have both seen¹¹ and hated me and my Father.^{12 25} But this has happened so that the word written in their law might be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without a cause.’¹³

²⁶ “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father—he will testify concerning me. ²⁷ And you will testify as well, for you have been with me from the beginning.

Notes

1. Or possibly he lifts up
2. Lit. cleanses
3. Lit. he (it) is burned
4. Or become my disciples; some mss and you will become my disciples
5. Lit. set (aside)
6. Some interpreters: This I command you, that you love one another
7. Or you know
8. Lit. has hated
9. Lit. were from (out of)
   
10. Lit. they would have no sin
11. Or possibly seen (the works)
    
12. Lit. hated both me and my Father
13. Ps. 69:4
    

16 “I have told you these things to keep you from stumbling.^{1 2} They will make you outcasts from the synagogues; moreover, an hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God. ³ And they will do these things because they knew neither the Father nor me. ⁴ But I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes you will remember that I told you beforehand. 

The Work of the Spirit 

“And I didn’t tell you these things from the beginning because I was with you. ⁵ But now I am going away to him who sent me; and none of you have asked me,² ‘Where are you going?’ ⁶ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. ⁷ Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: It is good for you³ that I am leaving. For if I do not leave, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go my way, I will send him to you. ⁸ And when he has come, he will convict⁴ the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: ⁹ concerning sin, because they don’t believe in me; ¹⁰ concerning righteousness, because I am going to my Father and you see me no more; ¹¹ and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹² “I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³ But when he, the Spirit of Truth, has come, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak on his own initiative; rather, whatever⁵ he hears, that he will speak; and he will make known to you the things to come. ¹⁴ He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵ Everything the Father has is mine; this is why I said that the Spirit takes from what is mine and will declare it to you. 

The Coming Kingdom of Joy  

¹⁶ “A little while, and you will see me no more; then another little while,⁶ and you will see me.” ¹⁷ Then some of his disciples said to each other, “What does he mean when he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me; then another little while, and you will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁸ So they kept on asking,⁷ “What does he mean when he says, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what he means.”

¹⁹ Now Jesus knew that they wanted to question him about this, so he said to them, “Are you inquiring among yourselves about what I said: ‘A little while, and you will not see me; then another little while, and you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you: You will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; and you will be filled with sorrow, but your sorrow will be turned to joy. ²¹ When a woman is in labor, she has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the suffering, for joy that a human being⁸ has been born into the world. ²² So now you have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice; and no one will rob you of your joy.⁹

²³ “Moreover, in that day you will not ask me for anything.¹⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴ Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.

Tribulation and Triumph  

²⁵ “I have told you these things using figures of speech; but an hour is coming when I will no longer use figures of speech, but will speak to you plainly concerning the Father. ²⁶ In that day you will ask in my name; and I am not telling you I will petition the Father on your behalf. ²⁷ For the Father himself loves you because you have loved me, and because you have believed that I came forth from God. ²⁸ I went forth from the Father and came into the world; now¹¹ I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said to him, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly, and using no figure of speech! ³⁰ Now we see that you know everything, and have no need that anyone should question you. Because of this we believe that you have come¹² from God.” ³¹ Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³² Behold, an hour is coming—indeed, it has already come—for each of you to be scattered to his own home,¹³ and to leave me alone. But I am not alone, for the Father is with me. ³³ I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation;¹⁴ but take courage: I have conquered the world!”

Notes

1. Or from being surprised, taking offense; lit. will not be caused to stumble
2. Lit. is asking me
3. Or to your advantage
   
4. Or convince
5. Lit. whatever things
6. Lit. and again a little while
7. Lit. saying
8. Lit. man
   
9. Lit. no one will take your joy from you
10. Or you will not ask me any questions; lit. you will ask (petition) me nothing
11. Lit. again, in turn
    
12. Lit. came
13. Lit. his own things
    
14. Or trouble, hardship, distress; lit. pressing

Jesus Prays for Himself 

17 Jesus spoke these words; and then, lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said: “Father, the hour has come: Glorify your Son so that the Son¹ may glorify you, ² just as you have given him authority over all flesh so that he may give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on the earth by accomplishing the work that you gave² me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me alongside yourself,³ with the glory that I had with you before the world was.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples 

⁶ “I have revealed⁴ your name to the men whom you gave to me out of the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they have come to know that whatever things you have given to me are from you. ⁸ For I have given them the words that you gave to me; and they welcomed them and truly understood that I came forth from you; and they believed that you sent me. ⁹ I pray for them.⁵ I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. ¹⁰ Indeed, all that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine; and through these things⁶ I have received glory. ¹¹ And now I am no longer in the world; but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name—the name that you have entrusted⁷ to me—so that they may be one, even as we are one. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them in your name: the name that you have entrusted to me. I also guarded them, so that⁸ none of them perished except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. ¹³ But now I am coming to you; and I am saying these things in the world so that my joy may be in them, full and complete. ¹⁴ I have given them your word, and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵ I am not asking that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them safe from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by⁹ your truth: Your word is truth. ¹⁸ Just as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they too may be sanctified in¹⁰ truth.

Jesus Prays for All Believers 

²⁰ “I am not asking for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word: ²¹ May they all be one. Even as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you, may they also be one in us, so that the world may believe you sent me. ²² I myself¹¹ have given them the glory that you have given me, so that they may be one, even as we are one. ²³ I in them, and you in me, so that they may be perfected in unity; so that the world may know you sent me, and that you loved them even as you loved me. ²⁴ Father, concerning what you¹² have given me: I desire that they too be with me where I am, so that they may behold my glory, glory that you have given to me because you loved me before the founding of the world. ²⁵ Righteous Father, the world did not know you; but I knew you, and these have come to know¹³ that you sent me. ²⁶ Moreover, I made your name known to them; and I will continue to make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Notes

1. Many mss your Son
2. Lit. have given
3. Or together with yourself; in your presence
4. Or manifested, disclosed, made known
5. Lit. I ask concerning them
6. Lit. by (in) them
7. Or given
8. Lit. and
9. Or in
10. Or by
11. Or And I
12. Some mss Father, those whom you
    
13. Lit. came to know

Betrayal and Arrest  

18 When Jesus had said these things, he went out with his disciples to a place on the other side of the Kidron Ravine.¹ In that place there was a garden,² which he himself entered, together with his disciples. ² Now Judas, who was betraying him, also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples. ³ So after Judas had received a cohort of Roman soldiers³ and some officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees, he came to the garden with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Then Jesus, knowing all that would now come upon him, stepped forward⁴ and said to them, “Who are you looking for?” ⁵ They answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He said to them, “I am.” (Now Judas, who was betraying him, was also standing there with them.) ⁶ So when Jesus said to them, “I am,” they drew back and fell to the ground. ⁷ Then he asked them again, “Who are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” ⁸ Jesus replied, “I told you that I am. So if you are looking for me, let these men go their way.” ⁹ (This he said in order to fulfill the word he had spoken earlier: “Of those whom you gave me, I have lost none.”)

¹⁰ Just then Simon Peter, who had a sword with him, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant and cut off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) ¹¹ But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its sheath!⁵ Should I not drink the cup my Father has given me?”

Jesus Led Away to Annas 

¹² Then the men of the cohort, the chiliarch,⁶ and the officers who were sent by the Jewish leaders seized Jesus and put him in bonds. ¹³ And they led him away, first of all to Annas, since he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. ¹⁴ (Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it was advantageous for one man to die for the sake of the people.)

Peter Denies His Master

¹⁵ Now Simon Peter was following Jesus, together with another disciple. And that disciple was known to the high priest; so he went into the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. ¹⁶ But Peter was left standing outside, in front of the gate.⁷ So the other disciple who was known to the high priest went outside, spoke to the gate-keeper, and brought Peter in. ¹⁷ Then the young girl who served as the gate-keeper said to Peter, “You’re not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” Peter replied, “I’m not.” ¹⁸ Now the servants and officers had prepared a fire; and they all were standing around it, warming themselves at the coals, for the night was cold. And Peter was standing there with them, warming himself.

Jesus Before Caiaphas 

¹⁹ Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ²⁰ But Jesus answered him, saying, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews gather, and I have spoken nothing in secret. ²¹ Why then are you questioning me? Question those who heard what I said to them; see for yourselves, they know what I said.” ²² Now when he had said these things, one of the officers standing nearby struck Jesus with the palm of his hand, saying, “Is that the way you answer the high priest?” ²³ But Jesus answered him, “If I said something wrong, testify about the wrong; but if I spoke truly, why are you striking me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent Jesus—still in bonds—to Caiaphas, the high priest.

Peter Again Denies His Master 

²⁵ Now Simon Peter was standing in the courtyard, warming himself. So some of them⁸ said to him, “You’re not also one of his disciples, are you?” Peter denied it, saying, “I’m not!” ²⁶ Then one of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?” ²⁷ So Peter denied it⁹ again; and immediately a rooster crowed.

Jesus Accused by the Sanhedrin  

²⁸ Then, quite early in the morning, the Jewish rulers¹⁰ led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium;¹¹ but they themselves did not go in, for fear of being defiled and therefore disqualified from eating the Passover meal.^{12 29} So Pilate came out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?” ³⁰ They answered and said to him, “If he were not an evildoer, we wouldn’t be handing him over to you.” ³¹ Then Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your own law.” But the rulers¹³ said to him, “It isn’t legal for us to put someone to death.” ³² (This was to fulfill the word Jesus had spoken, indicating the kind of death he was going to die.)

Jesus Before Pilate  

³³ Then Pilate entered his quarters again, called for Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Are you saying this on your own, or is it that others have spoken to you about me?” ³⁵ Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people, including the chief priests, have delivered you into my custody. What have you done?” ³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders; but now¹⁴ my kingdom is not of this realm.” ³⁷ Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king!” Jesus answered, “You are saying that I am a king. To this end I was born, and to this end I have come into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth. Everyone who loves the truth¹⁵ hears¹⁶ my voice.” ³⁸ Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Pilate Seeks to Release Jesus

Now when he had said this, Pilate again went out to the Jewish leaders; and he said to them, “I find no grounds at all for a charge against him. ³⁹ But you have a custom that I should release someone to you during the Passover Feast. So then: Do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews?” ⁴⁰ Then they all shouted, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was an insurrectionist.¹⁷

Notes

1. Lit. wadi (i.e. a ravine that floods in winter)
2. Or orchard
3. Lit. the cohort (i.e. a detachment of Roman soldiers normally comprised of 600 men)
4. Or went forth, went out
5. Lit. Thrust the sword into the sheath!
6. I.e. a commander of a thousand Roman soldiers
7. Or door
8. Lit. So they
9. Or him
10. Lit. they
11. I.e. the governor’s quarters
12. Lit. that they might not be defiled, but eat the Passover
13. Lit. the Jews
14. Or as it is
15. Lit. all who are of the truth
16. Or listens to
17. Or robber
    

The King Sentenced to Die 

19 So Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. ² And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorny branches, placed it on his head, and wrapped a purple robe around him. ³ Then they began coming up¹ to him, and saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!” and striking him with their hands.²

⁴ Then Pilate came out again and said to the Jewish rulers, “Look, I myself am bringing him out to you so that you will know I find no grounds whatsoever for a charge against him.” ⁵ Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Look at the man!” ⁶ But when the chief priests and officers saw him, they cried out, saying, “Crucify him, crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him.” ⁷ The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law; and according to that law he should die, because he made himself out to be the Son of God.”

⁸ Now when Pilate heard that statement, he grew all the more afraid. ⁹ So he went back into the Praetorium and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate said to him, “Are you refusing to speak to me? Don’t you realize I have authority to crucify you and authority to release you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me at all if it hadn’t been given to you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you is guilty of the greater sin.”

¹² So from then on Pilate tried to release him; but the Jews kept crying out, saying, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar’s! Everyone who makes himself a king is declaring himself against³ Caesar.” ¹³ So when Pilate heard those words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat in the place called the Stone Pavement (but in Hebrew, Gabbatha). ¹⁴ (Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover sabbath, and about the sixth hour.)⁴ Then Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, here is your king!” ¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away, take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?” The chief priests replied, “We have no king but Caesar!” ¹⁶ So at that, Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The King is Crucified 

¹⁷ Then the soldiers⁵ took custody of Jesus; and carrying his cross all by himself, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull (but in Hebrew, Golgotha). ¹⁸ And there they crucified him, along with two other men: one on each side, and Jesus in between.

¹⁹ But Pilate also had a notice of the charges written up and fastened to the cross. It read: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. ²⁰ As a result, many of the Jews read this notice, for the place where Jesus was crucified was situated near the city; moreover, it was written in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. ²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’” ²² Pilate replied, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³ Now when the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four shares, one⁶ for each soldier; and they took his tunic as well. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴ So they said to each other, “Let’s not tear it, but instead cast lots for it, to decide whose it will be.” This took place in order to fulfill the Scripture that says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.”⁷ Therefore the soldiers did indeed do these things.

Jesus Provides for His Mother 

²⁵ Now Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were all standing near his cross. ²⁶ So when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her,⁸ he said to his⁹ mother, “Woman, behold¹⁰ your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that very hour the disciple welcomed her into his own home. 

It Is Finished! 

²⁸ After these things, Jesus, knowing that all things had now been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled,¹¹ said, “I thirst!”^{12 29} Now a jar of wine vinegar was lying there; so when the men had fastened a sponge filled with wine to a hyssop branch, they lifted it up to his mouth. ³⁰ Therefore, when Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished!” And bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

A Testimony in Blood 

³¹ Now it was the Day of Preparation, and the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies of these men to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this was a high Sabbath.¹³ Therefore they asked Pilate that their legs be broken, and that the men be taken away. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and then those of the other man who was crucified with him. ³³ But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear; and immediately blood and water flowed out. ³⁵ One who saw this himself¹⁴ has borne witness to it; and his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe as well. ³⁶ For these things took place so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones shall be broken.”^{15 37} And still another scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”¹⁶ 

Jesus Buried in Joseph’s Tomb 

³⁸ Now after these things, Joseph of Arimathea—a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews—asked Pilate’s permission to remove Jesus’ body; and Pilate gave it. So Joseph came and took away his body. ³⁹ And Nicodemus, who had first come to Jesus by night, went along as well, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about seventy-five pounds. ⁴⁰ Then the two of them¹⁷ took the body of Jesus and wrapped it, together with the spices, in linen strips, as is the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ Now in the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid to rest. ⁴² So because it was the Jewish Day of Preparation, they laid Jesus there, for the tomb was close at hand.

Notes

1. Or kept coming up
2. Or with rods
3. Or speaks against, opposes
4. I.e. about noon
5. Lit. they
6. Lit. a share
7. Ps. 22:18
8. Or nearby
9. Lit. the
10. Or Woman, here is
11. Some interpreters place this phrase in parentheses
12. Ps. 22:15, 69:21
13. Lit. the day of that Sabbath was great
14. Lit. And the one who has seen
15. Ex. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Ps. 34:20
16. Zech. 12:10
17. Lit. they
    

An Empty Tomb 

20 Now early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb; and she saw that the stone had been removed from its entrance.^{1 2} So she ran and came to Simon Peter, and also to the other disciple whom Jesus loved. She said to them, “They’ve taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him!” ³ So Peter, together with the other disciple, rushed out and headed for the tomb. ⁴ Now the two of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and arrived at the tomb first. ⁵ And when he had stooped down and looked in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter, who was following him, also arrived and immediately entered the tomb. And he too saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷ as well as the face cloth they had placed² over Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen wrappings, but folded up and laid in a place all by itself. ⁸ So the other disciple who arrived at the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed ⁹ (for they had not yet understood from the scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead).

A Joyful Reunion

¹⁰ Then the disciples went back to their own homes. ¹¹ But Mary stood outside by the tomb, weeping. Now as she was weeping, she stooped down and looked in;^{3 12} and she saw two angels dressed in white, sitting in the place where Jesus’ body had been lying: one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³ They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She answered them, “Because they’ve taken away my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.” ¹⁴ Now after saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she didn’t realize that it was him. ¹⁵ Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Then Mary, thinking he was the gardener, said to him, “Sir, if you’ve carried him off, tell me where you’ve put him, and I will go and take⁴ him away.” ¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!” Turning around, she said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). ¹⁷ Jesus said to her, “You mustn’t cling to me,⁵ for I’ve not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.’” ¹⁸ So Mary Magdalene came and announced to the disciples, “I’ve seen the Lord!” And she told them he had said these things to her.

Command and Commission  

¹⁹ Therefore, when it was evening on that day (the first day of the week), and when the doors where the disciples were gathered were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced, having seen that it was the Lord.^{6 21} So once again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Thomas Sees, Believes, and Stands Corrected 

²⁴ But Thomas, one of the twelve (the one called “the Twin”), was not with them when Jesus came to them. ²⁵ So the other disciples kept telling him, “We’ve seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands, and push my finger into the place of the wounds, and place my hand in his side, I refuse to believe.”

²⁶ Now after eight days his disciples were once again inside, and Thomas was with them. And though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in the midst of them; and he said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then he said to Thomas, “Place your finger here, and inspect my hands. Now⁷ stretch out your hand and push your finger into my side; and do not give way to unbelief, but have faith!”^{8 28} Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹ Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have you believed.⁹ Blessed are those who did not see, and yet believed.”

The Apostle’s Purpose in Writing 

³⁰ So then: Many indeed are the other miraculous signs that Jesus also performed in the presence of the¹⁰ disciples, signs that are not recorded in this scroll; ³¹ but these have been recorded so that you¹¹ may believe¹² that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

Notes

1. Lit. the tomb
2. Lit. that was placed
3. Lit. into the tomb
4. Or carry
5. Lit. Do not keep clinging to me
6. Or having recognized (seen) the Lord
7. Lit. and
8. Lit. do not become unbelieving, but believing
9. Or have you believed?
   
10. Many mss his
11. The Greek is plural
12. I.e. come to believe; some mss continue to believe
    

Breakfast by the Sea 

21 After these things Jesus again showed himself to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias; and this is the way in which he did so. ² Simon Peter, Thomas (the one called “the Twin”), Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two of his other disciples were all together. ³ Simon Peter said to them, “I’m going fishing.” They said to him, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and stepped into the boat; but that night they caught nothing.

⁴ Now some time after daybreak, Jesus stood on the beach; but the disciples did not realize that it was him. ⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Children, haven’t you caught any fish?” They answered him, “No.” ⁶ Then he said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will.”¹ So they threw out the net—and now they were no longer able to pull it back in due to the great number of fish. ⁷ Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put² on his outer garment (for he was stripped for work), and threw himself into the sea. ⁸ But the other disciples came along in the small boat, pulling the net full of fish; for they were not far from land, only about a hundred yards away.³

⁹ Now after they stepped onto the beach, the disciples saw a charcoal fire already prepared, a fish laid on it, and a bread-cake. ¹⁰ Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.” ¹¹ So Simon Peter went on board and pulled the net to shore. Now the net was full of large fish: one hundred and fifty-three of them. But even though there were so many, the net was not broken! ¹² Then Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” (None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” for they knew it was the Lord.) ¹³ Then Jesus came up, took the bread, and gave portions to them all; and he did the same with the fish. ¹⁴ This is now the third time Jesus showed himself to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Peter Recommissioned 

¹⁵ So when they had finished eating breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love⁴ me more than these?” Peter said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know I love⁵ you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.” ¹⁶ Jesus asked Peter a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love⁶ me?” Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know I love⁷ you.” He said to him, “Shepherd my sheep.” ¹⁷ Then Jesus asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love⁸ me?” Peter was deeply distressed that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love⁹ me?” So he said to him, “Lord, you know all things: You know I love¹⁰ you!” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep. ¹⁸ Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger you would dress yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and take you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ (Now Jesus said this in order to signify the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.) And after speaking in this way, Jesus said to Peter, “Follow me.”

Two Different Destinies 

²⁰ Turning around, Peter saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them (the one who had leaned on Jesus’ breast during the Passover meal and said, “Lord, which one of us is going to betray you?”). ²¹ So when Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “But Lord, what about this man?” ²² Jesus said to him, “If I desire him¹¹ to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.” ²³ For this reason the saying went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. However, Jesus never said to him that he wouldn’t die, but only, “If I desire him to remain till I come, what is that to you?”

The Apostle’s Final Word

²⁴ This is the disciple who is bearing witness to these things, and who wrote these things down; and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵ And there are many other things that Jesus did as well; but if someone were to write them down one by one, I think¹² the world itself could not contain all the scrolls that would have to be written.¹³

Notes

1. Lit. will find (some)
   
2. Or tied
3. Lit. two hundred cubits
4. Greek agapao
5. Greek phileo
6. Greek agapao
7. Greek phileo
8. Greek phileo
9. Greek phileo
10. Greek phileo
11. Or If I will  
12. Or suppose
13. Many mss add Amen