Gospel of John

Gospel of John

In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God,

and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things came into being,

and without Him not one thing came into being that has come into being.

In Him was life,

and that life was the light of humanity.

The light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

He came as a witness, to bear testimony about the light,

so that through him all might trust.

He himself was not the light,

but he came to bear witness to the light.

The true light, who gives light to every person,

was coming into the world.

He was in the world,

and though the world was made through Him,

the world did not know Him.

He came to His own,

and His own did not receive Him.

But to all who did receive Him,

to those who trusted in His name,

He gave the right to become children of God —

children born not of blood,

nor of the desire of the flesh,

nor of a man’s will,

but born of God.

And the Word became flesh

and made His dwelling among us.

We have seen His glory,

the glory of the one and only Son,

who came from the Father,

full of grace and truth.

John testified concerning Him.

He cried out, saying,

“This was He of whom I said,

‘He who comes after me has surpassed me, because He was before me.’”

From His fullness we have all received —

grace upon grace.

For the law was given through Moses,

but grace and truth came through Jesus, the Anointed One.

No one has ever seen God;

but the one and only Son,

who is Himself God

and is in closest relationship with the Father,

has made Him known.

This was John’s testimony

when the religious leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,

“Who are you?”

He confessed freely, and did not deny it, but confessed,

“I am not the Anointed One.”

They asked him,

“Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”

He said,

“I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”

He answered,

“No.”

So they said to him,

“Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

He said,

“I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,’

just as the prophet Isaiah said.”

Now those who had been sent were from the Pharisees.

They questioned him,

“Why then do you immerse, if you are not the Anointed One, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John answered them,

“I immerse in water,

but among you stands One you do not know —

the One who comes after me,

whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”

This all took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan,

where John was immersing.

The next day,

John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,

“Behold, the Lamb of God,

who takes away the sin of the world!

This is the One I meant when I said,

‘After me comes a Man who has surpassed me, because He was before me.’

I myself did not know Him,

but the reason I came immersing in water

was so that He might be revealed to Israel.”

Then John gave this testimony:

“I saw the Set-Apart Spirit descending from heaven like a dove,

and it remained on Him.

I myself did not know Him,

but the One who sent me to immerse in water told me,

‘The One on whom you see the Set-Apart Spirit descend and remain —

He is the One who immerses in the Set-Apart Set-Apart Spirit.’

I have seen, and I testify that this is the Son of God.”

The next day John was again standing with two of his disciples.

As he watched Jesus walking by, he said,

“Behold, the Lamb of God!”

When the two disciples heard him say this,

they followed Jesus.

Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them,

“What are you seeking?”

They said to Him,

“Rabbi” (which means Teacher),

“where are You staying?”

He said to them,

“Come, and you will see.”

So they went and saw where He was staying,

and they remained with Him that day.

It was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard John and followed Jesus was Andrew,

Simon Peter’s brother.

He first found his own brother Simon and said to him,

“We have found the Messiah!” (which means the Anointed One).

And he brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said,

“You are Simon son of Jonah.

You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee.

He found Philip and said to him,

“Follow Me.”

Now Philip was from Bethsaida,

the same town as Andrew and Peter.

Philip found Nathanael and said to him,

“We have found the One Moses wrote about in the law,

and about whom the prophets also wrote —

Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nathanael said to him,

“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”

Philip said to him,

“Come and see.”

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward Him, He said,

“Behold — truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

Nathanael asked Him,

“How do You know me?”

Jesus answered,

“Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

Then Nathanael declared,

“Rabbi, You are the Son of God!

You are the King of Israel!”

Jesus answered,

“Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you trust?

You will see greater things than these.”

And He said to him,

“Truly, truly I tell you —

you will see heaven opened,

and the messengers of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

———

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee,

and the mother of Jesus was there.

Jesus and His disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

When the wine ran out,

the mother of Jesus said to Him,

“They have no more wine.”

Jesus said to her,

“Woman, what does this have to do with Me?

My hour has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants,

“Do whatever He tells you.”

Now there were six stone water jars standing there,

according to the purification rites of the Judeans,

each holding twenty to thirty gallons.

Jesus said to them,

“Fill the jars with water.”

And they filled them to the brim.

Then He said to them,

“Now draw some out, and take it to the master of the banquet.”

So they took it.

When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had become wine

—and he did not know where it had come from,

though the servants who had drawn the water knew—

he called the bridegroom and said to him,

“Everyone serves the good wine first,

and after the guests have drunk freely, then the inferior.

But you have kept the good wine until now!”

This, the first of His signs,

Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee.

He revealed His glory,

and His disciples trusted in Him.

After this He went down to Capernaum,

with His mother and His brothers and His disciples,

and they stayed there a few days.

The time for the Feast of Passover was near,

so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In the temple courts He found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves,

and others sitting at tables exchanging money.

He made a whip out of cords

and drove all of them out of the temple courts,

along with the sheep and the oxen.

He scattered the coins of the money changers

and overturned their tables.

To those who sold doves He said,

“Take these things out of here!

Do not make My Father’s house a marketplace!”

His disciples remembered that it is written:

“Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”

Then the Judean leaders responded to Him,

“What sign do You show us to prove Your authority to do these things?”

Jesus answered,

“Destroy this temple,

and in three days I will raise it up.”

They said,

“It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,

and will You raise it up in three days?”

But He was speaking about the temple of His body.

After He was raised from the dead,

His disciples remembered that He had said this,

and they trusted the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

While He was in Jerusalem during the Feast,

many trusted in His name when they saw the signs He was performing.

But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them,

because He knew all people,

and He did not need anyone to testify about humanity,

for He Himself knew what was in a person.

———

There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus,

a leader among the Judeans.

He came to Jesus by night and said to Him,

“Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God,

for no one can perform the signs You are doing unless God is with him.”

Jesus answered him,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

unless one is born from above,

they cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him,

“How can someone be born when they are old?

Can they enter their mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

Jesus answered,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

unless one is born of water and Set-Apart Spirit,

they cannot enter the kingdom of God.

What is born of the flesh is flesh,

and what is born of the Set-Apart Spirit is Set-Apart Spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you,

‘You must be born from above.’

The wind blows where it wills,

and you hear its sound,

but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going.

So it is with everyone born of the Set-Apart Spirit.”

Nicodemus asked Him,

“How can these things be?”

Jesus answered,

“You are a teacher of Israel, and you do not understand these things?

Truly, truly I tell you,

we speak of what we know

and testify to what we have seen,

yet you do not receive our testimony.

If I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not trust,

how will you trust if I speak of heavenly things?

No one has ascended into heaven

except the One who came down from heaven — the Son of Man.

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,

so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

that everyone who trusts in Him may have life of the age to come.”

For God so loved the world,

that He gave His one and only Son,

so that everyone who trusts in Him

shall not perish,

but have life of the age to come.

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,

but to save the world through Him.

Whoever trusts in Him is not condemned,

but whoever does not trust stands condemned already,

because they have not trusted in the name of God’s one and only Son.

And this is the judgment:

The light has come into the world,

but people loved the darkness rather than the light,

because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who practices wickedness hates the light

and does not come into the light,

so that their works will not be exposed.

But the one who lives by the truth comes into the light,

so that it may be clearly seen that their works have been done in God.”

After these things, Jesus and His disciples went out into the Judean countryside,

and He remained there with them and immersed people.

Now John was also immersing at Aenon near Salim,

because there was plenty of water there,

and people were coming and being immersed.

(For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)

Then a debate arose between some of John’s disciples and a Judean over ceremonial washing.

They came to John and said,

“Rabbi, the One who was with you across the Jordan, the One you testified about —

look, He is immersing, and everyone is going to Him!”

John answered,

“A person can receive nothing unless it has been given to them from heaven.

You yourselves are my witnesses that I said,

‘I am not the Anointed One, but I was sent ahead of Him.’

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.

The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him,

rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.

Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete.

He must increase,

but I must decrease.”

The One who comes from above is above all.

The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth

and speaks from the earth.

The One who comes from heaven is above all.

He testifies to what He has seen and heard,

yet no one receives His testimony.

Whoever does receive His testimony

has set their seal to this:

that God is true.

For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God,

for God gives the Set-Apart Spirit without limit.

The Father loves the Son

and has given all things into His hand.

Whoever trusts in the Son has life of the age to come.

But whoever rejects the Son will not see life,

for the wrath of God remains upon them.

———

Now Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard

He was making and immersing more disciples than John —

though it was not Jesus Himself who immersed, but His disciples.

So He left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

But He had to pass through Samaria.

He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar,

near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

Jacob’s well was there,

and Jesus, worn out from His journey,

sat down by the well.

It was about the sixth hour.

A Samaritan woman came to draw water,

and Jesus said to her,

“Give Me a drink.”

(His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

The Samaritan woman said to Him,

“How is it that You, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?”

(For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her,

“If you knew the gift of God,

and who it is that says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’

you would have asked Him,

and He would have given you living water.”

She said to Him,

“Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep.

Where then do You get this living water?

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well

and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his flocks?”

Jesus answered her,

“Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again,

but whoever drinks from the water I will give

will never thirst again.

Indeed, the water I give will become in them a spring of water

welling up to life of the age to come.”

The woman said to Him,

“Sir, give me this water, so that I won’t get thirsty

and have to keep coming here to draw.”

He said to her,

“Go, call your husband, and come back.”

She replied,

“I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her,

“You are right to say, ‘I have no husband.’

For you have had five husbands,

and the one you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true.”

The woman said to Him,

“Sir, I see that You are a prophet.

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,

but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”

Jesus said to her,

“Woman, believe Me,

the hour is coming when you will worship the Father

neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You worship what you do not know;

we worship what we know,

for salvation comes through the Jews.

But the hour is coming — and now is —

when true worshipers will worship the Father in Set-Apart Spirit and in truth,

for the Father seeks such as these to worship Him.

God is Set-Apart Spirit,

and those who worship must worship in Set-Apart Spirit and in truth.”

The woman said to Him,

“I know that Messiah is coming (the One called the Anointed One).

When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

Jesus said to her,

“I, the One speaking to you — I am He.”

Just then His disciples returned

and were astonished that He was speaking with a woman.

But no one said, “What do You seek?” or “Why are You speaking with her?”

Then the woman left her water jar,

went into the town, and said to the people,

“Come, see a Man who told me everything I ever did!

Could this be the Anointed One?”

They left the town and came toward Him.

Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, saying,

“Rabbi, eat something.”

But He said to them,

“I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

So the disciples said to one another,

“Could someone have brought Him food?”

Jesus said to them,

“My food is to do the will of the One who sent Me

and to complete His work.

Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’?

Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see —

the fields are already white for harvest.

The one who reaps receives wages and gathers fruit for life of the age to come,

so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.

For here the saying is true:

‘One sows and another reaps.’

I sent you to reap what you have not labored for.

Others have labored,

and you have entered into their labor.”

Many Samaritans from that town trusted in Him

because of the woman’s testimony:

“He told me everything I ever did.”

So when the Samaritans came to Him,

they asked Him to stay with them,

and He stayed there two days.

And many more trusted because of His word.

They said to the woman,

“It is no longer because of what you said that we trust,

for we have heard for ourselves,

and we know that this truly is the Savior of the world.”

After the two days, He departed for Galilee.

(For Jesus Himself had testified

that a prophet has no honor in his own country.)

When He came to Galilee,

the Galileans welcomed Him,

having seen all that He had done in Jerusalem at the festival,

for they too had been there.

Then He came again to Cana in Galilee,

where He had turned the water into wine.

And there was a certain royal official in Capernaum

whose son was sick.

When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee,

he went to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son,

for he was at the point of death.

Jesus said to him,

“Unless you see signs and wonders,

you will not trust.”

The official said to Him,

“Sir, come down before my child dies.”

Jesus said to him,

“Go — your son lives.”

The man trusted the word that Jesus spoke to him

and went on his way.

While he was still on the road,

his servants met him with the news that his son was alive.

So he asked them what hour he had begun to recover,

and they said to him,

“Yesterday, at the seventh hour, the fever left him.”

Then the father realized

that this was the exact time Jesus had said to him,

“Your son lives.”

And he himself trusted — along with his whole household.

This was now the second sign Jesus performed

after coming from Judea into Galilee.

———

After this, there was a feast of the Judeans,

and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Now in Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate,

there is a pool — in Aramaic called Bethesda —

which has five covered colonnades.

In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed.

One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.

When Jesus saw him lying there

and learned that he had been in that condition a long time,

He said to him,

“Do you want to be made well?”

The sick man answered Him,

“Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred.

While I am going, someone else steps down before me.”

Jesus said to him,

“Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”

Immediately the man was made well.

He picked up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath.

So the Judeans said to the man who had been healed,

“It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”

But he answered them,

“The One who made me well told me,

‘Take up your mat and walk.’”

They asked him,

“Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?”

But the man who had been healed did not know who it was,

for Jesus had withdrawn into the crowd that was there.

Later, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him,

“See, you have been made well.

Do not miss the mark anymore,

so that nothing worse may happen to you.”

The man went and told the Judeans that it was Jesus who had made him well.

And this is why they began to persecute Jesus — because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

But Jesus answered them,

“My Father is still working — and I too am working.”

This made them seek all the more to kill Him,

because not only was He breaking the Sabbath,

but He was even calling God His own Father,

making Himself equal with God.

So Jesus replied to them,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

the Son can do nothing by Himself,

but only what He sees the Father doing.

Whatever the Father does, the Son also does — in like manner.

For the Father loves the Son

and shows Him all that He Himself is doing.

And greater works than these will He show Him,

so that you may marvel.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,

so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.

The Father judges no one,

but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,

that all may honor the Son

just as they honor the Father.

Whoever does not honor the Son

does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Truly, truly I tell you,

whoever hears My word and trusts the One who sent Me

has life of the age to come

and will not come under judgment,

but has passed from death into life.

Truly, truly I tell you,

the hour is coming — and is now here —

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and those who hear will live.

For just as the Father has life in Himself,

so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself.

And He has given Him authority to execute judgment,

because He is the Son of Man.

Do not marvel at this,

for the hour is coming when all who are in the graves

will hear His voice and come out —

those who have done what is good, to a resurrection of life,

and those who have done what is worthless, to a resurrection of judgment.

I can do nothing on My own.

As I hear, I judge,

and My judgment is just,

because I seek not My own will,

but the will of Him who sent Me.

If I testify about Myself,

My testimony is not valid.

There is another who testifies about Me,

and I know that His testimony about Me is true.

You sent messengers to John,

and he has testified to the truth.

Not that I accept human testimony,

but I say these things so that you may be saved.

He was a burning and shining lamp,

and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

But I have a greater testimony than John's.

For the works that the Father has given Me to finish —

the very works I am doing —

bear witness about Me,

that the Father has sent Me.

And the Father who sent Me

has Himself testified about Me.

You have never heard His voice,

nor seen His form,

nor does His word dwell in you,

because you do not trust the One He sent.

You search the Scriptures,

because you think that in them you have life of the age to come —

and yet it is they that testify about Me,

but you refuse to come to Me that you may have life.

I do not accept glory from human beings,

but I know you —

that you do not have the love of God within you.

I have come in My Father’s name,

and you do not receive Me.

If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

How can you trust,

when you receive glory from one another

and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father.

Your accuser is Moses — on whom you have set your hope.

If you had trusted Moses,

you would trust Me,

for he wrote about Me.

But if you do not trust what he wrote,

how will you trust what I say?”

———

After this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias),

and a great crowd followed Him

because they saw the signs He had done by healing the sick.

Jesus went up on the mountain

and sat down there with His disciples.

Now the Passover, the feast of the Judeans, was near.

When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward Him,

He said to Philip,

“Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?”

He said this to test him,

for He Himself knew what He was going to do.

Philip answered Him,

“Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough

for each one to have even a little.”

One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him,

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish,

but what are they among so many?”

Jesus said,

“Have the people sit down.”

There was plenty of grass in that place,

and the men sat down — about five thousand in number.

Then Jesus took the loaves,

gave thanks,

and distributed them to those who were seated —

and likewise the fish,

as much as they wanted.

When they were satisfied,

He told His disciples,

“Gather up the pieces that are left over,

so that nothing is lost.”

So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets

with the pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

When the people saw the sign that He had done, they said,

“This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world!”

Perceiving that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king,

Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by Himself.

When evening came, His disciples went down to the sea,

got into a boat,

and started across the sea to Capernaum.

It was now dark,

and Jesus had not yet come to them.

A strong wind was blowing, and the sea grew rough.

When they had rowed about three or four miles,

they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat,

and they were terrified.

But He said to them,

“It is I — do not be afraid.”

Then they were willing to receive Him into the boat,

and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were heading.

The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the opposite side of the sea

realized that only one boat had been there,

and that Jesus had not gone with His disciples,

but that they had gone away alone.

Then some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread

after the Lord had given thanks.

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there,

they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus.

When they found Him on the other side of the sea,

they said to Him,

“Rabbi, when did You come here?”

Jesus answered them,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

you are seeking Me not because you saw signs,

but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Do not labor for the food that perishes,

but for the food that endures to life of the age to come,

which the Son of Man will give you.

For on Him God the Father has set His seal.”

Then they said to Him,

“What must we do to perform the works of God?”

Jesus answered,

“This is the work of God:

that you trust in the One He has sent.”

So they said to Him,

“What sign then will You perform, that we may see and trust You?

What will You do?

Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written:

‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said to them,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven,

but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven

and gives life to the world.”

They said to Him,

“Sir, always give us this bread.”

Jesus said to them,

“I am the bread of life.

Whoever comes to Me will never hunger,

and whoever trusts in Me will never thirst.

But as I told you, you have seen Me,

and still you do not trust.

All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,

and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven,

not to do My own will,

but the will of Him who sent Me.

And this is the will of Him who sent Me:

that I should lose none of those He has given Me,

but raise them up at the last day.

For this is the will of My Father:

that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him

shall have life of the age to come,

and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Then the Judeans began to grumble about Him

because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

They said,

“Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?

How then can He say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

Jesus answered,

“Stop grumbling among yourselves.

No one can come to Me

unless the Father who sent Me draws them,

and I will raise them up at the last day.

It is written in the prophets:

‘They will all be taught by God.’

Everyone who hears and learns from the Father comes to Me.

Not that anyone has seen the Father

except the One who is from God;

He has seen the Father.

Truly, truly I tell you,

whoever trusts has life of the age to come.

I am the bread of life.

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness,

and they died.

This is the bread that comes down from heaven,

so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven.

Whoever eats of this bread will live forever.

And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”

Then the people argued sharply among themselves, saying,

“How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”

Jesus said to them,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,

you have no life in you.

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has life of the age to come,

and I will raise them up at the last day.

For My flesh is true food,

and My blood is true drink.

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood

remains in Me, and I in them.

Just as the living Father sent Me,

and I live because of the Father,

so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me.

This is the bread that came down from heaven —

not like the bread your ancestors ate, and they died.

Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

He said these things while teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of His disciples heard this, they said,

“This is a hard teaching — who can accept it?”

Jesus, knowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling about this, said to them,

“Does this offend you?

Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before?

It is the Set-Apart Spirit who gives life;

the flesh counts for nothing.

The words I have spoken to you are Set-Apart Spirit and life.

Yet there are some of you who do not trust.”

(For Jesus knew from the beginning who would not trust, and who would betray Him.)

And He said,

“This is why I told you that no one can come to Me

unless it has been granted them by the Father.”

From that time on, many of His disciples turned back

and no longer walked with Him.

So Jesus said to the twelve,

“Do you also want to leave?”

Simon Peter answered Him,

“Lord, to whom would we go?

You have the words of life of the age to come.

We have trusted,

and we know that You are the Holy One of God.”

Jesus replied,

“Did I not choose you, the twelve?

And yet one of you is a devil.”

(He was speaking of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot,

for he, one of the twelve, would later betray Him.)

———

After this, Jesus continued to move about in Galilee.

He did not wish to travel in Judea,

because the Judean leaders were seeking to kill Him.

Now the Jewish Festival of Booths was near.

So His brothers said to Him,

“Leave here and go to Judea,

so that Your disciples can see the works You are doing.

No one who seeks to be known publicly acts in secret.

If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.”

For even His own brothers did not trust in Him.

Jesus said to them,

“My time has not yet come,

but your time is always ready.

The world cannot hate you,

but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil.

You go to the feast; I am not going up to this feast yet,

for My time has not fully come.”

After saying this, He stayed in Galilee.

But after His brothers had gone up to the feast,

He also went up — not openly, but in secret.

At the festival, the Judeans were looking for Him and asking,

“Where is He?”

And there was quiet murmuring among the crowds concerning Him.

Some were saying,

“He is a good man.”

Others were saying,

“No, He deceives the people.”

Yet no one spoke openly about Him for fear of the leaders.

About halfway through the feast, Jesus went up to the temple and began to teach.

The Judeans were amazed and said,

“How has this man acquired such learning, having never been formally taught?”

Jesus answered,

“My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.

If anyone desires to do His will,

they will know whether the teaching is from God

or whether I speak on My own.

The one who speaks on their own seeks their own glory,

but the one who seeks the glory of the One who sent them is true,

and in them there is no falsehood.

Did not Moses give you the law?

Yet none of you keeps the law.

Why are you seeking to kill Me?”

The crowd answered,

“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill You?”

Jesus answered,

“I did one work, and you all marvel.

Because Moses gave you circumcision

(not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs),

you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken,

why are you angry with Me for making a whole person well on the Sabbath?

Do not judge by appearances,

but judge with righteous judgment.”

Some of the people of Jerusalem said,

“Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

Yet here He is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to Him.

Can it be that the authorities truly know this is the Anointed One?

But we know where this man is from.

When the Anointed One comes, no one will know where He is from.”

Then Jesus, teaching in the temple courts, cried out,

“You know Me, and you know where I come from.

But I have not come on My own.

The One who sent Me is true,

and Him you do not know.

I know Him because I am from Him,

and He sent Me.”

At this, they tried to seize Him,

but no one laid a hand on Him,

because His hour had not yet come.

Yet many of the crowd trusted in Him and said,

“When the Anointed One comes,

will He perform more signs than this man has done?”

The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about Him,

and the chief priests and Pharisees sent guards to arrest Him.

Then Jesus said,

“I am with you only a little while longer,

and then I go to the One who sent Me.

You will seek Me, and you will not find Me;

and where I am, you cannot come.”

The Judeans said to one another,

“Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find Him?

Will He go to the scattered among the Greeks and teach the Gentiles?

What does He mean by saying, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me,’

and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”

On the last and greatest day of the feast,

Jesus stood and cried out,

“If anyone is thirsty, let them come to Me and drink.

Whoever trusts in Me, as the Scripture has said,

‘From within them will flow rivers of living water.’”

He was speaking about the Set-Apart Spirit,

whom those who trusted in Him were later to receive.

For the Set-Apart Spirit had not yet been given,

because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

When they heard these words,

some of the people said,

“Surely this is the Prophet.”

Others said,

“This is the Anointed One.”

But some asked,

“Will the Anointed One come from Galilee?

Does not the Scripture say that the Anointed One will come from the seed of David

and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

So the crowd was divided because of Him.

Some wanted to seize Him,

but no one laid hands on Him.

Then the guards returned to the chief priests and Pharisees,

who said to them,

“Why did you not bring Him?”

The guards answered,

“No one ever spoke like this man.”

The Pharisees replied,

“Have you also been deceived?

Have any of the rulers or Pharisees trusted in Him?

But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of them, said,

“Does our law judge a man without first hearing him

and learning what he is doing?”

They answered him,

“Are you from Galilee too?

Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”

———

Then each one went to their own house,

but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

At dawn He returned to the temple courts,

and all the people came to Him,

and He sat down and began to teach them.

The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery.

They made her stand in the midst

and said to Him,

“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.

In the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.

What then do You say?”

They said this to test Him,

that they might have a charge to bring against Him.

But Jesus bent down and began writing with His finger on the ground.

When they continued to question Him,

He stood up and said to them,

“Let the one among you who is without sin

be the first to cast a stone at her.”

And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.

When they heard this,

they began to go away, one by one,

beginning with the older ones,

until only Jesus was left,

with the woman still standing there.

Jesus stood up and said to her,

“Woman, where are they?

Has no one condemned you?”

She said,

“No one, Lord.”

Then Jesus said,

“Neither do I condemn you.

Go, and from now on miss the mark no more.”

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,

“I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness,

but will have the light of life.”

Then the Pharisees said to Him,

“You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not valid.”

Jesus replied,

“Even if I testify about Myself,

My testimony is valid,

because I know where I came from and where I am going.

But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.

You judge according to the flesh;

I judge no one.

Yet even if I do judge,

My judgment is true,

for I am not alone —

I stand with the One who sent Me.

In your own law it is written

that the testimony of two witnesses is true.

I am one who testifies about Myself,

and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.”

Then they asked Him,

“Where is Your Father?”

Jesus answered,

“You do not know Me or My Father.

If you knew Me,

you would also know My Father.”

He spoke these words while teaching in the temple treasury,

and no one seized Him,

because His hour had not yet come.

Then He said to them again,

“I am going away, and you will seek Me,

but you will die in your sin.

Where I am going, you cannot come.”

So the Judeans said,

“Will He kill Himself?

Is that why He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

But He said to them,

“You are from below; I am from above.

You are of this world; I am not of this world.

That is why I told you

that you will die in your sins,

for unless you trust that I AM,

you will die in your sins.”

So they said to Him,

“Who are You?”

Jesus replied,

“Just what I have been telling you from the beginning.

I have much to say about you and much to judge,

but the One who sent Me is true,

and what I have heard from Him I declare to the world.”

They did not understand that He was speaking to them about the Father.

So Jesus said to them,

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man,

then you will know that I AM,

and that I do nothing on My own,

but speak just as the Father has taught Me.

And the One who sent Me is with Me.

He has not left Me alone,

for I always do what is pleasing to Him.”

As He said these things,

many began to trust in Him.

Then Jesus said to the Judeans who had trusted Him,

“If you remain in My word,

you are truly My disciples.

Then you will know the truth,

and the truth will set you free.”

They answered Him,

“We are Abraham’s descendants

and have never been enslaved to anyone.

How can You say, ‘You will be set free’?”

Jesus answered them,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.

The slave does not remain in the household forever,

but the son remains forever.

So if the Son sets you free,

you will be truly free.

I know that you are Abraham’s descendants,

but you are seeking to kill Me,

because My word has no place in you.

I speak what I have seen in the presence of My Father,

and you do what you have heard from your father.”

They answered Him,

“Abraham is our father.”

Jesus said to them,

“If you were Abraham’s children,

you would do the works of Abraham.

But now you seek to kill Me —

a man who has told you the truth I heard from God.

Abraham did not do such things.

You are doing the works of your father.”

They said to Him,

“We are not born of immorality;

we have one Father — God Himself.”

Jesus said to them,

“If God were your Father,

you would love Me,

for I came from God and now am here.

I did not come on My own,

but He sent Me.

Why do you not understand what I say?

It is because you are unable to hear My word.

You are of your father, the accuser,

and you want to carry out your father’s desires.

He was a murderer from the beginning

and does not stand in the truth,

because there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks from his own nature,

for he is a liar and the father of lies.

But because I tell you the truth,

you do not trust Me.

Which of you can convict Me of sin?

If I speak the truth,

why do you not trust Me?

Whoever is of God hears the words of God.

The reason you do not hear is that you are not of God.”

The Judeans answered Him,

“Aren’t we right in saying that You are a Samaritan

and have a demon?”

Jesus replied,

“I do not have a demon.

I honor My Father,

and you dishonor Me.

Yet I do not seek My own glory;

there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge.

Truly, truly I tell you,

if anyone keeps My word,

they will never see death.”

They 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, they will never taste death.’

Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died?

Even the prophets died! Who do You make Yourself out to be?”

Jesus answered,

“If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing.

It is My Father who glorifies Me,

of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

You do not know Him,

but I know Him.

If I said I did not know Him,

I would be a liar like you.

But I do know Him and I keep His word.

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see My day;

he saw it and was glad.”

Then they said to Him,

“You are not yet fifty years old — and have You seen Abraham?”

Jesus said to them,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

before Abraham was, I AM.”

At this, they picked up stones to throw at Him.

But Jesus hid Himself and slipped out of the temple.

———

As Jesus was passing by,

He saw a man who had been blind from birth.

His disciples asked Him,

“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

Jesus answered,

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,

but this happened so that the works of God might be revealed in him.

We must do the works of the One who sent Me while it is still day.

Night is coming, when no one can work.

While I am in the world,

I am the light of the world.”

After saying this, He spat on the ground,

made mud with the saliva,

and spread the mud on the man’s eyes.

Then He said to him,

“Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent).

So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.

His neighbors and those who had seen him begging said,

“Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

Some said, “Yes, it’s him,”

others said, “No, but he looks like him.”

He kept saying, “I am the one.”

So they asked him,

“Then how were your eyes opened?”

He answered,

“The man called Jesus made mud,

spread it on my eyes,

and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’

So I went, washed, and received my sight.”

They asked him,

“Where is He?”

He said,

“I don’t know.”

They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees.

Now the day that Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.

So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.

He said to them,

“He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

Some of the Pharisees said,

“This man is not from God, for He does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others asked,

“How can a sinful man perform such signs?”

And there was division among them.

So they said again to the blind man,

“What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?”

He said,

“He is a prophet.”

The Judean leaders did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight,

until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight.

They asked them,

“Is this your son, the one you say was born blind?

How then does he now see?”

His parents answered,

“We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

But how he now sees, we do not know,

nor do we know who opened his eyes.

Ask him — he is of age. He will speak for himself.”

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Judean leaders,

for the leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Anointed One

would be put out of the synagogue.

That’s why his parents said, “He is of age — ask him.”

So they summoned the man again and said to him,

“Give glory to God.

We know that this man is a sinner.”

He answered,

“Whether He is a sinner, I do not know.

One thing I do know:

I was blind, and now I see.”

Then they asked him,

“What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

He answered,

“I have told you already, and you did not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again?

Do you also want to become His disciples?”

Then they hurled insults at him and said,

“You are His disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

We know that God spoke to Moses,

but as for this man, we do not know where He comes from.”

The man answered,

“This is remarkable —

you do not know where He comes from,

and yet He opened my eyes!

We know that God does not listen to sinners,

but if anyone worships Him and does His will, He hears him.

Never has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind.

If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

They answered him,

“You were born entirely in sin,

and you’re teaching us?”

And they threw him out.

Jesus heard that they had thrown him out,

and when He found him, He said,

“Do you trust in the Son of Man?”

He answered,

“Who is He, Lord, that I may trust in Him?”

Jesus said to him,

“You have seen Him,

and He is the One speaking with you.”

He said,

“Lord, I trust.”

And he worshiped Him.

Jesus said,

“For judgment I came into this world —

so that those who do not see may see,

and those who think they see may become blind.”

Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard this and said to Him,

“Are we blind too?”

Jesus said to them,

“If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin.

But now that you say, ‘We see,’

your guilt remains.”

———

“Truly, truly I tell you,

anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate,

but climbs in some other way,

is a thief and a robber.

But the one who enters by the gate

is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him,

and the sheep listen to his voice.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

When he has brought out all his own,

he goes ahead of them,

and the sheep follow him

because they know his voice.

They will not follow a stranger;

in fact, they will flee from him,

because they do not recognize the voice of strangers.”

Jesus told them this figure of speech,

but they did not understand what He was telling them.

So Jesus said again,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

I am the gate for the sheep.

All who came before Me were thieves and robbers,

but the sheep did not listen to them.

I am the gate.

Whoever enters through Me will be saved.

They will come in and go out and find pasture.

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.

I came that they may have life,

and have it abundantly.

I am the good shepherd.

The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep,

sees the wolf coming,

abandons the sheep, and runs away.

Then the wolf attacks and scatters them.

The man runs away because he is a hired hand

and cares nothing for the sheep.

I am the good shepherd.

I know My own, and My own know Me—

just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—

and I lay down My life for the sheep.

I have other sheep that are not of this fold.

I must bring them also, and they will listen to My voice,

and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

The reason the Father loves Me

is that I lay down My life—only to take it up again.

No one takes it from Me,

but I lay it down of My own accord.

I have authority to lay it down,

and I have authority to take it up again.

This charge I have received from My Father.”

Again there was division among the Judeans because of these words.

Many of them said,

“He has a demon and is insane. Why listen to Him?”

Others said,

“These are not the words of someone oppressed by a demon.

Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Then came the Festival of Dedication in Jerusalem.

It was winter,

and Jesus was walking in the temple courts in Solomon’s Colonnade.

The Judeans gathered around Him and said,

“How long will You keep us in suspense?

If You are the Anointed One, tell us plainly.”

Jesus answered,

“I did tell you, and you do not trust.

The works I do in My Father’s name testify about Me,

but you do not trust because you are not My sheep.

My sheep hear My voice;

I know them, and they follow Me.

I give them life of the age to come,

and they will never perish.

No one will snatch them out of My hand.

My Father, who has given them to Me,

is greater than all,

and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.

I and the Father are one.”

Again the Judeans picked up stones to stone Him.

Jesus said to them,

“I have shown you many good works from the Father.

For which of these are you stoning Me?”

They answered,

“We are not stoning You for a good work,

but for blasphemy,

because You, a mere man, make Yourself God.”

Jesus answered them,

“Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?

If He called them ‘gods’ to whom the word of God came—

and Scripture cannot be broken—

what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world?

Do you accuse Me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not trust Me.

But if I do them, even if you do not trust Me,

believe the works,

so that you may know and understand

that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”

Then they tried again to seize Him,

but He escaped from their hands.

He went back across the Jordan

to the place where John had first been immersing,

and He stayed there.

Many came to Him and said,

“John did no sign,

but everything John said about this man was true.”

And many there trusted in Him.

———

Now a man named Lazarus was sick.

He was from Bethany,

the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was now sick,

was the one who poured perfume on the Lord

and wiped His feet with her hair.)

So the sisters sent word to Jesus:

“Lord, the one You love is sick.”

When Jesus heard this, He said,

“This sickness will not end in death.

It is for the glory of God,

so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So when He heard that Lazarus was sick,

He stayed where He was two more days.

Then He said to His disciples,

“Let us go back to Judea.”

They said to Him,

“Rabbi, just recently the Judeans tried to stone You,

and You are going back there?”

Jesus answered,

“Are there not twelve hours of daylight?

Anyone who walks in the day does not stumble,

because they see by this world’s light.

But anyone who walks at night stumbles,

because the light is not in them.”

After He said this, He told them,

“Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,

but I am going to wake him up.”

His disciples replied,

“Lord, if he sleeps, he will recover.”

Jesus had been speaking about his death,

but they thought He meant natural sleep.

So Jesus told them plainly,

“Lazarus is dead,

and for your sake I am glad I was not there,

so that you may trust.

But let us go to him.”

Then Thomas (called the Twin) said to the rest of the disciples,

“Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

When Jesus arrived,

He found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem,

and many Judeans had come to comfort Martha and Mary in their loss.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming,

she went out to meet Him,

but Mary stayed at home.

Martha said to Jesus,

“Lord, if You had been here,

my brother would not have died.

But even now I know that whatever You ask from God,

God will give You.”

Jesus said to her,

“Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered,

“I know he will rise again

in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her,

“I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever trusts in Me will live,

even though they die.

And everyone who lives and trusts in Me

will never die.

Do you trust this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied,

“I trust that You are the Anointed One,

the Son of God,

who was to come into the world.”

After she said this,

she went back and called her sister Mary aside.

“The Teacher is here,” she said, “and He is asking for you.”

When Mary heard this,

she got up quickly and went to Him.

Now Jesus had not yet entered the village

but was still at the place where Martha had met Him.

When the people who were with Mary in the house, comforting her,

noticed how quickly she got up and went out,

they followed her,

supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

When Mary reached Jesus and saw Him,

she fell at His feet and said,

“Lord, if You had been here,

my brother would not have died.”

When Jesus saw her weeping,

and the people who had come with her also weeping,

He was deeply moved in Set-Apart Spirit and troubled.

He said,

“Where have you laid him?”

“Lord, come and see,” they replied.

Jesus wept.

Then the people said,

“See how He loved him!”

But some of them said,

“Could not He who opened the eyes of the blind man

have kept this man from dying?”

Jesus, again deeply moved, came to the tomb.

It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.

He said,

“Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of the dead man, said,

“Lord, by now there will be a stench,

for he has been there four days.”

Jesus said to her,

“Did I not tell you

that if you trust,

you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone.

Then Jesus looked up and said,

“Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

I know that You always hear Me,

but I said this for the sake of the people standing here,

that they may trust that You sent Me.”

When He had said this,

He cried out in a loud voice,

“Lazarus, come out!”

The man who had died came out,

his hands and feet wrapped with linen strips,

and his face wrapped in a cloth.

Jesus said to them,

“Unbind him and let him go.”

Therefore many of the Judeans who had come to Mary

and had seen what Jesus did,

trusted in Him.

But some of them went to the Pharisees

and reported what Jesus had done.

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said,

“What are we doing? For this man performs many signs.

If we let Him go on like this, everyone will trust in Him,

and the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said,

“You know nothing at all!

You do not realize that it is better for you

that one man should die for the people

than that the whole nation should perish.”

He did not say this on his own,

but as high priest that year

he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation—

and not only for that nation,

but also to gather into one

the scattered children of God.

So from that day on,

they plotted to put Him to death.

Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Judeans,

but withdrew to a region near the wilderness,

to a village called Ephraim,

and stayed there with His disciples.

Now the Judean Passover was near,

and many went up to Jerusalem from the countryside

to purify themselves before the feast.

They were looking for Jesus,

and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another,

“What do you think?

Will He come to the feast at all?”

But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders

that anyone who knew where He was

should report it,

so that they might arrest Him.

———

Six days before the Passover,

Jesus came to Bethany,

where Lazarus lived — the one Jesus had raised from the dead.

They gave a dinner for Him there.

Martha served,

and Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him.

Then Mary took a pint of pure nard — a very expensive perfume —

anointed Jesus’ feet,

and wiped them with her hair.

And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples (who was going to betray Him), said,

“Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”

He said this not because he cared about the poor,

but because he was a thief.

He was in charge of the money bag

and used to help himself to what was put into it.

Jesus said,

“Leave her alone.

She has kept it for the day of My burial.

You will always have the poor with you,

but you will not always have Me.”

A large crowd of Judeans learned that Jesus was there,

and they came — not only because of Him,

but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,

for on account of him many of the Judeans were going over to Jesus

and trusting in Him.

The next day, the great crowd that had come for the feast

heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.

They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting:

“Hosanna!

Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord —

the King of Israel!”

Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written:

“Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.

Look, your King is coming,

seated on a donkey’s colt.”

At first His disciples did not understand these things.

But after Jesus was glorified,

they remembered that these things had been written about Him

and had been done to Him.

Now the crowd that was with Him

when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead

continued to bear witness.

That was also why the crowd went out to meet Him —

because they had heard that He had done this sign.

So the Pharisees said to one another,

“Look, you see that we are accomplishing nothing.

The whole world has gone after Him!”

Now there were some Greeks among those

who went up to worship at the feast.

They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee,

with a request:

“Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

Philip went to tell Andrew;

Andrew and Philip together went and told Jesus.

Jesus replied,

“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.

Truly, truly I tell you,

unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies,

it remains alone;

but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

Whoever loves their life will lose it,

but whoever hates their life in this world

will keep it for life in the age to come.

If anyone serves Me,

let them follow Me;

and where I am, My servant also will be.

My Father will honor the one who serves Me.

Now My life is troubled,

and what shall I say?

‘Father, save Me from this hour’?

No — it was for this very reason I came to this hour.

Father, glorify Your name.”

Then a voice came from heaven:

“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

The crowd standing there heard it and said it had thundered;

others said, “An angel has spoken to Him.”

Jesus answered,

“This voice was not for My sake but for yours.

Now is the judgment of this world;

now the ruler of this world will be cast out.

And I, when I am lifted up from the earth,

will draw all people to Myself.”

He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.

The crowd responded,

“We have heard from the law

that the Anointed One remains forever.

So how can You say,

‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’?

Who is this Son of Man?”

Then Jesus said to them,

“The light is with you for a little while longer.

Walk while you have the light,

so that darkness will not overtake you.

The one who walks in the dark

does not know where they are going.

While you have the light,

trust in the light,

so that you may become children of light.”

After Jesus said these things,

He departed and hid Himself from them.

Even though He had performed so many signs in their presence,

they still did not trust in Him.

This was to fulfill the word of the prophet Isaiah:

“Lord, who has believed our message?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

For this reason they could not trust,

because again, Isaiah said:

“He has blinded their eyes

and hardened their hearts,

so they can neither see with their eyes,

nor understand with their hearts,

nor turn — and I would heal them.”

Isaiah said this because he saw His glory and spoke of Him.

Yet at the same time,

many even among the leaders trusted in Him,

but because of the Pharisees

they would not confess it openly,

for fear they would be put out of the synagogue.

For they loved the praise of people

more than the praise of God.

Then Jesus cried out,

“Whoever trusts in Me

does not trust in Me alone,

but in the One who sent Me.

And whoever sees Me

sees the One who sent Me.

I have come into the world as light,

so that no one who trusts in Me

should remain in darkness.

If anyone hears My words but does not keep them,

I do not judge them.

For I did not come to judge the world,

but to save the world.

There is one who judges those who reject Me

and do not receive My words —

the word I have spoken will judge them at the last day.

For I did not speak on My own,

but the Father who sent Me

commanded Me what to say and how to say it.

And I know that His command leads to life in the age to come.

So whatever I say

is just what the Father has told Me to say.”

———

It was just before the Feast of Passover,

and Jesus knew that His hour had come—

the time to leave this world and go to the Father.

Having loved His own who were in the world,

He loved them to the very end.

The evening meal was underway,

and the accuser had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot,

Simon’s son, to betray Him.

Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands,

and that He had come from God and was going back to God.

So He rose from the meal,

laid aside His outer garment,

and took a towel and tied it around His waist.

Then He poured water into a basin

and began to wash His disciples’ feet,

drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him,

“Lord, are You going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied,

“You do not understand now what I am doing,

but later you will understand.”

Peter said,

“No, You shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered,

“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied,

“not just my feet,

but also my hands and my head!”

Jesus said to him,

“Those who have bathed need only to wash their feet;

their whole body is clean.

And you are clean—though not all of you.”

(For He knew who was going to betray Him;

that is why He said, “Not all of you are clean.”)

When He had finished washing their feet,

He put on His outer garment and returned to His place.

“Do you understand what I have done for you?” He asked them.

“You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’

and rightly so, for that is what I am.

Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet,

you also should wash one another’s feet.

I have set you an example,

so that you should do as I have done for you.

Truly, truly I tell you,

a servant is not greater than their master,

nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent them.

Now that you know these things,

you will be blessed if you do them.

I am not speaking about all of you—

I know whom I have chosen.

But this is to fulfill the Scripture:

‘He who shares My bread

has lifted up his heel against Me.’

I am telling you this now before it happens,

so that when it does happen,

you may trust that I AM.

Truly, truly I tell you,

whoever receives the one I send receives Me;

and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.”

After saying this,

Jesus was deeply troubled in Set-Apart Spirit and testified,

“Truly, truly I tell you,

one of you will betray Me.”

The disciples looked at one another,

uncertain about whom He meant.

One of His disciples—the one Jesus loved—

was reclining next to Him.

Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus which one He was speaking about.

So leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him,

“Lord, who is it?”

Jesus answered,

“It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread

after I have dipped it.”

Then He dipped the bread and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.

After Judas took the bread,

Satan entered into him.

So Jesus said to him,

“What you are going to do, do quickly.”

But no one at the table understood why Jesus said this to him.

Since Judas had the money bag,

some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast,

or to give something to the poor.

As soon as Judas had taken the bread,

he went out.

And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said,

“Now the Son of Man is glorified,

and God is glorified in Him.

If God is glorified in Him,

God will also glorify Him in Himself—

and will glorify Him at once.

Little children, I am with you only a little longer.

You will look for Me,

and just as I told the Judeans,

so now I tell you:

Where I am going, you cannot come.

A new command I give you:

Love one another.

Just as I have loved you,

so you also must love one another.

By this everyone will know that you are My disciples—

if you have love for one another.”

Simon Peter said to Him,

“Lord, where are You going?”

Jesus replied,

“Where I am going, you cannot follow now,

but you will follow later.”

Peter asked,

“Lord, why can’t I follow You now?

I will lay down my life for You.”

Jesus answered,

“Will you really lay down your life for Me?

Truly, truly I tell you,

before the rooster crows,

you will deny Me three times.”

———

“Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God — trust also in Me.

In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places;

if it were not so, I would have told you.

I am going there to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and take you to Myself,

so that where I am, you may be also.

And you know the way to the place where I am going.”

Thomas said to Him,

“Lord, we do not know where You are going,

so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered,

“I am the way,

and the truth,

and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through Me.

If you have known Me,

you will also know My Father.

From now on you do know Him

and have seen Him.”

Philip said to Him,

“Lord, show us the Father,

and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus said to him,

“Have I been with you all this time, Philip,

and still you do not know Me?

Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.

How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Do you not trust that I am in the Father,

and the Father is in Me?

The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority.

Rather, it is the Father living in Me

who is doing His work.

Trust Me when I say that I am in the Father

and the Father is in Me;

or at least trust because of the works themselves.

Truly, truly I tell you,

whoever trusts in Me

will also do the works that I do;

and they will do even greater things than these,

because I am going to the Father.

And whatever you ask in My name,

I will do it,

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

If you ask anything in My name,

I will do it.”

“If you love Me,

you will keep My commandments.

And I will ask the Father,

and He will give you another Helper

to be with you forever —

the Set-Apart Spirit of truth.

The world cannot receive Him,

because it neither sees Him nor knows Him.

But you know Him,

for He lives with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans;

I will come to you.

Soon the world will no longer see Me,

but you will see Me.

Because I live,

you also will live.

On that day you will know

that I am in My Father,

and you are in Me,

and I am in you.

Whoever has My commandments and keeps them,

they are the ones who love Me.

And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father,

and I will love them

and reveal Myself to them.”

Then Judas (not Iscariot) said,

“Lord, why do You intend to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus replied,

“Anyone who loves Me will keep My word,

and My Father will love them,

and We will come to them

and make Our dwelling with them.

Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words.

And the word you hear is not Mine,

but the Father’s who sent Me.

I have spoken these things to you while I am still with you.

But the Helper, the Set-Apart Set-Apart Spirit,

whom the Father will send in My name,

will teach you all things

and remind you of everything I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you;

My peace I give to you.

I do not give to you as the world gives.

Do not let your hearts be troubled,

and do not be afraid.

You heard Me say,

‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’

If you loved Me,

you would rejoice that I am going to the Father,

because the Father is greater than I.

And now I have told you before it happens,

so that when it does happen,

you may trust.

I will not speak with you much longer,

for the ruler of this world is coming.

He has no claim on Me,

but I do what the Father has commanded Me,

so that the world may know that I love the Father.

Rise, let us go from here.”

———

“I am the true vine,

and My Father is the gardener.

Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away,

and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes,

so that it may bear even more fruit.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Remain in Me,

as I also remain in you.

Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine,

neither can you unless you remain in Me.

I am the vine;

you are the branches.

Whoever remains in Me, and I in them,

will bear much fruit;

for apart from Me you can do nothing.

If anyone does not remain in Me,

they are like a branch that is thrown away and withers.

Such branches are gathered,

thrown into the fire, and burned.

If you remain in Me,

and My words remain in you,

ask whatever you wish,

and it will be done for you.

This is to My Father’s glory:

that you bear much fruit

and so prove to be My disciples.

As the Father has loved Me,

so I have loved you.

Remain in My love.

If you keep My commandments,

you will remain in My love,

just as I have kept My Father’s commandments

and remain in His love.

I have told you these things

so that My joy may be in you,

and that your joy may be complete.

This is My command:

Love one another

as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this:

to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

You are My friends

if you do what I command.

I no longer call you servants,

because a servant does not know what their master is doing.

Instead, I have called you friends,

for everything I have heard from My Father

I have made known to you.

You did not choose Me,

but I chose you

and appointed you

so that you might go and bear fruit —

fruit that will last —

and so that whatever you ask the Father in My name,

He may give you.

This is My command to you:

Love one another.

If the world hates you,

keep in mind that it hated Me first.

If you belonged to the world,

it would love you as its own.

But you do not belong to the world;

I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you.

Remember what I told you:

‘A servant is not greater than their master.’

If they persecuted Me,

they will persecute you also.

If they kept My word,

they will keep yours as well.

But they will treat you this way because of My name,

for they do not know the One who sent Me.

If I had not come and spoken to them,

they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates Me hates My Father also.

If I had not done among them

the works that no one else did,

they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have seen

and hated both Me and My Father.

But this happened to fulfill what is written in their law:

‘They hated Me without cause.’

When the Helper comes,

whom I will send to you from the Father —

the Set-Apart Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father —

He will testify about Me.

And you also must testify,

because you have been with Me from the beginning.

———

“I have told you these things

so that you will not fall away.

They will put you out of the synagogues;

indeed, the time is coming

when whoever kills you

will think they are offering a service to God.

They will do these things

because they have not known the Father or Me.

But I have told you these things

so that when their hour comes,

you will remember that I told you about them.

I did not tell you these things from the beginning,

because I was with you.

But now I am going to the One who sent Me,

and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’

Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow

because I have said these things.

Yet I tell you the truth:

It is better for you that I go away.

For if I do not go,

the Helper will not come to you;

but if I go, I will send Him to you.

And when He comes,

He will convict the world concerning sin

and righteousness

and judgment:

— concerning sin, because they do not trust in Me;

— concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will see Me no longer;

— and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world stands condemned.

I still have much more to say to you,

but you cannot bear it now.

But when He, the Set-Apart Spirit of truth, comes,

He will guide you into all truth.

He will not speak on His own,

but will speak only what He hears,

and He will declare to you what is to come.

He will glorify Me,

because He will take what is Mine

and make it known to you.

All that belongs to the Father is Mine.

That is why I said the Set-Apart Spirit will take from what is Mine

and declare it to you.

In a little while,

you will not see Me anymore,

and then after a little while,

you will see Me.”

Some of His disciples said to one another,

“What does He mean by saying,

‘In a little while you will not see Me,

and then after a little while you will see Me,’

and ‘because I am going to the Father’?”

They kept asking,

“What does He mean by ‘a little while’?

We don’t understand what He is saying.”

Jesus knew they wanted to question Him,

so He said to them,

“Are you asking one another about what I said,

‘In a little while you will not see Me,

and then after a little while you will see Me’?

Truly, truly I tell you,

you will weep and mourn

while the world rejoices.

You will grieve,

but your grief will turn to joy.

A woman in labor has pain

because her time has come;

but when her child is born,

she forgets the anguish

because of her joy

that a child has been brought into the world.

So also, you now have grief;

but I will see you again,

and your hearts will rejoice,

and no one will take your joy away from you.

In that day,

you will ask Me nothing.

Truly, truly I tell you,

whatever you ask the Father in My name,

He will give you.

Until now you have not asked for anything in My name.

Ask, and you will receive,

so that your joy may be full.

I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech.

The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way,

but will tell you plainly about the Father.

On that day you will ask in My name,

and I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf.

For the Father Himself loves you,

because you have loved Me

and have trusted that I came from God.

I came from the Father

and have come into the world;

now I am leaving the world

and going to the Father.”

His disciples said,

“See, now You are speaking plainly,

not using figurative language.

Now we know that You know all things

and do not need anyone to question You.

This is why we trust that You came from God.”

Jesus replied,

“Do you now trust?

Look, the hour is coming — indeed it has come —

when you will be scattered,

each to your own home,

and you will leave Me all alone.

Yet I am not alone,

for the Father is with Me.

I have told you these things

so that in Me you may have peace.

In the world you will have trouble.

But take heart —

I have overcome the world.”

———

After Jesus said this,

He looked up to heaven and said:

“Father, the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son,

so that the Son may glorify You —

just as You gave Him authority over all people,

so that He might give life of the age to come

to all You have given Him.

And this is life of the age to come:

that they know You,

the only true God,

and Jesus the Anointed One, whom You have sent.

I have glorified You on the earth

by completing the work You gave Me to do.

And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence

with the glory I had with You

before the world began.

I have revealed Your name

to those You gave Me out of the world.

They were Yours;

You gave them to Me,

and they have kept Your word.

Now they know that everything You have given Me

comes from You.

For I have given them the words You gave Me,

and they have received them.

They know with certainty that I came from You,

and they trust that You sent Me.

I pray for them.

I am not praying for the world,

but for those You have given Me,

for they are Yours.

All I have is Yours,

and all You have is Mine,

and I am glorified in them.

I will remain in the world no longer,

but they are still in the world,

and I am coming to You.

Holy Father,

protect them by the power of Your name —

the name You gave Me —

so that they may be one,

just as We are one.

While I was with them,

I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me.

None of them is lost

except the one destined to be lost,

so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

Now I am coming to You,

and I say these things while I am still in the world,

so that they may have My joy fulfilled within them.

I have given them Your word,

and the world has hated them,

because they are not of the world,

just as I am not of the world.

I do not ask that You take them out of the world,

but that You protect them from the evil one.

They are not of the world,

just as I am not of the world.

Make them holy in the truth;

Your word is truth.

Just as You sent Me into the world,

I have sent them into the world.

For their sake I sanctify Myself,

so that they also may be truly sanctified.

I do not pray for these alone,

but also for those who will trust in Me through their message,

that all of them may be one,

just as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.

May they also be in Us,

so that the world may trust that You have sent Me.

I have given them the glory You gave Me,

that they may be one as We are one —

I in them and You in Me —

so that they may be brought to complete unity.

Then the world will know that You sent Me,

and that You have loved them

just as You have loved Me.

Father, I desire that those You have given Me

may also be with Me where I am,

to see My glory —

the glory You have given Me

because You loved Me

before the foundation of the world.

Righteous Father,

though the world does not know You,

I know You,

and these know that You sent Me.

I have made You known to them,

and will continue to make You known,

so that the love You have for Me

may be in them,

and I Myself may be in them.”

———

After Jesus had spoken these words,

He went out with His disciples across the Kidron Valley.

There was a garden there,

and He and His disciples entered it.

Now Judas, who betrayed Him,

also knew the place,

because Jesus had often met there with His disciples.

So Judas came to the garden,

guiding a detachment of soldiers

along with some officials from the chief priests and Pharisees.

They were carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.

Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to Him,

went out and said to them,

“Who are you seeking?”

They answered,

“Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus said to them,

“I AM.”

Judas, who betrayed Him, was standing with them.

When Jesus said, “I AM,”

they drew back and fell to the ground.

Again He asked them,

“Who are you seeking?”

They said,

“Jesus of Nazareth.”

Jesus answered,

“I told you that I AM.

So if you are seeking Me,

let these men go.”

This was to fulfill the word He had spoken:

“Of those You have given Me, I have lost none.”

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword,

drew it and struck the servant of the high priest,

cutting off his right ear.

The servant’s name was Malchus.

Jesus said to Peter,

“Put your sword away!

Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given Me?”

Then the soldiers and their commander,

along with the Judean officials,

arrested Jesus.

They bound Him

and led Him first to Annas,

who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas,

the high priest that year.

Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Judean leaders

that it would be better for one man to die for the people.

Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus.

Because that disciple was known to the high priest,

he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest,

but Peter stood outside at the door.

So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest,

went out and spoke to the servant girl at the door,

and brought Peter in.

The servant girl said to Peter,

“You are not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?”

He replied,

“I am not.”

Now the servants and officials had made a charcoal fire,

because it was cold,

and they were standing around it warming themselves.

Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus

about His disciples and His teaching.

Jesus answered,

“I have spoken openly to the world.

I always taught in synagogues and at the temple,

where all the Judeans come together.

I said nothing in secret.

Why question Me?

Ask those who heard Me.

Surely they know what I said.”

When He said this,

one of the officials standing nearby struck Jesus in the face and said,

“Is that how You answer the high priest?”

Jesus replied,

“If I said something wrong,

testify to what was wrong.

But if I spoke the truth,

why do you strike Me?”

Then Annas sent Him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Now Simon Peter was still standing and warming himself.

They said to him,

“You are not one of His disciples too, are you?”

He denied it, saying,

“I am not.”

One of the high priest’s servants,

a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said,

“Did I not see you with Him in the garden?”

Again Peter denied it,

and immediately a rooster crowed.

Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters.

It was early morning,

and the leaders themselves did not enter the headquarters,

so they would not be defiled,

but could still eat the Passover.

So Pilate came out to them and asked,

“What charges do you bring against this man?”

They answered,

“If He were not a criminal,

we would not have handed Him over to you.”

Pilate said,

“Take Him yourselves and judge Him by your own law.”

The Judeans replied,

“We are not permitted to put anyone to death.”

(This was to fulfill what Jesus had said

about the kind of death He was going to die.)

Then Pilate went back into the headquarters,

called Jesus, and asked Him,

“Are You the King of the Judeans?”

Jesus replied,

“Is that your own question,

or did others speak to you about Me?”

Pilate answered,

“Am I a Judean?

Your own people and chief priests handed You over to me.

What have You done?”

Jesus said,

“My kingdom is not of this world.

If My kingdom were of this world,

My servants would fight to prevent My arrest by the Judean leaders.

But now My kingdom is not from here.”

“So You are a king?” Pilate said.

Jesus answered,

“You say that I am a king.

For this reason I was born,

and for this I came into the world:

to testify to the truth.

Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice.”

Pilate said to Him,

“What is truth?”

After he had said this,

he went out again to the Judeans and told them,

“I find no basis for a charge against Him.

But it is your custom

that I release one prisoner to you at Passover.

Do you want me to release to you the King of the Judeans?”

They shouted back,

“Not this man, but Barabbas!”

Now Barabbas was a rebel.

———

Then Pilate took Jesus and had Him flogged.

The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head.

They dressed Him in a purple robe,

and went up to Him again and again, saying,

“Hail, King of the Judeans!”

And they struck Him in the face.

Once more Pilate came out and said to the crowd,

“Look, I am bringing Him out to you

to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe.

Pilate said to them,

“Behold the man!”

When the chief priests and officials saw Him,

they cried out,

“Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate said,

“You take Him and crucify Him yourselves,

for I find no basis for a charge against Him.”

The Judean leaders answered,

“We have a law,

and according to that law He must die,

because He claimed to be the Son of God.”

When Pilate heard this,

he was even more afraid.

He went back inside the headquarters and asked Jesus,

“Where do You come from?”

But Jesus gave him no answer.

“Do You refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said.

“Don’t You know I have authority to release You

and authority to crucify You?”

Jesus answered,

“You would have no authority over Me at all

unless it had been given to you from above.

Therefore the one who handed Me over to you

is guilty of a greater sin.”

From then on, Pilate tried to release Him,

but the Judean leaders kept shouting,

“If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar!

Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.”

When Pilate heard these words,

he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat

at a place called The Stone Pavement (in Aramaic, Gabbatha).

It was the day of Preparation for the Passover,

about the sixth hour.

He said to the crowd,

“Behold your king!”

But they shouted,

“Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests replied.

Then Pilate handed Him over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus,

and carrying His own cross,

He went out to the place called The Skull (in Aramaic, Golgotha).

There they crucified Him,

and with Him two others—one on each side,

and Jesus in the middle.

Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross.

It read:

“Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Judeans.”

Many of the Judeans read this sign,

for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,

and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

The chief priests of the Judeans said to Pilate,

“Do not write ‘The King of the Judeans,’

but that He claimed to be king.”

Pilate answered,

“What I have written, I have written.”

When the soldiers had crucified Jesus,

they took His garments and divided them into four parts,

one for each soldier,

with the undergarment remaining.

This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

So they said to one another,

“Let’s not tear it.

Let’s cast lots to see who will get it.”

This happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled:

“They divided My garments among them,

and cast lots for My clothing.”

So this is what the soldiers did.

Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother,

His mother’s sister,

Mary the wife of Clopas,

and Mary Magdalene.

When Jesus saw His mother there,

and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby,

He said to His mother,

“Woman, behold your son.”

Then He said to the disciple,

“Behold your mother.”

And from that hour,

the disciple took her into his own home.

After this, knowing that all was now completed,

and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled,

Jesus said,

“I am thirsty.”

A jar of sour wine was there,

so they soaked a sponge in it,

put the sponge on a branch of hyssop,

and lifted it to His mouth.

When Jesus had received the sour wine,

He said,

“It is finished.”

And bowing His head,

He gave up His Set-Apart Spirit.

Now it was the day of Preparation,

and the next day was to be a special Sabbath.

Because the bodies were not to remain on the crosses during the Sabbath,

the Judean leaders asked Pilate to have the legs broken

and the bodies taken down.

So the soldiers came

and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus,

and then those of the other.

But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead,

they did not break His legs.

Instead, one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear,

and immediately blood and water flowed out.

The one who saw it has testified,

and his testimony is true.

He knows that he is telling the truth,

so that you also may trust.

These things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled:

“Not one of His bones will be broken,”

and,

“They will look on the One they have pierced.”

Later, Joseph of Arimathea,

who was a disciple of Jesus,

but secretly for fear of the Judean leaders,

asked Pilate for permission to take the body of Jesus.

Pilate gave it to him,

so he came and took the body away.

He was accompanied by Nicodemus,

the man who earlier had come to Jesus at night.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,

about seventy-five pounds.

Taking Jesus’ body,

the two of them wrapped it with the spices in strips of linen,

according to the Jewish burial customs.

At the place where Jesus was crucified

there was a garden,

and in the garden a new tomb,

in which no one had ever been laid.

Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation,

and since the tomb was nearby,

they laid Jesus there.

———

Early on the first day of the week,

while it was still dark,

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb

and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple,

the one Jesus loved,

and said to them,

“They have taken the Lord out of the tomb,

and we do not know where they have laid Him!”

So Peter and the other disciple set out and ran for the tomb.

The other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.

He bent down and looked in

at the strips of linen lying there,

but he did not go in.

Then Simon Peter came, following him,

and he went into the tomb.

He saw the linen strips lying there,

and the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head.

It was not lying with the linen,

but was folded up by itself, separate.

Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,

also went in,

and he saw and trusted.

(For they still did not understand the Scripture

that He must rise from the dead.)

Then the disciples returned to where they were staying.

But Mary stood outside the tomb, weeping.

As she wept,

she bent down to look into the tomb

and saw two messengers in white,

seated where Jesus’ body had been —

one at the head and the other at the feet.

They said to her,

“Woman, why are you weeping?”

She answered,

“They have taken away my Lord,

and I do not know where they have laid Him.”

As she said this,

she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,

but she did not recognize that it was Jesus.

He said to her,

“Woman, why are you weeping?

Whom are you seeking?”

Thinking He was the gardener,

she said,

“Sir, if you have carried Him away,

tell me where you have laid Him,

and I will take Him away.”

Jesus said to her,

“Mary.”

She turned and said to Him in Aramaic,

“Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).

Jesus said to her,

“Do not cling to Me,

for I have not yet ascended to the Father.

But go to My brothers and say to them,

‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father,

to My God and your God.’”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples and announced,

“I have seen the Lord!”

And she told them what He had said to her.

On the evening of that day,

the first day of the week,

the doors being locked where the disciples were

for fear of the Judean leaders,

Jesus came and stood among them and said,

“Peace be with you.”

After He said this,

He showed them His hands and His side.

Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

Jesus said to them again,

“Peace be with you.

As the Father has sent Me,

I also send you.”

And with that He breathed on them and said,

“Receive the Set-Apart Set-Apart Spirit.

If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven;

if you withhold forgiveness, it is withheld.”

Now Thomas (also called the Twin),

one of the Twelve,

was not with them when Jesus came.

So the other disciples told him,

“We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them,

“Unless I see the nail marks in His hands,

and put my finger where the nails were,

and place my hand into His side,

I will never trust it.”

A week later His disciples were again in the house,

and Thomas was with them.

Though the doors were locked,

Jesus came and stood among them and said,

“Peace be with you.”

Then He said to Thomas,

“Put your finger here;

see My hands.

Reach out your hand and put it into My side.

Do not be unbelieving,

but trusting.”

Thomas answered Him,

“My Lord and my God!”

Jesus said to him,

“Because you have seen Me, you trust.

Blessed are those who have not seen

and yet have trusted.”

Now Jesus did many other signs

in the presence of His disciples,

which are not written in this book.

But these are written

so that you may trust that Jesus is the Anointed One,

the Son of God,

and that by trusting you may have life in His name.

———

Afterward, Jesus revealed Himself again to the disciples

by the Sea of Tiberias.

He appeared to them in this way:

Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin),

Nathanael from Cana in Galilee,

the sons of Zebedee,

and two other disciples were together.

Simon Peter said to them,

“I’m going fishing.”

They said,

“We’ll go with you.”

So they went out and got into the boat,

but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning,

Jesus stood on the shore,

but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them,

“Children, do you have any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said to them,

“Cast the net on the right side of the boat,

and you will find some.”

So they cast it,

and now they were unable to haul it in

because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter,

“It is the Lord!”

When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord,

he wrapped his outer garment around himself

(for he had removed it),

and jumped into the sea.

The other disciples came in the boat,

dragging the net full of fish,

for they were not far from shore —

about a hundred yards.

When they landed,

they saw a charcoal fire there

with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them,

“Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

So Simon Peter went aboard

and dragged the net ashore.

It was full of large fish — 153 of them.

But even with so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus said to them,

“Come and have breakfast.”

None of the disciples dared ask Him,

“Who are You?”

They knew it was the Lord.

Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them,

and did the same with the fish.

This was now the third time Jesus appeared to the disciples

after He was raised from the dead.

When they had finished eating,

Jesus said to Simon Peter,

“Simon, son of Jonah,

do you love Me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said,

“You know that I love You.”

Jesus said to him,

“Feed My lambs.”

Again Jesus said,

“Simon, son of Jonah,

do you love Me?”

He answered,

“Yes, Lord, You know that I love You.”

Jesus said,

“Tend My sheep.”

The third time He said to him,

“Simon, son of Jonah,

do you love Me?”

Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him the third time,

“Do you love Me?”

He said,

“Lord, You know all things.

You know that I love You.”

Jesus said,

“Feed My sheep.

Truly, truly I tell you,

when you were younger, you dressed yourself

and walked where you wanted;

but when you are old,

you will stretch out your hands,

and someone else will dress you

and lead you where you do not want to go.”

Jesus said this to indicate

the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.

Then He said to him,

“Follow Me.”

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved

was following them—

the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper

and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray You?”

When Peter saw him, he asked,

“Lord, what about him?”

Jesus answered,

“If I want him to remain until I return,

what is that to you?

You follow Me.”

Because of this,

a rumor spread among the believers

that this disciple would not die.

But Jesus did not say that he would not die.

He only said,

“If I want him to remain until I return,

what is that to you?”

This is the disciple who testifies to these things

and who wrote them down.

And we know that his testimony is true.

Jesus did many other things as well.

If every one of them were written down,

I suppose that even the world itself

could not contain the books that would be written.

This completes The Gospel According to John in The Bible Restored.