Bible

John

Chapter 1

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.²This one was in the beginning with God.³All things were made through him, and without him there was not one thing made that has been made.

⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men.⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶There was a man who was sent from God, whose name was John.⁷He came as a witness to testify about the light, that all might believe through him.⁸John was not the light, but came that he might testify about the light.

⁹The true light, which gives light to all men, was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.¹¹He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.

¹²But to as many as received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.¹³These were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and lived among us. We have seen his glory, glory as of the one and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.¹⁵John testified about him and cried out, saying, "This was the one of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is greater than I am, for he was before me.'"

¹⁶For from his fullness we have all received grace after grace.¹⁷For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.¹⁸No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made God known.

¹⁹This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"²⁰He confessed—he did not deny, but confessed—"I am not the Christ."²¹So they asked him, "What are you then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." They said, "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."

²²Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"²³He said, "I am a voice, crying in the wilderness: 'Make the way of the Lord straight,' just as Isaiah the prophet said."

²⁴Now some from the Pharisees were sent,²⁵and they asked him and said to him, "Why do you baptize, then, if you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?"

²⁶John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water. But among you stands someone you do not know.²⁷He is the one who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."²⁸These things were done in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!³⁰This is the one of whom I said, 'The one who comes after me is more than me, for he was before me.'³¹I did not know him, but it was so that he could be revealed to Israel that I came baptizing with water."

³²John testified, saying, "I saw the Spirit coming down like a dove from heaven, and it stayed upon him.³³I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'The one on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'³⁴I have both seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

³⁵Again, the next day, as John was standing with two of his disciples,³⁶they saw Jesus walking by, and John said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

³⁷His two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.³⁸Then Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They replied, "Rabbi" (which is translated "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"³⁹He said to them, "Come and see." Then they came and saw where he was staying; they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and then followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.⁴¹He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated "Christ").⁴²He brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which is translated "Peter").

⁴³The next day, when Jesus wanted to leave to go to Galilee, he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.⁴⁵Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "He of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, we have found him: Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth."

⁴⁶Nathaniel said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said about him, "See, a true Israelite, in whom is no deceit!"⁴⁸Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

⁴⁹Nathaniel replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"⁵⁰Jesus replied and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you underneath the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than this."⁵¹Then he said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Chapter 2

¹Three days later, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.²Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.

³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."⁴Jesus said to her, "Woman, why do you come to me? My time has not yet come."⁵His mother said to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do it."

⁶Now there were six stone water pots there used for the Jewish ceremonial washing, each containing two to three metretes.⁷Jesus said to them, "Fill the water pots with water." So they filled them up to the brim.⁸Then he told the servants, "Take some out now and take it to the head waiter." So they did.

⁹The head waiter tasted the water that had become wine, but he did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew). Then he called the bridegroom¹⁰and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first and then the cheaper wine when they are drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

¹¹This first sign Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

¹²After this Jesus, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and they stayed there for a few days.

¹³Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.¹⁴He found sellers of oxen and sheep and pigeons in the temple, and the money changers were sitting there.

¹⁵So he made a whip of cords and drove all of them out from the temple, including both the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers and turned their tables over.¹⁶To the pigeon sellers he said, "Take these things away from here. Stop making the house of my Father a marketplace."

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

¹⁸Then the Jewish authorities responded and said to him, "What sign will you show us, since you are doing these things?"¹⁹Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

²⁰Then the Jewish authorities said, "This temple was built in forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?"²¹However, he was speaking about the temple of his body.²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and this statement that Jesus had spoken.

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did.²⁴But Jesus did not trust in them because he knew them all,²⁵because he did not need anyone to testify to him about man, for he knew what was in man.

Chapter 3

¹Now there was a Pharisee whose name was Nicodemus, a Jewish leader.²This man came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher that came from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him."

³Jesus replied to him, "Truly, truly, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

⁴Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"

⁵Jesus replied, "Truly, truly, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'⁸The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

⁹Nicodemus replied and said to him, "How can these things be?"¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?¹¹Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. Yet you do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?¹³No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,¹⁵so that all who believe in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order to save the world through him.¹⁸He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹This is the reason for the judgment: The light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.²¹However, he who practices the truth comes to the light so that it may be plainly seen that his deeds have been done in God."

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea. There he spent some time with them and baptized.²³Now John was also baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there. People were coming to him and were being baptized,²⁴for John had not yet been thrown in prison.

²⁵Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and a Jew about ceremonial washing.²⁶They went to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, about whom you have testified, look, he is baptizing, and they are all going to him."

²⁷John replied, "A man cannot receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but instead, 'I have been sent before him.'

²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. Now the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the voice of the bridegroom. This, then, is my joy made complete.³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹"He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth is from the earth and speaks about the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.³²He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.³³He who has received his testimony has confirmed that God is true.

³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For he does not give the Spirit by measure.³⁵The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.³⁶He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God stays on him."

Chapter 4

¹Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John²(although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),³he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

⁴But it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.⁵So he came to a town of Samaria, called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

⁶The well of Jacob was there. Jesus was tired from his journey and sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink."⁸For his disciples had gone away into the town to buy food.

⁹Then the Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, are asking me, being a Samaritan woman, for something to drink?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, "If you had known the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

¹¹The woman said to him, "Sir, you do not have a bucket and the well is deep. Where then do you have the living water?¹²You are not greater, are you, than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?"

¹³Jesus replied and said to her, "Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again,¹⁴but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will not ever be thirsty again. Instead, the water that I will give him will become a fountain of water in him, springing up to eternal life."

¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I may not become thirsty and not have to come here to draw water."

¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back here."

¹⁷The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband."

Jesus replied, "You have said correctly, 'I have no husband,'

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

¹⁹The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people have to worship."

²¹Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.²²You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

²³However, the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to be his worshipers.²⁴God is Spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

²⁵The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming (the one called Christ). When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

²⁶Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking to you."

²⁷At that moment his disciples returned. Now they were wondering why he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you speaking with her?"

²⁸So the woman left her water pot, went back to the town, and said to the people,²⁹"Come, see a man who told me everything that I have ever done. This could not be the Christ, could it?"³⁰They left the town and came to him.

³¹In the meantime, the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."³²But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."³³So the disciples said to each other, "No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?"

³⁴Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.³⁵Do you not say, 'There are four more months and then the harvest comes'? I am saying to you, look up and see the fields, for they are already ripe for harvest!³⁶He who is harvesting receives wages and gathers fruit for everlasting life, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

³⁷For in this the saying, 'One sows, and another reaps,' is true.³⁸I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

³⁹Many of the Samaritans in that city believed in him because of the report of the woman who was testifying, "He told me everything that I have done."⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

⁴¹Many more believed because of his word.⁴²They said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world."

⁴³After those two days, he departed from there for Galilee.⁴⁴For Jesus himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country.⁴⁵When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all the things that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they had also gone to the festival.

⁴⁶Now he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. There was a certain royal official whose son in Capernaum was ill.⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.

⁴⁸Jesus then said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."⁴⁹The royal official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."⁵⁰Jesus said to him, "Go. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went away.

⁵¹While he was going down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living.⁵²So he asked them the hour when he began to improve. They replied to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."

⁵³Then the father realized that it was at that hour that Jesus had said to him, "Your son lives." So he himself and his whole household believed.⁵⁴This was the second sign that Jesus did when he came out of Judea to Galilee.

Chapter 5

¹After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.²Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate there is a pool, which in the Aramaic language is called Bethesda, and it has five roofed porches.³A large number of people who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed were lying there. ¹⁴²

⁵A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.⁶When Jesus saw him lying there, and after he realized that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healthy?"

⁷The sick man replied, "Sir, I do not have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. When I come, another steps down before me."⁸Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk."

⁹Immediately the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was a Sabbath.

¹⁰So the Jews said to him who was healed, "It is the Sabbath and you are not permitted to carry your mat."¹¹He replied, "He who made me healthy said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'"

¹²They asked him, "Who is the man that said to you, 'Pick it up and walk'?"¹³However, the one who was healed did not know who it was because Jesus had gone away secretly, for there was a crowd in the place.

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have become healthy! Do not sin anymore, so that something worse will not happen to you."¹⁵The man went away and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him healthy.

¹⁶Now because of these things the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath.¹⁷Jesus replied to them, "My Father is working even now, and I, too, am working."¹⁸Because of this, the Jews sought even more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

¹⁹Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, the Son can do nothing of himself, except only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father is doing, the Son does in the same way.²⁰For the Father loves the Son and he shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.

²¹For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to anyone he wishes.²²For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son²³so that everyone will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

²⁴Truly, truly, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but he has passed from death to life.

²⁵"Truly, truly, I tell you the time is coming, and is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

²⁶For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has also given to the Son so that he has life in himself,²⁷and the Father has given the Son authority to carry out judgment because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸Do not be amazed at this, for there is a time coming in which everyone who is in the tombs will hear his voice²⁹and will come out: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

³⁰"I can do nothing from myself. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I am not seeking my own will but the will of him who sent me.³¹If I should testify about myself, my testimony would not be true.³²There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony that he gives about me is true.

³³You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.³⁴But the testimony that I receive is not from man. I say these things that you might be saved.³⁵John was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice in his light for a while.

³⁶Yet the testimony that I have is greater than that of John, for the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me that the Father has sent me.³⁷The Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You have neither heard his voice nor seen his form at any time.³⁸You do not have his word remaining in you, for you are not believing in the one whom he has sent.

³⁹You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and these same scriptures testify about me,⁴⁰and you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

⁴¹I do not receive glory from men,⁴²but I know that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

⁴³I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another should come in his own name, you would receive him.⁴⁴How can you believe, you who accept glory from one another but are not seeking the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵Do not think that I myself will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have hoped.⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.⁴⁷If you do not believe his writings, how are you going to believe my words?"

¹The best ancient copies do not have the phrase, waiting for the moving of the water .

²The best ancient copies do not have verse 4, For an angel of the Lord went down and stirred up the water at certain times and whoever stepped in while the water was stirring was healed from whatever disease he suffered from .

Chapter 6

¹After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.²A great crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on those who were sick.³Jesus went up the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples.

⁴(Now the Passover, the Jewish festival, was near.)⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where are we going to buy bread so that these may eat?"⁶(But Jesus said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going to do.)

⁷Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be sufficient for each one to have even a little."⁸One of the disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to Jesus,⁹"There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish, but what are these among so many?"

¹⁰Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves and after giving thanks, he gave it to those who were sitting. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.¹²When the people were filled, he said to his disciples, "Gather up the broken pieces which remain, so that nothing will be lost."

¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.¹⁴Then, when the people saw this sign that he did, they said, "This truly is the prophet who is to come into the world."¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and seize him by force to make him king, he withdrew again up the mountain by himself.

¹⁶When it became evening, his disciples went down to the sea.¹⁷They got into a boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was dark by this time, and Jesus had not yet come to them.¹⁸A strong wind was blowing, and the sea was getting rough.

¹⁹When they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid.²⁰But he said to them, "It is I! Do not be afraid."²¹Then they were willing to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land where they were going.

²²The next day, the crowd that had been standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except the one, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone.²³However, there were some boats that came from Tiberias close to the place where they had eaten the bread loaves after the Lord had given thanks.

²⁴When the crowd discovered that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.²⁵After they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

²⁶Jesus replied to them, saying, "Truly, truly, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the bread loaves and were filled.²⁷Do not labor for the food that perishes, but labor for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you, for God the Father has set his seal on him."

²⁸Then they said to him, "What must we do, so that we may do the works of God?"²⁹Jesus replied and said to them, "This is the work of God: That you believe in the one whom he has sent."

³⁰So they said to him, "What sign then will you do, so that we may see and believe you? What will you do?³¹Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

³²Then Jesus replied to them, "Truly, truly, it was not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven.³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."³⁴So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

³⁵Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.³⁶But I told you that indeed you have seen me, and you do not believe.³⁷Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and he who comes to me I will certainly not throw out.

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.³⁹This is the will of him who sent me, that I would lose not one of all those whom he has given me, but will raise them up on the last day.⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day."

⁴¹Then the Jews grumbled about him because he had said, "I am the bread that has come down from heaven."⁴²They said, "Is not this Jesus son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

⁴³Jesus replied and said to them, "Stop grumbling among yourselves.⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, 'Everyone will be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God—he has seen the Father.⁴⁷Truly, truly, he who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸I am the bread of life.⁴⁹Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

⁵⁰This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat some of it and not die.⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats some of this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

⁵²The Jews became angry among themselves and began to argue, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"⁵³Then Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves.

⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.⁵⁶He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷As the living Father sent me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he will also live because of me.⁵⁸This is the bread that has come down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."⁵⁹But Jesus said these things in the synagogue while he was teaching in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Then many of his disciples who heard this said, "This is a difficult saying; who can hear it?"⁶¹Jesus, because he knew in himself that his disciples were grumbling at this, said to them, "Does this offend you?

⁶²Then what if you should see the Son of Man going up to where he was before?⁶³It is the Spirit who makes alive; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life.

⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones that would not believe and who it was who would betray him.⁶⁵He said, "It is because of this that I said to you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father."

⁶⁶Because of this, many of his disciples went away and no longer walked with him.⁶⁷Then Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have words of eternal life,⁶⁹and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God." ¹

⁷⁰Jesus said to them, "Did not I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"⁷¹Now he spoke of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he, one of the twelve, who would betray Jesus.

¹The phrase the Holy One of God is in the best ancient copies. Some later copies add an additional description and they read: the Christ, the Holy One of God .

Chapter 7

¹After these things Jesus traveled about in Galilee, for he did not want to go into Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.²Now the Jewish Festival of Shelters was near.

³His brothers therefore said to him, "Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples also may see the works that you do.⁴No one does anything in secret if he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."

⁵For even his brothers did not believe in him.⁶Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

⁸You go up to the festival; I am not going to this festival because my time has not yet been fulfilled."⁹After he said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰But when his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not publicly but in secret.¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival and said, "Where is he?"

¹²There was much discussion among the crowds about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "No, he leads the crowds astray."¹³Yet no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.¹⁵Then the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this man know so much? He has never been educated."¹⁶Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not mine, but is of him who sent me.

¹⁷If anyone wishes to do his will, he will know about this teaching, whether it comes from God, or whether I speak from myself.¹⁸Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of him who sent him, that person is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

¹⁹Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"²⁰The crowd answered, "You have a demon. Who seeks to kill you?"

²¹Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel because of it.²²Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the ancestors), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man.

²³If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?²⁴Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteously."

²⁵Some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is not this the one they seek to kill?²⁶See, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. It cannot be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ, can it?²⁷Yet we know where this one is from. But when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."

²⁸Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know me and know where I come from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, and you do not know him.²⁹I know him because I come from him and he sent me."

³⁰They were trying to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.³¹But many in the crowd believed in him, and they said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than what this one has done?"³²The Pharisees heard the crowds whispering these things about Jesus, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

³³Jesus then said, "I am still with you for a short amount of time, and then I go to him who sent me.³⁴You will seek me but you will not find me; where I go, you will not be able to come."

³⁵The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where will this man go that we will not be able to find him? Will he go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?³⁶What is this word that he said, 'You will seek me but will not find me; where I go, you will not be able to come'?"

³⁷Now on the last, great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.³⁸He who believes in me, just as the scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly."

³⁹But he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive; the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰Some of the crowd, when they heard these words, said, "This is indeed the prophet."⁴¹Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Does the Christ come from Galilee?⁴²Have the scriptures not said that the Christ will come from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"

⁴³So there arose a division in the crowds because of him.⁴⁴Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵Then the officers came back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?"⁴⁶The officers answered, "Never has anyone spoken like this."

⁴⁷So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?⁴⁸Have any of the rulers believed in him, or any of the Pharisees?⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law, they are cursed."

⁵⁰Nicodemus (one of the Pharisees, who came to him earlier) said to them,⁵¹"Does our law judge a man before hearing from him and knowing what he does?"⁵²They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet comes from Galilee."

⁵³¹ [Then everyone went to his own house.

¹The best ancient copies do not have John 7:53-8:11.

Chapter 8

¹¹ Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.²Early in the morning he came to the temple again, and all the people came; he sat down and taught them.³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery. They placed her in the middle.

⁴Then they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.⁵Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such people; what do you say about her?"⁶They said this in order to trap him so that they might have something to accuse him about, but Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

⁷When they continued asking him questions, he stood up and said to them, "The one among you who has no sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."⁸Again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.

⁹When they heard it, they left one by one, beginning with the oldest. Finally Jesus was left alone, with the woman who had been in the middle.¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?"¹¹She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."] ²

¹²Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life."¹³The Pharisees said to him, "You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true."

¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true. I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I came from or where I am going.¹⁵You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.¹⁶Yet if I judge, my judgment is true because I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

¹⁷Yes, and in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.¹⁸I am he who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me."

¹⁹They said to him, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father; if you had known me, you would have known my Father also."²⁰He said these words in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

²¹So again he said to them, "I am going away; you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."²²The Jews said, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"

²³Jesus said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.²⁴Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins."

²⁵They said therefore to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I have said to you from the beginning.²⁶I have many things to speak and to judge about you. However, he who sent me is true; and the things that I heard from him, these things I say to the world."²⁷They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.

²⁸Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I do nothing of myself. As the Father taught me, I speak these things.²⁹He who sent me is with me, and he has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him."³⁰As Jesus was saying these things, many believed in him.

³¹Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples;³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."³³They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone; how can you say, 'You will be set free'?"

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.³⁶Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free.

³⁷I know that you are Abraham's descendants; you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you.³⁸I say what I have seen with my Father, and you also do what you heard from your father."

³⁹They answered and said to him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.⁴⁰Yet, now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.⁴¹You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born in sexual immorality; we have one Father: God."

⁴²Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me.⁴³Why do you not understand my words? It is because you cannot hear my words.⁴⁴You are of your father, the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies.

⁴⁵Yet, because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.⁴⁶Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?⁴⁷He who is of God hears the words of God; you do not hear them because you are not of God."

⁴⁸The Jews answered and said to him, "Do we not truly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"⁴⁹Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

⁵⁰I do not seek my glory; there is one seeking and judging.⁵¹Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."

⁵²The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham and the prophets died; but you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'⁵³You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? The prophets also died. Who do you make yourself out to be?"

⁵⁴Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me—about whom you say that he is your God.⁵⁵You have not known him, but I know him. If I would say, 'I do not know him,' I would be like you, a liar. However, I know him and keep his word.⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced at seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."

⁵⁷The Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?"⁵⁸Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."⁵⁹Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

¹See the note on John 7:53.

²See the note on John 7:53.

Chapter 9

¹Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?"

³Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but so that the works of God would be revealed in him.⁴We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one will be able to work.⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

⁶After Jesus said these things, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on his eyes.⁷He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated "Sent"). So the man went away, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸Then the man's neighbors and those who had seen him previously as a beggar were saying, "Is not this the man that used to sit and beg?"⁹Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he is like him." But he said, "I am the one."

¹⁰They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"¹¹He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received my sight."¹²They said to him, "Where is he?" He replied, "I do not know."

¹³They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.¹⁴Now it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.¹⁵Then again the Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I now can see."

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" So there was a division among them.¹⁷So they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?" The blind man said, "He is a prophet."¹⁸Now the Jews still did not believe about him that he was blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

¹⁹They asked the parents, "Is this your son whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"²⁰So his parents answered them, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.²¹How he now sees, we do not know, and who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him, he is an adult. He can speak for himself."

²²His parents said these things, because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone would confess him to be the Christ, he would be thrown out of the synagogue.²³Because of this, his parents said, "He is an adult, ask him."

²⁴So for a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."²⁵Then that man replied, "I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see."

²⁶Then they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"²⁷He answered, "I have told you already, and you did not listen! Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too, do you?"

²⁸They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from."

³⁰The man answered and said to them, "This is remarkable, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if someone worships God and does his will, he listens to him.

³²Since the world began it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."³⁴They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and you are teaching us?" Then they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had cast him out of the synagogue. He found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"³⁶He replied and said, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?"³⁷Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is the one who is speaking with you."³⁸The man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see and so that those who see may become blind."⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, "Are we also blind?"⁴¹Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, 'We see,' so your sin remains."

Chapter 10

¹"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter through the gate into the sheep pen, but climbs up some other way, that man is a thief and a robber.²He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

³The gatekeeper opens for him. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

⁵They will not follow a stranger but instead they will avoid him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what these things were that he was saying to them.

⁷Then Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep.⁸Everyone who came before me is a thief and a robber, but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the gate. If anyone enters in through me, he will be saved; he will go in and out and will find pasture.¹⁰The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they will have life and have it abundantly.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.¹²The hired servant is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and escapes, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.¹³He runs away because he is a hired servant and does not care for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me.¹⁵The Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.

¹⁷This is why the Father loves me: I lay down my life so that I may take it again.¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

¹⁹A division again occurred among the Jews because of these words.²⁰Many of them said, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him?"²¹Others said, "These are not the words of a demon-possessed man. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

²²Then it was time for the Festival of the Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter,²³and Jesus was walking in the temple in the porch of Solomon.²⁴Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, "How long will you hold us doubting? If you are the Christ, tell us openly."

²⁵Jesus replied to them, "I told you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of my Father, these testify concerning me.²⁶Yet you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.²⁸I give them eternal life; they will never die, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all others, and no one is able to snatch them out of the hand of the Father.³⁰I and the Father are one."³¹Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

³²Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of those works are you stoning me?"³³The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are making yourself God."

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken),³⁶do you say to him whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me.³⁸But if I am doing them, even if you do not believe me, believe in the works so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father."³⁹They tried to seize him again, but he went away out of their hand.

⁴⁰He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and he stayed there.⁴¹Many people came to him and they said, "John indeed did no signs, but all the things that John has said about this man are true."⁴²Many people believed in him there.

Chapter 11

¹Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with myrrh and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

³The sisters then sent for Jesus, saying, "Lord, see, he whom you love is sick."⁴When Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but instead it is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed two more days in the place where he was.⁷Then after this, he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."

⁸The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, right now the Jews are trying to stone you, and you are going back there again?"⁹Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of light in a day? If someone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.

¹⁰However, if he walks at night, he will stumble because the light is not in him."¹¹He said these things, and after these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may wake him out of sleep."

¹²The disciples therefore said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about the sleep of resting.¹⁴Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there so that you may believe. Let us go to him."¹⁶Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go so that we may die with Jesus."

¹⁷When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.¹⁹Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them about their brother.²⁰Then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

²¹Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.²²Even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, he will give to you."²³Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

²⁴Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even if he dies, will live;²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

²⁷She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."²⁸When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary privately. She said, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."²⁹When she heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.³¹So when the Jews, who were with her in the house and who were comforting her, saw Mary getting up quickly and going out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.³²When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and was troubled;³⁴he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, "See how much he loved Lazarus!"³⁷But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of a blind man, also have made this man not die?"

³⁸Then Jesus again, being deeply moved in himself, went to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.³⁹Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of Lazarus, the one who had died, said to Jesus, "Lord, by this time the body will be decaying, for he has been dead for four days."⁴⁰Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that, if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.⁴²I knew that you always listen to me, but it is because of the crowd that is standing around me that I said this, so that they may believe that you have sent me."

⁴³After he had said this, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"⁴⁴The dead man came out; his feet and hands were bound with cloths, and his face was bound about with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go."

⁴⁵Then many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.⁴⁶But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus had done.

⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council together and said, "What will we do? This man does many signs.⁴⁸If we leave him alone like this, all will believe in him; the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

⁴⁹However, a certain man among them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing.⁵⁰You do not consider that it is better for you that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation perishes."

⁵¹Now this he said not from himself. Instead, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation;⁵²and not only for the nation, but so that the children of God who are scattered would be gathered together into one.⁵³So from that day onward they planned how to put Jesus to death.

⁵⁴No longer did Jesus walk openly among the Jews, but he departed from there into the country near to the wilderness into a town called Ephraim. There he stayed with the disciples.⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country before the Passover in order to purify themselves.

⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and speaking one with another as they stood in the temple: "What do you think? That he will not come to the festival?"⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given an order that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might seize him.

Chapter 12

¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.²So they made him a dinner there, and Martha was serving, but Lazarus was one of those who were lying down at the table with Jesus.³Then Mary took a litra of perfume made of very precious pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus with it, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who would betray him, said,⁵"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"⁶Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He had the moneybag and would steal from what was put in it.

⁷Jesus said, "Allow her to keep what she has for the day of my burial.⁸You will always have the poor with you. But you will not always have me."

⁹Now a large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, and they came, not only for Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.¹⁰The chief priests conspired together so that they might also put Lazarus to death;¹¹for it was because of him that many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

¹²On the next day a great crowd came to the festival. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,¹³they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel."

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it was written,

¹⁵"Do not fear, daughter of Zion;

see, your King is coming,

sitting on the colt of a donkey."

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd testified that they had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him up from the dead.¹⁸It was also for this reason that the crowd went out to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign.¹⁹The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "Look, you can do nothing good; see, the world has gone after him."

²⁰Now certain Greeks were among those who were going up to worship at the festival.²¹These went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we want to see Jesus."²²Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew went with Philip, and they told Jesus.

²³Jesus answered them and said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it will bear much fruit.

²⁵He who loves his life will lose it; but he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.²⁶If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷Now my soul is troubled and what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this reason I came to this hour.²⁸Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven and said, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again."²⁹Then the crowd that stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."

³⁰Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come for me, but for you.³¹Now is the judgment of this world: Now will the ruler of this world be thrown out.

³²When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."³³He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die.

³⁴The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ will stay forever. How can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"³⁵Jesus then said to them, "The light will still be with you for a short amount of time. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may be sons of light."

Jesus said these things and then departed and hid from them.

³⁷Although Jesus had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in him³⁸so that the word of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, in which he said:

"Lord, who has believed our report,

and to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed?"

³⁹For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah had also said,

⁴⁰"He has blinded their eyes,

and he has hardened their heart,

otherwise they would see with their eyes

and understand with their hearts,

and turn, and I would heal them."

⁴¹Isaiah said these things because he saw the glory of Jesus and spoke of him.⁴²But despite that, many of the rulers believed in Jesus; but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be banned from the synagogue.⁴³They loved the glory that comes from people more than the glory that comes from God.

⁴⁴Jesus cried out and said, "The one who believes in me believes not only in me but also in him who sent me,⁴⁵and the one who sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.⁴⁷If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸The one who rejects me and who does not receive my words has one who judges him. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.⁴⁹For I did not speak for myself, but it is the Father who sent me, who has given me the command about what to say and what to speak.⁵⁰I know that his command is eternal life, so that is what I say—just as the Father has spoken to me, so I speak."

Chapter 13

¹Now it was before the Festival of the Passover. Jesus knew that his hour had come to go out of this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.²Now the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot son of Simon to betray Jesus. So during dinner,

³Jesus—who knew that the Father had given everything over into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God—⁴got up from dinner and took off his outer clothing. Then he took a towel and wrapped it around himself.⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and dry them with the towel that he had put around himself.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"⁷Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will understand this later."⁸Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."⁹Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, do not only wash my feet, but also my hands and my head."

¹⁰Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed has no need, except to wash his feet, but he is completely clean; you are clean, but not everyone."¹¹(For Jesus knew who would betray him; that is why he said, "Not all of you are clean.")

¹²So when Jesus had washed their feet and taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done for you?¹³You call me 'teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are speaking correctly, because so I am.¹⁴If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash the feet of one another.¹⁵For I have given you an example so that you should also do just as I did for you.

¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is a messenger greater than he who sent him.¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.¹⁸I am not speaking about all of you; I know those whom I have chosen—but this is so that the scripture will be fulfilled: 'He who eats my bread lifted up his heel against me.'

¹⁹I tell you this now before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe that I AM.²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."

²¹When Jesus said this, he was troubled in spirit. He testified and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me."²²The disciples looked at each other, wondering of whom he was speaking.

²³One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying down at the table against Jesus' side.²⁴Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him who he is speaking about."²⁵So he leaned back against the side of Jesus and said to him, "Lord, who is it?"

²⁶Then Jesus answered, "It is the one for whom I will dip the piece of bread and give it him." So when he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.²⁷Then after the bread, Satan entered into him, so Jesus said to him, "What you are doing, do it quickly."

²⁸Now no one who was lying down at the table knew why he said this to him.²⁹Some thought that, since Judas had the moneybag, Jesus said to him, "Buy what we need to have for the festival," or that he should give something to the poor.³⁰After Judas received the bread, he went out immediately. It was night.

³¹When Judas was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him.³²If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify the Son in himself, and he will glorify him at once.³³Little children, I am with you for still a short amount of time. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' Now I also say this to you.

³⁴I am giving you a new commandment, that you should love one another; as I have loved you, so also you should love one another.³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another."

³⁶Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later."³⁷Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."³⁸Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow before you have denied me three times."

Chapter 14

¹"Do not let your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.²In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I am going to prepare a place for you.³If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am you will also be.

⁴You know the way to where I am going."⁵Thomas said to Jesus, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.⁷If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you know him and have seen him."

⁸Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."⁹Jesus said to him, "I have been with you for such a long time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from my own authority, but the Father living in me is doing his work.¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves.

¹²Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will do the works that I do, and he will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father.¹³Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father will be glorified in the Son.¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵If you love me, you will keep my commandments,¹⁶and I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Comforter so that he will be with you forever—¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come back to you.¹⁹Yet a short amount of time and the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will also live.²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me, and that I am in you.

²¹He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and I will show myself to him."²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to Jesus, "Lord, why is it that you will show yourself to us and not to the world?"

²³Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and we will make our home with him.²⁴He who does not love me does not keep my words. The word that you hear is not from me but from the Father who sent me.

²⁵I have said these things to you, while I am staying with you.²⁶However, the Comforter—the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and he will remind you of everything that I said to you.²⁷I leave you peace; I give you my peace. I do not give it as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not be afraid.

²⁸You heard that I said to you, 'I am going away, and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am.²⁹Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you will believe.

³⁰I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,³¹but in order that the world will know that I love the Father, I do just as the Father commanded me. Let us get up and go from here."

Chapter 15

¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.²He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

³You are already clean because of the message that I have spoken to you.⁴Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up, and they gather the branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned up.⁷If you remain in me, and if my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

⁸My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit and so prove that you are my disciples.⁹As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.

¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, as I have kept the commandments of my Father and remain in his love.¹¹I have spoken these things to you so that my joy will be in you and so that your joy will be made full.

¹²This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.¹³No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends.

¹⁴You are my friends if you do the things that I command you.¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.

¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. This is so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.¹⁷These things I command you, so that you love one another.

¹⁸If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world and because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

²⁰Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will also keep yours.²¹They will do all these things to you because of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³He who hates me also hates my Father.²⁴If I had not done the works that no one else did among them, they would have no sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.²⁵But this is in order to fulfill the word that is written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'

²⁶When the Comforter comes—whom I will send to you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.²⁷You also must testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

Chapter 16

¹"I have spoken these things to you so that you will not fall away.²They will throw you out of the synagogues. But the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think that he is offering a service to God.

³They will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me.⁴I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you about these things in the beginning, because I was with you.

⁵But now I go to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.⁷But truly I tell you, it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

⁸When he comes, the Comforter will prove the world to be wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment—⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me;¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will no longer see me;¹¹and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak from himself. But he will say whatever he hears, and he will tell you things that are to come.¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and he will tell it to you.

¹⁵Everything that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that the Spirit will take from what is mine and he will tell it to you.¹⁶In a short amount of time you will no longer see me, and after another short amount of time you will see me."

¹⁷Then some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A short amount of time you will no longer see me and after another short amount of time you will see me,' and, 'Because I go to the Father'?"¹⁸Therefore they said, "What is this that he says, 'A short amount of time'? We do not know what he is talking about."

¹⁹Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, "Is this what you are asking each other, what I meant by saying, 'In a short amount of time and you will no longer see me, and again in a short amount of time and you will see me'?²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will be glad. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.²¹When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers her tribulation because of her joy that a man has been born into the world.

²²So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your heart will be glad, and no one will be able to take away your joy from you.²³On that day you will not ask me anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.²⁴Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy will be fulfilled.

²⁵"I have said these things to you in figures of speech, but the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but instead I will tell you plainly about the Father.

²⁶On that day you will ask in my name and I do not say to you that I will pray to the Father for you,²⁷for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and because you have believed that I came from God.²⁸I came from the Father, and I have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and I am going to the Father."

²⁹His disciples said, "See, now you are speaking plainly and you are not using figures of speech.³⁰Now we know that you know all things, and you do not need anyone to ask you questions. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God."³¹Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now?

³²See, the hour is coming, yes, and has indeed come, when you will be scattered, everyone to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.³³I have spoken these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have tribulation. But have courage! I have conquered the world."

Chapter 17

¹After Jesus said these things, he lifted up his eyes to the heavens and said, "Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son so that the Son will glorify you—²just as you gave him authority over all flesh so that he would give eternal life to everyone whom you have given him.

³This is eternal life: That they know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.⁴I glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work that you have given me to do.⁵Now, Father, glorify me along with yourself with the glory that I had with you before the world was made.

⁶I revealed your name to the people whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me comes from you,⁸for I have given them all the words that you gave me. They received them and truly knew that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

⁹I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.¹⁰Everything that is mine is yours, and yours is mine, and I am glorified in them.¹¹I am no longer in the world, but these people are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me so that they will be one, just as we are one.

¹²While I was with them, I kept them safe in your name, which you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was destroyed, except for the son of destruction, so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.¹³Now I am coming to you, but I am saying these things in the world so that they will have my joy fulfilled in themselves.¹⁴I 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.

¹⁵I do not ask for you to take them away from the world, but for you to keep them safe from the evil one.¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.¹⁷Set them apart by the truth. Your word is truth.

¹⁸Just as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.¹⁹For their sakes I have set myself apart, so that they themselves may also be set apart in truth.

²⁰I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word²¹so that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world will believe that you have sent me.

²²The glory that you gave me, I have given to them, so that they will be one, just as we are one:²³I in them, and you in me—that they may be brought to complete unity, so that the world will know that you sent me, and that you have loved them just as you loved me.

²⁴Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵Righteous Father, the world did not know you, but I know you; and these know that you sent me.²⁶I made your name known to them, and I will make it known so that the love with which you have loved me will be in them, and I will be in them."

Chapter 18

¹After Jesus spoke these words, he went out with his disciples to the other side of the Kidron Brook, where there was a garden into which he and his disciples entered.²Now Judas, who was going to betray him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.³Then Judas, leading a company of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Then Jesus, having known all the things that would happen to him, went forward and asked them, "Who are you looking for?"⁵They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am." Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with the soldiers.

⁶So when he said to them, "I am," they went backward and fell to the ground.⁷Then again he asked them, "Who are you looking for?" Again they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

⁸Jesus answered, "I told you that I am. So if you are looking for me, let these go."⁹This was in order to fulfill the word that he said: "Of those whom you have given me, I lost no one."

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. Now the name of the servant was Malchus.¹¹Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword back into its sheath. Should I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?"

¹²So a company of soldiers and the captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and tied him up.¹³They led him first to Annas, for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.¹⁴Now Caiaphas was the one who had given the advice to the Jews that it would be better that one man die for the people.

¹⁵Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest;¹⁶but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and he brought Peter in.

¹⁷Then the female servant, the doorkeeper, said to Peter, "Are you not also one of the disciples of this man?" He said, "I am not."¹⁸Now the servants and the officers were standing there, and they had made a charcoal fire, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was also with them, standing there and warming himself.

¹⁹The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.²⁰Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world. I was always teaching in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.²¹Why did you ask me? Ask those who have heard me about what I said. Look, these people know what I said."

²²When Jesus had said this, one of the officers standing there struck Jesus and said, "Is that how you answer the high priest?"²³Jesus answered him, "If I spoke wrongly, testify about the wrong, but if rightly, why do you hit me?"²⁴Then Annas sent him tied up to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. The people then said to him, "Are you not also one of his disciples?" He denied it and said, "I am not."²⁶One of the servants of the high priest, who was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"²⁷Then Peter denied it again; and immediately the rooster crowed.

²⁸Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the government headquarters. It was early in the morning, and they did not enter the government headquarters so that they would not be defiled but would be able to eat the Passover.²⁹So Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation are you bringing against this man?"³⁰They answered and said to him, "If this man was not an evildoer, we would not have given him over to you."

³¹Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law." The Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death."³²They said this so that the word of Jesus would be fulfilled which he had spoken to indicate by what kind of death he would die.

³³Then Pilate entered the government headquarters again and called Jesus, and he said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"³⁴Jesus answered, "Do you speak from yourself, or did others speak to you about me?"³⁵Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people and the chief priests gave you over to me. What did you do?"

³⁶Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, then my servants would fight so that I would not be given over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here."³⁷Pilate then said to him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

³⁸Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in this man.³⁹But you have the custom that I release one person to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?"⁴⁰Then they cried out again and said, "Not this man, but Barabbas." Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

Chapter 19

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and whipped him.²The soldiers wove a crown of thorns. They put it on the head of Jesus and dressed him with a purple garment.³They came to him and said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and they struck him.

⁴Then Pilate went outside again and said to them, "See, I am bringing him outside to you so that you will know that I find no guilt in him."⁵So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, "Look, here is the man!"

⁶When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus, they cried out and said, "Crucify him, crucify him!"

Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him."

⁷The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he has to die because he claimed to be the Son of God."⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,⁹and he entered the government headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where do you come from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰Then Pilate said to him, "Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you, and authority to crucify you?"¹¹Jesus answered him, "You do not have any authority over me except for what has been given to you from above. Therefore, he who gave me over to you has a greater sin."

¹²At this answer, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place called "The Pavement," but in the Aramaic language, "Gabbatha."

¹⁴Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, at about the sixth hour. Pilate said to the Jews, "See, here is your king!"

¹⁵They cried out, "Away with him, away with him; crucify him!"

Pilate said to them, "Should I crucify your King?"

The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

¹⁶Then Pilate gave Jesus over to them to be crucified.

¹⁷Then they took Jesus, and he went out, carrying the cross for himself, to the place called "The Place of a Skull," which in the Aramaic language is called "Golgotha."¹⁸They crucified Jesus there, and with him two other men, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also wrote a sign and put it on the cross. There it was written: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.²⁰Many of the Jews read this sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. The sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.

²¹Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This one said, "I am King of the Jews."'"

²²Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, divided them into four shares, one for each of them; and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.²⁴Then they said to each other, "Let us not tear it, but instead let us cast lots for it to decide whose it will be." This happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled which said,

"They divided my garments among themselves

and cast lots for my clothing."

This is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Now standing beside Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, see, your son!"²⁷Then he said to the disciple, "See, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything was now accomplished and so that the scriptures would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."²⁹A container full of sour wine was placed there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop staff and lifted it up to his mouth.³⁰When Jesus had taken the sour wine, he said, "It is finished." He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was especially important), asked Pilate to break their legs and to remove them.³²Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the second man who had been crucified with Jesus.³³When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs.

³⁴However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.³⁵The one who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that what he said is true so that you may also believe.

³⁶For these things happened in order to fulfill scripture, "Not one of his bones will be broken."³⁷Again, another scripture says, "They will look at him whom they pierced."

³⁸After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, since he was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate if he could take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission. So Joseph came and took away his body.³⁹Nicodemus also came—he who at first had come to Jesus by night. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about one hundred litras.

⁴⁰So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, as was the custom of the Jews to bury bodies.⁴¹Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden was a new tomb in which no person had yet been buried.⁴²Because it was the day of preparation for the Jews and because the tomb was close by, they laid Jesus in it.

Chapter 20

¹Now early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, and she saw the stone rolled away from the tomb.²So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, "They took away the Lord out from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."

³Then Peter and the other disciple went out, and they were going to the tomb.⁴They both ran together, and the other disciple quickly ran ahead of Peter and arrived at the tomb first.⁵Then stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go inside.

⁶Simon Peter then arrived after him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there⁷and the cloth that had been on his head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a place by itself.

⁸Then the other disciple, the one who first arrived at the tomb, also went in, and he saw and believed.⁹For until that time they still did not know the scripture that he should rise from the dead.¹⁰So the disciples went back home again.

¹¹But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she stooped down into the tomb.¹²She saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the foot of where the body of Jesus had lain.¹³They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"

She said to them, "Because they took away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him."

¹⁴When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

¹⁵Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?"

She thought that he was the gardener, so she said to him, "Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away."

¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Mary."

She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni" (which is to say "Teacher").

¹⁷Jesus said to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet gone up to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them that I will go up to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God."

¹⁸Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that he had said these things to her.

¹⁹On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle of them and said to them, "Peace to you."²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus then said to them again, "Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."²²When Jesus had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.²³Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whoever's sins you keep back, they are kept back."

²⁴Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.²⁵The other disciples later said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

He said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

²⁶After eight days his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came while the doors were closed, and stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger and see my hands. Reach here with your hand and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believe."

²⁸Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God."

²⁹Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and believed."

³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, signs that have not been written in this book,³¹but these have been written so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that believing, you would have life in his name.

Chapter 21

¹After these things Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how he revealed himself:²Simon Peter was together with Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of Jesus.³Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We, too, will come with you." They went and got into a boat, but they caught nothing during the whole night.

⁴Now, when it was already early in the morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus.⁵So Jesus said to them, "Young men, do you have anything to eat?"

They answered him, "No."

⁶He said to them, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they threw their net and were not able to draw it in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied up his outer garment (for he was undressed), and threw himself into the sea.⁸The other disciples came in the boat (for they were not far from the land, about two hundred cubits off), and they were pulling the net full of fish.⁹When they got out upon the land, they saw a charcoal fire there and fish laid on it, with bread.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught."¹¹Simon Peter then went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, 153 of them, but even with so many, the net was not torn.

¹²Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord.¹³Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and the fish also.¹⁴This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.

¹⁵After they ate breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?"

Peter said to him, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."

¹⁶He said to him again a second time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter said to him, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Shepherd my sheep."

¹⁷He said to him a third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was sorrowful because Jesus had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" He said to him, "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

¹⁸Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you become old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you and carry you where you will not want to go."

¹⁹Now Jesus said this in order to indicate with what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After he had said this, he said to Peter, "Follow me."

²⁰Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had also leaned back against the side of Jesus at the dinner and who had said, "Lord, who is the one who will betray you?"²¹Peter saw him and then said to Jesus, "Lord, what will this man do?"

²²Jesus said to him, "If I want him to stay until I come, what is that to you? Follow me."

²³So this statement spread among the brothers, that that disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to Peter that the other disciple would not die, but, "If I want him to stay until I come, what is that to you?"

²⁴This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and who wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.²⁵There are also many other things that Jesus did. If each one were written down, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

English: Unlocked Literal Bible for John

Formatted for Translators

John