John 1:1-11:22

Names of God Bible

The Word Becomes Human

1 In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was already with God in the beginning.

³ Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.

⁴ He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.

⁵ The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.^[a]

⁶ God sent a man named John to be his messenger. ⁷ John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message. ⁸ John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.

⁹ The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹ He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him. ¹² However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him. ¹³ These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire to have a child. They were born from God.

¹⁴ The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness^[b] and truth.

¹⁵ (John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’”)

¹⁶ Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is. ¹⁷ Laws were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Yeshua Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known.

John Prepares the Way^(A)

¹⁹ This was John’s answer when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ John didn’t refuse to answer. He told them clearly, “I’m not the Messiah.”

²¹ They asked him, “Well, are you Elijah?”

John answered, “No, I’m not.”

Then they asked, “Are you the prophet?”

John replied, “No.”

²² So they asked him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ John said, “I’m a voice crying out in the desert, ‘Make the way for the Lord straight,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ Some of those who had been sent were Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked John, “Why do you baptize if you’re not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?”

²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water. Someone you don’t know is standing among you. ²⁷ He’s the one who comes after me. I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap.”

²⁸ This happened in Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.

John Identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God

²⁹ John saw Yeshua coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. ³⁰ He is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ ³¹ I didn’t know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel.”

³² John said, “I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him. ³³ I didn’t know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, ‘When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you’ll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God.”

Calling of the First Disciples

³⁵ The next day John was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶ John saw Yeshua walk by. John said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God.” ³⁷ When the two disciples heard John say this, they followed Yeshua.

³⁸ Yeshua turned around and saw them following him. He asked them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹ Yeshua told them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went to see where he was staying and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about ten o’clock in the morning.

⁴⁰ Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two disciples who heard John and followed Yeshua. ⁴¹ Andrew at once found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). ⁴² Andrew brought Simon to Yeshua.

Yeshua looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon, son of John. Your name will be Cephas” (which means “Peter”).

⁴³ The next day Yeshua wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me!” ⁴⁴ (Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.)

⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the man whom Moses wrote about in his teachings and whom the prophets wrote about. He is Yeshua, son of Joseph, from the city of Nazareth.”

⁴⁶ Nathanael said to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

Philip told him, “Come and see!”

⁴⁷ Yeshua saw Nathanael coming toward him and remarked, “Here is a true Israelite who is sincere.”

⁴⁸ Nathanael asked Yeshua, “How do you know anything about me?”

Yeshua answered him, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹ Nathanael said to Yeshua, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!”

⁵⁰ Yeshua replied, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” ⁵¹ Yeshua said to Nathanael, “I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God’s angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man.”

Jesus Changes Water into Wine

2 Three days later a wedding took place in the city of Cana in Galilee. Yeshua’s mother was there. ² Yeshua and his disciples had been invited too.

³ When the wine was gone, Yeshua’s mother said to him, “They’re out of wine.”

⁴ Yeshua said to her, “Why did you come to me? My time has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ Six stone water jars were there. They were used for Jewish purification rituals. Each jar held 18 to 27 gallons.

⁷ Yeshua told the servers, “Fill the jars with water.” The servers filled the jars to the brim. ⁸ Yeshua said to them, “Pour some, and take it to the person in charge.” The servers did as they were told.

⁹ The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now.”

¹¹ Cana in Galilee was the place where Yeshua began to perform miracles. He made his glory public there, and his disciples believed in him.

¹² After this, Yeshua, his mother, brothers, and disciples went to the city of Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.

Jesus Throws Merchants and Moneychangers out of the Temple Courtyard

¹³ The Jewish Passover was near, so Yeshua went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables.

¹⁶ He told those who sold pigeons, “Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that Scripture said, “Devotion for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸ The Jews reacted by asking Yeshua, “What miracle can you show us to justify what you’re doing?”

¹⁹ Yeshua replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.”

²⁰ The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you’re going to rebuild it in three days?”

²¹ But the temple Yeshua spoke about was his own body. ²² After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Yeshua had made.

²³ While Yeshua was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles that he performed. ²⁴ Yeshua, however, was wary of these believers. He understood people ²⁵ and didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature. He knew what people were really like.

A Conversation with Nicodemus

3 Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish council. ² He came to Yeshua one night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that God has sent you as a teacher. No one can perform the miracles you perform unless God is with him.”

³ Yeshua replied to Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”^[c]

⁴ Nicodemus asked him, “How can anyone be born when he’s an old man? He can’t go back inside his mother a second time to be born, can he?”

⁵ Yeshua answered Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual. ⁷ Don’t be surprised when I tell you that all of you must be born from above. ⁸ The wind^[d] blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it’s going. That’s the way it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus replied, “How can that be?”

¹⁰ Yeshua told Nicodemus, “You’re a well-known teacher of Israel. Can’t you understand this? ¹¹ I can guarantee this truth: We know what we’re talking about, and we confirm what we’ve seen. Yet, you don’t accept our message. ¹² If you don’t believe me when I tell you about things on earth, how will you believe me when I tell you about things in heaven? ¹³ No one has gone to heaven except the Son of Man, who came from heaven.

¹⁴ “As Moses lifted up the snake on a pole in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. ¹⁵ Then everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.”

¹⁶ God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. ¹⁷ God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. ¹⁸ Those who believe in him won’t be condemned. But those who don’t believe are already condemned because they don’t believe in God’s only Son.

¹⁹ This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil. ²⁰ People who do what is wrong hate the light and don’t come to the light. They don’t want their actions to be exposed. ²¹ But people who do what is true come to the light so that the things they do for God may be clearly seen.

John the Baptizer Talks about Christ

²² Later, Yeshua and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them and baptized people. ²³ John was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim. Water was plentiful there. (People came to John to be baptized, ²⁴ since John had not yet been put in prison.)

²⁵ Some of John’s disciples had an argument with a Jew about purification ceremonies. ²⁶ So they went to John and asked him, “Rabbi, do you remember the man you spoke so favorably about when he was with you on the other side of the Jordan River? Well, he’s baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷ John answered, “People can’t receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. ²⁸ You are witnesses that I said, ‘I’m not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’

²⁹ “The groom is the person to whom the bride belongs. The best man, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed when the groom speaks. This is the joy that I feel. ³⁰ He must increase in importance, while I must decrease in importance.

³¹ “The person who comes from above is superior to everyone. I, a person from the earth, know nothing but what is on earth, and that’s all I can talk about. The person who comes from heaven is superior to everyone ³² and tells what he has seen and heard. Yet, no one accepts what he says. ³³ I have accepted what that person said, and I have affirmed that God is truthful. ³⁴ The man whom God has sent speaks God’s message. After all, God gives him the Spirit without limit. ³⁵ The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his power. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, he will see God’s constant anger.”

A Samaritan Woman Meets Jesus at a Well

4 Yeshua knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. ² (Actually, Yeshua was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) ³ So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee.

⁴ Yeshua had to go through Samaria. ⁵ He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s Well was there. Yeshua sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about six o’clock in the evening.

⁷ A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Yeshua said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Yeshua replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.”

¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? ¹² You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.”

¹³ Yeshua answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. ¹⁴ But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman told Yeshua, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.”

¹⁶ Yeshua told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.”

¹⁷ The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.”

Yeshua told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. ¹⁸ You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.”

¹⁹ The woman said to Yeshua, “I see that you’re a prophet! ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem.”

²¹ Yeshua told her, “Believe me. A time is coming when you Samaritans won’t be worshiping the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²² You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We Jews know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³ Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship him. ²⁴ God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

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

²⁶ Yeshua told her, “I am he, and I am speaking to you now.”

²⁷ At that time his disciples returned. They were surprised that he was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, “What do you want from her?” or “Why are you talking to her?”

²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar and went back into the city. She told the people, ²⁹ “Come with me, and meet a man who told me everything I’ve ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” ³⁰ The people left the city and went to meet Yeshua.

³¹ Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, have something to eat.”

³² Yeshua told them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.”

³³ The disciples asked each other, “Did someone bring him something to eat?”

³⁴ Yeshua told them, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants me to do and to finish the work he has given me.

³⁵ “Don’t you say, ‘In four more months the harvest will be here’? I’m telling you to look and see that the fields are ready to be harvested. ³⁶ The person who harvests the crop is already getting paid. He is gathering grain for eternal life. So the person who plants the grain and the person who harvests it are happy together. ³⁷ In this respect the saying is true: ‘One person plants, and another person harvests.’ ³⁸ I have sent you to harvest a crop you have not worked for. Other people have done the hard work, and you have followed them in their work.”

³⁹ Many Samaritans in that city believed in Yeshua because of the woman who said, “He told me everything I’ve ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans went to Yeshua, they asked him to stay with them. He stayed in Samaria for two days. ⁴¹ Many more Samaritans believed because of what Yeshua said. ⁴² They told the woman, “Our faith is no longer based on what you’ve said. We have heard him ourselves, and we know that he really is the savior of the world.”

A Believing Official^(B)

⁴³ After spending two days in Samaria, Yeshua left for Galilee. ⁴⁴ Yeshua had said that a prophet is not honored in his own country. ⁴⁵ But when Yeshua arrived in Galilee, the people of Galilee welcomed him. They had seen everything he had done at the festival in Jerusalem, since they, too, had attended the festival.

⁴⁶ Yeshua returned to the city of Cana in Galilee, where he had changed water into wine. A government official was in Cana. His son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ The official heard that Yeshua had returned from Judea to Galilee. So he went to Yeshua and asked him to go to Capernaum with him to heal his son who was about to die.

⁴⁸ Yeshua told the official, “If people don’t see miracles and amazing things, they won’t believe.”

⁴⁹ The official said to him, “Sir, come with me before my little boy dies.”

⁵⁰ Yeshua told him, “Go home. Your son will live.” The man believed what Yeshua told him and left.

⁵¹ While the official was on his way to Capernaum, his servants met him and told him that his boy was alive. ⁵² The official asked them at what time his son got better. His servants told him, “The fever left him yesterday evening at seven o’clock.” ⁵³ Then the boy’s father realized that it was the same time that Yeshua had told him, “Your son will live.” So the official and his entire family became believers.

⁵⁴ This was the second miracle that Yeshua performed after he had come back from Judea to Galilee.

Jesus Cures a Man at the Bethesda Pool

5 Later, Yeshua went to Jerusalem for a Jewish festival.

² Near Sheep Gate in Jerusalem was a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew. It had five porches. ³ Under these porches a large number of sick people—people who were blind, lame, or paralyzed—used to lie.^{[e] 5} One man, who had been sick for 38 years, was lying there. ⁶ Yeshua saw the man lying there and knew that he had been sick for a long time. So Yeshua asked the man, “Would you like to get well?”

⁷ The sick man answered Yeshua, “Sir, I don’t have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I’m trying to get there, someone else steps into the pool ahead of me.”

⁸ Yeshua told the man, “Get up, pick up your cot, and walk.” ⁹ The man immediately became well, picked up his cot, and walked.

That happened on a day of worship. ¹⁰ So the Jews told the man who had been healed, “This is a day of worship. You’re not allowed to carry your cot today.”

¹¹ The man replied, “The man who made me well told me to pick up my cot and walk.”

¹² The Jews asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” ¹³ But the man who had been healed didn’t know who Yeshua was. (Yeshua had withdrawn from the crowd.)

¹⁴ Later, Yeshua met the man in the temple courtyard and told him, “You’re well now. Stop sinning so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”

¹⁵ The man went back to the Jews and told them that Yeshua was the man who had made him well.

The Son Is Equal to the Father

¹⁶ The Jews began to persecute Yeshua because he kept healing people on the day of worship. ¹⁷ Yeshua replied to them, “My Father is working right now, and so am I.”

¹⁸ His reply made the Jews more intent on killing him. Not only did he break the laws about the day of worship, but also he made himself equal to God when he said repeatedly that God was his Father.

¹⁹ Yeshua said to the Jews, “I can guarantee this truth: The Son cannot do anything on his own. He can do only what he sees the Father doing. Indeed, the Son does exactly what the Father does. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. The Father will show him even greater things to do than these things so that you will be amazed. ²¹ In the same way that the Father brings back the dead and gives them life, the Son gives life to anyone he chooses.

²² “The Father doesn’t judge anyone. He has entrusted judgment entirely to the Son ²³ so that everyone will honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴ I can guarantee this truth: Those who listen to what I say and believe in the one who sent me will have eternal life. They won’t be judged because they have already passed from death to life.

²⁵ “I can guarantee this truth: A time is coming (and is now here) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who respond to it will live. ²⁶ The Father is the source of life, and he has enabled the Son to be the source of life too.

²⁷ “He has also given the Son authority to pass judgment because he is the Son of Man.^{[f] 28} Don’t be surprised at what I’ve just said. A time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice, ²⁹ and they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done good will come back to life and live. But those who have done evil will come back to life and will be judged. ³⁰ I can’t do anything on my own. As I listen to the Father, I make my judgments. My judgments are right because I don’t try to do what I want but what the one who sent me wants.

³¹ “If I testify on my own behalf, what I say isn’t true. ³² Someone else testifies on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true. ³³ You sent people to John the Baptizer, and he testified to the truth. ³⁴ But I don’t depend on human testimony. I’m telling you this to save you. ³⁵ John was a lamp that gave off brilliant light. For a time you enjoyed the pleasure of his light. ³⁶ But I have something that testifies more favorably on my behalf than John’s testimony. The tasks that the Father gave me to carry out, these tasks which I perform, testify on my behalf. They prove that the Father has sent me. ³⁷ The Father who sent me testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice, and you have never seen his form. ³⁸ So you don’t have the Father’s message within you, because you don’t believe in the person he has sent. ³⁹ You study the Scriptures in detail because you think you have the source of eternal life in them. These Scriptures testify on my behalf. ⁴⁰ Yet, you don’t want to come to me to get eternal life.

⁴¹ “I don’t accept praise from humans. ⁴² But I know what kind of people you are. You don’t have any love for God. ⁴³ I have come with the authority my Father has given me, but you don’t accept me. If someone else comes with his own authority, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe when you accept each other’s praise and don’t look for the praise that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵ “Don’t think that I will accuse you in the presence of the Father. Moses, the one you trust, is already accusing you. ⁴⁶ If you really believed Moses, you would believe me. Moses wrote about me. ⁴⁷ If you don’t believe what Moses wrote, how will you ever believe what I say?”

Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand^(C)

6 Yeshua later crossed to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or the Sea of Tiberias). ² A large crowd followed him because they saw the miracles that he performed for the sick. ³ Yeshua went up a mountain and sat with his disciples. ⁴ The time for the Jewish Passover festival was near.

⁵ As Yeshua saw a large crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶ Yeshua asked this question to test him. He already knew what he was going to do.

⁷ Philip answered, “We would need about a year’s wages to buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

⁸ One of Yeshua’s disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter’s brother, told him, ⁹ “A boy who has five loaves of barley bread and two small fish is here. But they won’t go very far for so many people.”

¹⁰ Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.”

The people had plenty of grass to sit on. (There were about 5,000 men in the crowd.)

¹¹ Yeshua took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people who were sitting there. He did the same thing with the fish. All the people ate as much as they wanted.

¹² When the people were full, Yeshua told his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing will be wasted.” ¹³ The disciples gathered the leftover pieces of bread and filled twelve baskets.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle Yeshua performed, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Yeshua realized that the people intended to take him by force and make him king. So he returned to the mountain by himself.

Jesus Walks on the Sea^(D)

¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went to the sea. ¹⁷ They got into a boat and started to cross the sea to the city of Capernaum. By this time it was dark, and Yeshua had not yet come to them. ¹⁸ A strong wind started to blow and stir up the sea.

¹⁹ After they had rowed three or four miles, they saw Yeshua walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they became terrified.

²⁰ Yeshua told them, “It’s me. Don’t be afraid!”

²¹ So they were willing to help Yeshua into the boat. Immediately, the boat reached the shore where they were going.

Jesus Is the Bread of Life

²² On the next day the people were still on the other side of the sea. They noticed that only one boat was there and that Yeshua had not stepped into that boat with his disciples. The disciples had gone away without him. ²³ Other boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord gave thanks. ²⁴ When the people saw that neither Yeshua nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to the city of Capernaum to look for Yeshua. ²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

²⁶ Yeshua replied to them, “I can guarantee this truth: You’re not looking for me because you saw miracles. You are looking for me because you ate as much of those loaves as you wanted. ²⁷ Don’t work for food that spoils. Instead, work for the food that lasts into eternal life. This is the food the Son of Man will give you. After all, the Father has placed his seal of approval on him.”

²⁸ The people asked Yeshua, “What does God want us to do?”

²⁹ Yeshua replied to them, “God wants to do something for you so that you believe in the one whom he has sent.”

³⁰ The people asked him, “What miracle are you going to perform so that we can see it and believe in you? What are you going to do? ³¹ Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert. Scripture says, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

³² Yeshua said to them, “I can guarantee this truth: Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ God’s bread is the man who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread all the time.”

³⁵ Yeshua told them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty. ³⁶ I’ve told you that you have seen me. However, you don’t believe in me. ³⁷ Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me. ³⁸ I haven’t come from heaven to do what I want to do. I’ve come to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. ³⁹ The one who sent me doesn’t want me to lose any of those he gave me. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day. ⁴⁰ My Father wants all those who see the Son and believe in him to have eternal life. He wants me to bring them back to life on the last day.”

⁴¹ The Jews began to criticize Yeshua for saying, “I am the bread that came from heaven.” ⁴² They asked, “Isn’t this man Yeshua, Joseph’s son? Don’t we know his father and mother? How can he say now, ‘I came from heaven’?”

⁴³ Yeshua responded, “Stop criticizing me! ⁴⁴ People cannot come to me unless the Father who sent me brings them to me. I will bring these people back to life on the last day. ⁴⁵ The prophets wrote, ‘God will teach everyone.’ Those who do what they have learned from the Father come to me. ⁴⁶ I’m saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ I can guarantee this truth: Every believer has eternal life.

⁴⁸ “I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes from heaven so that whoever eats it won’t die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. The bread I will give to bring life to the world is my flesh.”

⁵² The Jews began to quarrel with each other. They said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Yeshua told them, “I can guarantee this truth: If you don’t eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have the source of life in you. ⁵⁴ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will bring them back to life on the last day. ⁵⁵ My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. ⁵⁷ The Father who has life sent me, and I live because of the Father. So those who feed on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came from heaven. It is not like the bread your ancestors ate. They eventually died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ Yeshua said this while he was teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum. ⁶⁰ When many of Yeshua’s disciples heard him, they said, “What he says is hard to accept. Who wants to listen to him anymore?”

⁶¹ Yeshua was aware that his disciples were criticizing his message. So Yeshua asked them, “Did what I say make you lose faith? ⁶² What if you see the Son of Man go where he was before? ⁶³ Life is spiritual. Your physical existence doesn’t contribute to that life. The words that I have spoken to you are spiritual. They are life. ⁶⁴ But some of you don’t believe.” Yeshua knew from the beginning those who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him. ⁶⁵ So he added, “That is why I told you that people cannot come to me unless the Father provides the way.”

⁶⁶ Yeshua’s speech made many of his disciples go back to the lives they had led before they followed Yeshua. ⁶⁷ So Yeshua asked the twelve apostles, “Do you want to leave me too?”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered Yeshua, “Lord, to what person could we go? Your words give eternal life. ⁶⁹ Besides, we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁷⁰ Yeshua replied, “I chose all twelve of you. Yet, one of you is a devil.” ⁷¹ Yeshua meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Judas, who was one of the twelve apostles, would later betray Yeshua.

Jesus Goes to the Festival of Booths

7 Yeshua later traveled throughout Galilee. He didn’t want to travel in Judea because Jews there wanted to kill him.

² The time for the Jewish Festival of Booths was near. ³ So Yeshua’s brothers told him, “Leave this place, and go to Judea so that your disciples can see the things that you’re doing. ⁴ No one does things secretly when he wants to be known publicly. If you do these things, you should let the world see you.” ⁵ Even his brothers didn’t believe in him.

⁶ Yeshua told them, “Now is not the right time for me to go. Any time is right for you. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I say that what everyone does is evil. ⁸ Go to the festival. I’m not going to this festival right now. Now is not the right time for me to go.”

⁹ After saying this, Yeshua stayed in Galilee. ¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone to the festival, Yeshua went. He didn’t go publicly but secretly.

¹¹ The Jews were looking for Yeshua in the crowd at the festival. They kept asking, “Where is that man?” ¹² The crowds argued about Yeshua. Some people said, “He’s a good man,” while others said, “No he isn’t. He deceives the people.” ¹³ Yet, no one would talk openly about him because they were afraid of the Jews.

¹⁴ When the festival was half over, Yeshua went to the temple courtyard and began to teach. ¹⁵ The Jews were surprised and asked, “How can this man be so educated when he hasn’t gone to school?”

¹⁶ Yeshua responded to them, “What I teach doesn’t come from me but from the one who sent me. ¹⁷ Those who want to follow the will of God will know if what I teach is from God or if I teach my own thoughts. ¹⁸ Those who speak their own thoughts are looking for their own glory. But the man who wants to bring glory to the one who sent him is a true teacher and doesn’t have dishonest motives. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moses give you his teachings? Yet, none of you does what Moses taught you. So why do you want to kill me?”

²⁰ The crowd answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! Who wants to kill you?”

²¹ Yeshua answered them, “I performed one miracle, and all of you are surprised by it. ²² Moses gave you the teaching about circumcision (although it didn’t come from Moses but from our ancestors). So you circumcise a male on a day of worship. ²³ If you circumcise a male on the day of worship to follow Moses’ Teachings, why are you angry with me because I made a man entirely well on the day of worship? ²⁴ Stop judging by outward appearance! Instead, judge correctly.”

²⁵ Some of the people who lived in Jerusalem said, “Isn’t this the man they want to kill? ²⁶ But look at this! He’s speaking in public, and no one is saying anything to him! Can it be that the rulers really know that this man is the Messiah? ²⁷ However, we know where this man comes from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then, while Yeshua was teaching in the temple courtyard, he said loudly, “You know me, and you know where I come from. I didn’t decide to come on my own. The one who sent me is true. He’s the one you don’t know. ²⁹ I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

³⁰ The Jews tried to arrest him but couldn’t because his time had not yet come.

³¹ However, many people in the crowd believed in him. They asked, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more miracles than this man has?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd saying things like this about him. So the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest Yeshua.

³³ Yeshua said, “I will still be with you for a little while. Then I’ll go to the one who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me, but you won’t find me. You can’t go where I’m going.”

³⁵ The Jews said among themselves, “Where does this man intend to go so that we won’t find him? Does he mean that he’ll live with the Jews who are scattered among the Greeks and that he’ll teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What does he mean when he says, ‘You will look for me, but you won’t find me,’ and ‘You can’t go where I’m going’?”

³⁷ On the last and most important day of the festival, Yeshua was standing in the temple courtyard. He said loudly, “Whoever is thirsty must come to me to drink. ³⁸ As Scripture says, ‘Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.’” ³⁹ Yeshua said this about the Spirit, whom his believers would receive. The Spirit was not yet evident, as it would be after Yeshua had been glorified.

⁴⁰ After some of the crowd heard Yeshua say these words, they said, “This man is certainly the prophet.” ⁴¹ Other people said, “This man is the Messiah.” Still other people asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee? ⁴² Doesn’t Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the descendants of David and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?” ⁴³ So the people were divided because of Yeshua. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to arrest him, but they couldn’t.

⁴⁵ When the temple guards returned, the chief priests and Pharisees asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Yeshua?”

⁴⁶ The temple guards answered, “No human has ever spoken like this man.”

⁴⁷ The Pharisees asked the temple guards, “Have you been deceived too? ⁴⁸ Has any ruler or any Pharisee believed in him? ⁴⁹ This crowd is cursed because it doesn’t know Moses’ Teachings.”

⁵⁰ One of those Pharisees was Nicodemus, who had previously visited Yeshua. Nicodemus asked them, ⁵¹ “Do Moses’ Teachings enable us to judge a person without first hearing that person’s side of the story? We can’t judge a person without finding out what that person has done.”

⁵² They asked Nicodemus, “Are you saying this because you’re from Galilee? Study the Scriptures, and you’ll see that no prophet comes from Galilee.”^[g]

⁵³ Then each of them went home.

A Woman Caught in Adultery

8 Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. ² Early the next morning he returned to the temple courtyard. All the people went to him, so he sat down and began to teach them.

³ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone ⁴ and asked Yeshua, “Teacher, we caught this woman in the act of adultery. ⁵ In his teachings, Moses ordered us to stone women like this to death. What do you say?” ⁶ They asked this to test him. They wanted to find a reason to bring charges against him.

Yeshua bent down and used his finger to write on the ground. ⁷ When they persisted in asking him questions, he straightened up and said, “The person who is sinless should be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he bent down again and continued writing on the ground.

⁹ One by one, beginning with the older men, the experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees left. Yeshua was left alone with the woman. ¹⁰ Then Yeshua straightened up and asked her, “Where did they go? Has anyone condemned you?”

¹¹ The woman answered, “No one, sir.”

Yeshua said, “I don’t condemn you either. Go! From now on don’t sin.”

Jesus Speaks with the Pharisees about His Father

¹² Yeshua spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have a life filled with light and will never live in the dark.”

¹³ The Pharisees said to him, “You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony isn’t true.”

¹⁴ Yeshua replied to them, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is true because I know where I came from and where I’m going. However, you don’t know where I came from or where I’m going. ¹⁵ You judge the way humans do. I don’t judge anyone. ¹⁶ Even if I do judge, my judgment is valid because I don’t make it on my own. I make my judgment with the Father who sent me. ¹⁷ Your own teachings say that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”

¹⁹ The Pharisees asked him, “Where is your father?”

Yeshua replied, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰ Yeshua spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury area of the temple courtyard. No one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

²¹ Yeshua spoke to the Pharisees again. He said, “I’m going away, and you’ll look for me. But you will die because of your sin. You can’t go where I’m going.”

²² Then the Jews asked, “Is he going to kill himself? Is that what he means when he says, ‘You can’t go where I’m going’?”

²³ Yeshua said to them, “You’re from below. I’m from above. You’re from this world. I’m not from this world. ²⁴ For this reason I told you that you’ll die because of your sins. If you don’t believe that I am the one, you’ll die because of your sins.”

²⁵ The Jews asked him, “Who did you say you are?”

Yeshua told them, “I am who I said I was from the beginning. ²⁶ I have a lot I could say about you and a lot I could condemn you for. But the one who sent me is true. So I tell the world exactly what he has told me.” ²⁷ (The Jews didn’t know that he was talking to them about the Father.)

²⁸ So Yeshua told them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you’ll know that I am the one and that I can’t do anything on my own. Instead, I speak as the Father taught me. ²⁹ Besides, the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me by myself. I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰ As Yeshua was saying this, many people believed in him. ³¹ So Yeshua said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you live by what I say, you are truly my disciples. ³² You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

³³ They replied to Yeshua, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and we’ve never been anyone’s slaves. So how can you say that we will be set free?”

³⁴ Yeshua answered them, “I can guarantee this truth: Whoever lives a sinful life is a slave to sin. ³⁵ A slave doesn’t live in the home forever, but a son does. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be absolutely free. ³⁷ I know that you’re Abraham’s descendants. However, you want to kill me because you don’t like what I’m saying. ³⁸ What I’m saying is what I have seen in my Father’s presence. But you do what you’ve heard from your father.”

³⁹ The Jews replied to Yeshua, “Abraham is our father.”

Yeshua told them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did. ⁴⁰ I am a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. But now you want to kill me. Abraham wouldn’t have done that. ⁴¹ You’re doing what your father does.”

The Jews said to Yeshua, “We’re not illegitimate children. God is our only Father.”

⁴² Yeshua told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me. After all, I’m here, and I came from God. I didn’t come on my own. Instead, God sent me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand the language I use? Is it because you can’t understand the words I use? ⁴⁴ You come from your father, the devil, and you desire to do what your father wants you to do. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He has never been truthful. He doesn’t know what the truth is. Whenever he tells a lie, he’s doing what comes naturally to him. He’s a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ So you don’t believe me because I tell the truth. ⁴⁶ Can any of you convict me of committing a sin? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ The person who belongs to God understands what God says. You don’t understand because you don’t belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Jews replied to Yeshua, “Aren’t we right when we say that you’re a Samaritan and that you’re possessed by a demon?”

⁴⁹ Yeshua answered, “I’m not possessed. I honor my Father, but you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I don’t want my own glory. But there is someone who wants it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ I can guarantee this truth: Whoever obeys what I say will never see death.”

⁵² The Jews told Yeshua, “Now we know that you’re possessed by a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, ‘Whoever does what I say will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets have also died. Who do you think you are?”

⁵⁴ Yeshua said, “If I bring glory to myself, my glory is nothing. My Father is the one who gives me glory, and you say that he is your God. ⁵⁵ Yet, you haven’t known him. However, I know him. If I would say that I didn’t know him, I would be a liar like all of you. But I do know him, and I do what he says. ⁵⁶ Your father Abraham was pleased to see that my day was coming. He saw it and was happy.”

⁵⁷ The Jews said to Yeshua, “You’re not even fifty years old. How could you have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸ Yeshua told them, “I can guarantee this truth: Before Abraham was ever born, I am.”

⁵⁹ Then some of the Jews picked up stones to throw at Yeshua. However, Yeshua was concealed, and he left the temple courtyard.

Jesus Gives Sight to a Blind Man

9 As Yeshua walked along, he saw a man who had been born blind. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, why was this man born blind? Did he or his parents sin?”

³ Yeshua answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. Instead, he was born blind so that God could show what he can do for him. ⁴ We must do what the one who sent me wants us to do while it is day. The night when no one can do anything is coming. ⁵ As long as I’m in the world, I’m light for the world.”

⁶ After Yeshua said this, he spit on the ground and mixed the spit with dirt. Then he smeared it on the man’s eyes ⁷ and told him, “Wash it off in the pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means “sent.”) The blind man washed it off and returned. He was able to see.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had previously seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹ Some of them said, “He’s the one.” Others said, “No, he isn’t, but he looks like him.” But the man himself said, “I am the one.”

¹⁰ So they asked him, “How did you receive your sight?”

¹¹ He replied, “The man people call Yeshua mixed some spit with dirt, smeared it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam, and wash it off.’ So I went there, washed it off, and received my sight.”

¹² They asked him, “Where is that man?”

The man answered, “I don’t know.”

¹³ Some people brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ The day when Yeshua mixed the spit and dirt and gave the man sight was a day of worship. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees asked the man again how he received his sight.

The man told the Pharisees, “He put a mixture of spit and dirt on my eyes. I washed it off, and now I can see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “The man who did this is not from God because he doesn’t follow the traditions for the day of worship.” Other Pharisees asked, “How can a man who is a sinner perform miracles like these?” So the Pharisees were divided in their opinions.

¹⁷ They asked the man who had been born blind another question: “What do you say about the man who gave you sight?”

The man answered, “He’s a prophet.”

¹⁸ Until they talked to the man’s parents, the Jews didn’t believe that the man had been blind and had been given sight. ¹⁹ They asked his parents, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? Why can he see now?”

²⁰ His parents replied, “We know that he’s our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But we don’t know how he got his sight or who gave it to him. You’ll have to ask him. He’s old enough to answer for himself.” ²² (His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. The Jews had already agreed to put anyone who acknowledged that Yeshua was the Christ out of the synagogue. ²³ That’s why his parents said, “You’ll have to ask him. He’s old enough.”)

²⁴ So once again the Jews called the man who had been blind. They told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man who gave you sight is a sinner.”

²⁵ The man responded, “I don’t know if he’s a sinner or not. But I do know one thing. I used to be blind, but now I can see.”

²⁶ The Jews asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he give you sight?”

²⁷ The man replied, “I’ve already told you, but you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear the story again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸ The Jews yelled at him, “You’re his disciple, but we’re Moses’ disciples. ²⁹ We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man came from.”

³⁰ The man replied to them, “That’s amazing! You don’t know where he’s from. Yet, he gave me sight. ³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. Instead, he listens to people who are devout and who do what he wants. ³² Since the beginning of time, no one has ever heard of anyone giving sight to a person born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”

³⁴ The Jews answered him, “You were born full of sin. Do you think you can teach us?” Then they threw him out of the synagogue.

³⁵ Yeshua heard that the Jews had thrown the man out of the synagogue. So when Yeshua found the man, he asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶ The man replied, “Sir, tell me who he is so that I can believe in him.”

³⁷ Yeshua told him, “You’ve seen him. He is the person who is now talking with you.”

³⁸ The man bowed in front of Yeshua and said, “I believe, Lord.”

³⁹ Then Yeshua said, “I have come into this world to judge: Blind people will be given sight, and those who can see will become blind.”

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with Yeshua heard this. So they asked him, “Do you think we’re blind?”

⁴¹ Yeshua told them, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t be sinners. But now you say, ‘We see,’ so you continue to be sinners.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd

10 “I can guarantee this truth: The person who doesn’t enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs in somewhere else is a thief or a robber. ² But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd. ³ The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out of the pen. ⁴ After he has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ They won’t follow a stranger. Instead, they will run away from a stranger because they don’t recognize his voice.” ⁶ Yeshua used this illustration as he talked to the people, but they didn’t understand what he meant.

⁷ Yeshua emphasized, “I can guarantee this truth: I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All who came before I did were thieves or robbers. However, the sheep didn’t respond to them. ⁹ I am the gate. Those who enter the sheep pen through me will be saved. They will go in and out of the sheep pen and find food. ¹⁰ A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came so that my sheep will have life and so that they will have everything they need.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. ¹² A hired hand isn’t a shepherd and doesn’t own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away. So the wolf drags the sheep away and scatters the flock. ¹³ The hired hand is concerned about what he’s going to get paid and not about the sheep.

¹⁴ “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep as the Father knows me.^[h] My sheep know me as I know the Father. ¹⁵ So I give my life for my sheep. ¹⁶ I also have other sheep that are not from this pen. I must lead them. They, too, will respond to my voice. So they will be one flock with one shepherd. ¹⁷ The Father loves me because I give my life in order to take it back again. ¹⁸ No one takes my life from me. I give my life of my own free will. I have the authority to give my life, and I have the authority to take my life back again. This is what my Father ordered me to do.”

¹⁹ The Jews were divided because of what Yeshua said. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He’s possessed by a demon! He’s crazy! Why do you listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “No one talks like this if he’s possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?”

The Jews Reject Jesus

²² The Festival of the Dedication of the Temple took place in Jerusalem during the winter. ²³ Yeshua was walking on Solomon’s porch in the temple courtyard.

²⁴ The Jews surrounded him. They asked him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

²⁵ Yeshua answered them, “I’ve told you, but you don’t believe me. The things that I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf. ²⁶ However, you don’t believe because you’re not my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep respond to my voice, and I know who they are. They follow me, ²⁸ and I give them eternal life. They will never be lost, and no one will tear them away from me. ²⁹ My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than everyone else, and no one can tear them away from my Father. ³⁰ The Father and I are one.”

³¹ The Jews had again brought some rocks to stone Yeshua to death. ³² Yeshua replied to them, “I’ve shown you many good things that come from the Father. For which of these good things do you want to stone me to death?”

³³ The Jews answered Yeshua, “We’re going to stone you to death, not for any good things you’ve done, but for dishonoring God. You claim to be God, although you’re only a man.”

³⁴ Yeshua said to them, “Don’t your Scriptures say, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? ³⁵ The Scriptures cannot be discredited. So if God calls people gods (and they are the people to whom he gave the Scriptures), ³⁶ why do you say that I’m dishonoring God because I said, ‘I’m the Son of God’? God set me apart for this holy purpose and has sent me into the world. ³⁷ If I’m not doing the things my Father does, don’t believe me. ³⁸ But if I’m doing those things and you refuse to believe me, then at least believe the things that I’m doing. Then you will know and recognize that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father.”

³⁹ The Jews tried to arrest Yeshua again, but he got away from them. ⁴⁰ He went back across the Jordan River and stayed in the place where John first baptized people.

⁴¹ Many people went to Yeshua. They said, “John didn’t perform any miracles, but everything John said about this man is true.” ⁴² Many people there believed in Yeshua.

Jesus Brings Lazarus Back to Life

11 Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived, was sick. ² (Mary was the woman who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was the one who was sick.)

³ So the sisters sent a messenger to tell Yeshua, “Lord, your close friend is sick.”

⁴ When Yeshua heard the message, he said, “His sickness won’t result in death. Instead, this sickness will bring glory to God so that the Son of God will receive glory through it.”

⁵ Yeshua loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. ⁶ Yet, when Yeshua heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.

⁷ Then, after the two days, Yeshua said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”

⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, not long ago the Jews wanted to stone you to death. Do you really want to go back there?”

⁹ Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day don’t stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ However, those who walk at night stumble because they have no light in themselves.”

¹¹ After Yeshua said this, he told his disciples, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, and I’m going to Bethany to wake him.”

¹² His disciples said to him, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he’ll get well.”

¹³ Yeshua meant that Lazarus was dead, but the disciples thought Yeshua meant that Lazarus was only sleeping. ¹⁴ Then Yeshua told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ but I’m glad that I wasn’t there so that you can grow in faith. Let’s go to Lazarus.”

¹⁶ Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to the rest of the disciples, “Let’s go so that we, too, can die with Yeshua.”

¹⁷ When Yeshua arrived, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ (Bethany was near Jerusalem, not quite two miles away.) ¹⁹ Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Yeshua was coming, she went to meet him. Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha told Yeshua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask him.”