Bible in 90 Days

²⁰ So they looked for an opportunity. They bribed some men to pretend they were sincere, and they sent them to trap Jesus with questions, so that they could hand him over to the authority and power of the Roman Governor. ²¹ These spies said to Jesus, “Teacher, we know that what you say and teach is right. We know that you pay no attention to anyone's status, but teach the truth about God's will for people. ²² Tell us, is it against our Law for us to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?”

²³ But Jesus saw through their trick and said to them, ²⁴ “Show me a silver coin. Whose face and name are these on it?”

“The Emperor's,” they answered.

²⁵ So Jesus said, “Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God.”

²⁶ There before the people they could not catch him in a thing, so they kept quiet, amazed at his answer.

The Question about Rising from Death^(A)

^27 (B)Then some Sadducees, who say that people will not rise from death, came to Jesus and said, ^28 (C)“Teacher, Moses wrote this law for us: ‘If a man dies and leaves a wife but no children, that man's brother must marry the widow so that they can have children who will be considered the dead man's children.’ ²⁹ Once there were seven brothers; the oldest got married and died without having children. ³⁰ Then the second one married the woman, ³¹ and then the third. The same thing happened to all seven—they died without having children. ³² Last of all, the woman died. ³³ Now, on the day when the dead rise to life, whose wife will she be? All seven of them had married her.”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “The men and women of this age marry, ³⁵ but the men and women who are worthy to rise from death and live in the age to come will not then marry. ³⁶ They will be like angels and cannot die. They are the children of God, because they have risen from death. ^37 (D)And Moses clearly proves that the dead are raised to life. In the passage about the burning bush he speaks of the Lord as ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is the God of the living, not of the dead, for to him all are alive.”

³⁹ Some of the teachers of the Law spoke up, “A good answer, Teacher!” ⁴⁰ For they did not dare ask him any more questions.

The Question about the Messiah^(E)

⁴¹ Jesus asked them, “How can it be said that the Messiah will be the descendant of David? ^42 (F)For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

⁴⁴ David called him ‘Lord’; how, then, can the Messiah be David's descendant?”

Jesus Warns against the Teachers of the Law^(G)

⁴⁵ As all the people listened to him, Jesus said to his disciples, ⁴⁶ “Be on your guard against the teachers of the Law, who like to walk around in their long robes and love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace; who choose the reserved seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts; ⁴⁷ who take advantage of widows and rob them of their homes, and then make a show of saying long prayers! Their punishment will be all the worse!”

The Widow's Offering^(H)

21 Jesus looked around and saw rich people dropping their gifts in the Temple treasury, ² and he also saw a very poor widow dropping in two little copper coins. ³ He said, “I tell you that this poor widow put in more than all the others. ⁴ For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on.”

Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of the Temple^(I)

⁵ Some of the disciples were talking about the Temple, how beautiful it looked with its fine stones and the gifts offered to God. Jesus said, ⁶ “All this you see—the time will come when not a single stone here will be left in its place; every one will be thrown down.”

Troubles and Persecutions^(J)

^7 (K)“Teacher,” they asked, “when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?”

⁸ Jesus said, “Watch out; don't be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ But don't follow them. ⁹ Don't be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near.”

¹⁰ He went on to say, “Countries will fight each other; kingdoms will attack one another. ¹¹ There will be terrible earthquakes, famines, and plagues everywhere; there will be strange and terrifying things coming from the sky. ¹² Before all these things take place, however, you will be arrested and persecuted; you will be handed over to be tried in synagogues and be put in prison; you will be brought before kings and rulers for my sake. ¹³ This will be your chance to tell the Good News. ^14 (L)Make up your minds ahead of time not to worry about how you will defend yourselves, ¹⁵ because I will give you such words and wisdom that none of your enemies will be able to refute or contradict what you say. ¹⁶ You will be handed over by your parents, your brothers, your relatives, and your friends; and some of you will be put to death. ¹⁷ Everyone will hate you because of me. ¹⁸ But not a single hair from your heads will be lost. ¹⁹ Stand firm, and you will save yourselves.

Jesus Speaks of the Destruction of Jerusalem^(M)

²⁰ “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you will know that it will soon be destroyed. ²¹ Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills; those who are in the city must leave, and those who are out in the country must not go into the city. ^22 (N)For those will be ‘The Days of Punishment,’ to make come true all that the Scriptures say. ²³ How terrible it will be in those days for women who are pregnant and for mothers with little babies! Terrible distress will come upon this land, and God's punishment will fall on this people. ²⁴ Some will be killed by the sword, and others will be taken as prisoners to all countries; and the heathen will trample over Jerusalem until their time is up.

The Coming of the Son of Man^(O)

^25 (P)“There will be strange things happening to the sun, the moon, and the stars. On earth whole countries will be in despair, afraid of the roar of the sea and the raging tides. ²⁶ People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth, for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. ^27 (Q)Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory. ²⁸ When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree^(R)

²⁹ Then Jesus told them this parable: “Think of the fig tree and all the other trees. ³⁰ When you see their leaves beginning to appear, you know that summer is near. ³¹ In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is about to come.

³² “Remember that all these things will take place before the people now living have all died. ³³ Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Need to Watch

³⁴ “Be careful not to let yourselves become occupied with too much feasting and drinking and with the worries of this life, or that Day may suddenly catch you ³⁵ like a trap. For it will come upon all people everywhere on earth. ³⁶ Be on watch and pray always that you will have the strength to go safely through all those things that will happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”

^37 (S)Jesus spent those days teaching in the Temple, and when evening came, he would go out and spend the night on the Mount of Olives. ³⁸ Early each morning all the people went to the Temple to listen to him.

The Plot against Jesus^(T)

22 ^(U)The time was near for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover. ² The chief priests and the teachers of the Law were afraid of the people, and so they were trying to find a way of putting Jesus to death secretly.

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus^(V)

³ Then Satan entered into Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples. ⁴ So Judas went off and spoke with the chief priests and the officers of the Temple guard about how he could betray Jesus to them. ⁵ They were pleased and offered to pay him money. ⁶ Judas agreed to it and started looking for a good chance to hand Jesus over to them without the people knowing about it.

Jesus Prepares to Eat the Passover Meal^(W)

⁷ The day came during the Festival of Unleavened Bread when the lambs for the Passover meal were to be killed. ⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John with these instructions: “Go and get the Passover meal ready for us to eat.”

⁹ “Where do you want us to get it ready?” they asked him.

¹⁰ He answered, “As you go into the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters, ¹¹ and say to the owner of the house: ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the room where my disciples and I will eat the Passover meal?’ ¹² He will show you a large furnished room upstairs, where you will get everything ready.”

¹³ They went off and found everything just as Jesus had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

The Lord's Supper^(X)

¹⁴ When the hour came, Jesus took his place at the table with the apostles. ¹⁵ He said to them, “I have wanted so much to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer! ¹⁶ For I tell you, I will never eat it until it is given its full meaning in the Kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ Then Jesus took a cup, gave thanks to God, and said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. ¹⁸ I tell you that from now on I will not drink this wine until the Kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹ Then he took a piece of bread, gave thanks to God, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in memory of me.” ^20 (Y)In the same way, he gave them the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is God's new covenant sealed with my blood, which is poured out for you.^[a]

^21 (Z)“But, look! The one who betrays me is here at the table with me! ²² The Son of Man will die as God has decided, but how terrible for that man who betrays him!”

²³ Then they began to ask among themselves which one of them it could be who was going to do this.

The Argument about Greatness

^24 (AA)An argument broke out among the disciples as to which one of them should be thought of as the greatest. ²⁵ Jesus said to them, “The kings of the pagans have power over their people, and the rulers claim the title ‘Friends of the People.’ ^26 (AB)But this is not the way it is with you; rather, the greatest one among you must be like the youngest, and the leader must be like the servant. ^27 (AC)Who is greater, the one who sits down to eat or the one who serves? The one who sits down, of course. But I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸ “You have stayed with me all through my trials; ²⁹ and just as my Father has given me the right to rule, so I will give you the same right. ^30 (AD)You will eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom, and you will sit on thrones to rule over the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial^(AE)

³¹ “Simon, Simon! Listen! Satan has received permission to test all of you, to separate the good from the bad, as a farmer separates the wheat from the chaff. ³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you turn back to me, you must strengthen your brothers.”

³³ Peter answered, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you and to die with you!”

³⁴ “I tell you, Peter,” Jesus said, “the rooster will not crow tonight until you have said three times that you do not know me.”

Purse, Bag, and Sword

^35 (AF)Then Jesus asked his disciples, “When I sent you out that time without purse, bag, or shoes, did you lack anything?”

“Not a thing,” they answered.

³⁶ “But now,” Jesus said, “whoever has a purse or a bag must take it; and whoever does not have a sword must sell his coat and buy one. ^37 (AG)For I tell you that the scripture which says, ‘He shared the fate of criminals,’ must come true about me, because what was written about me is coming true.”

³⁸ The disciples said, “Look! Here are two swords, Lord!”

“That is enough!”^[b] he replied.

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives^(AH)

³⁹ Jesus left the city and went, as he usually did, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples went with him. ⁴⁰ When he arrived at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

⁴¹ Then he went off from them about the distance of a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed. ⁴² “Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ In great anguish he prayed even more fervently; his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.^[c]

⁴⁵ Rising from his prayer, he went back to the disciples and found them asleep, worn out by their grief. ⁴⁶ He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

The Arrest of Jesus^(AI)

⁴⁷ Jesus was still speaking when a crowd arrived, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. He came up to Jesus to kiss him. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said, “Judas, is it with a kiss that you betray the Son of Man?”

⁴⁹ When the disciples who were with Jesus saw what was going to happen, they asked, “Shall we use our swords, Lord?” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck the High Priest's slave and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus said, “Enough of this!” He touched the man's ear and healed him.

⁵² Then Jesus said to the chief priests and the officers of the Temple guard and the elders who had come there to get him, “Did you have to come with swords and clubs, as though I were an outlaw? ^53 (AJ)I was with you in the Temple every day, and you did not try to arrest me. But this is your hour to act, when the power of darkness rules.”

Peter Denies Jesus^(AK)

⁵⁴ They arrested Jesus and took him away into the house of the High Priest; and Peter followed at a distance. ⁵⁵ A fire had been lit in the center of the courtyard, and Peter joined those who were sitting around it. ⁵⁶ When one of the servant women saw him sitting there at the fire, she looked straight at him and said, “This man too was with Jesus!”

⁵⁷ But Peter denied it, “Woman, I don't even know him!”

⁵⁸ After a little while a man noticed Peter and said, “You are one of them, too!”

But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”

⁵⁹ And about an hour later another man insisted strongly, “There isn't any doubt that this man was with Jesus, because he also is a Galilean!”

⁶⁰ But Peter answered, “Man, I don't know what you are talking about!”

At once, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. ⁶¹ The Lord turned around and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered that the Lord had said to him, “Before the rooster crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.” ⁶² Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Jesus Is Mocked and Beaten^(AL)

⁶³ The men who were guarding Jesus made fun of him and beat him. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and asked him, “Who hit you? Guess!” ⁶⁵ And they said many other insulting things to him.

Jesus before the Council^(AM)

⁶⁶ When day came, the elders, the chief priests, and the teachers of the Law met together, and Jesus was brought before the Council. ⁶⁷ “Tell us,” they said, “are you the Messiah?”

He answered, “If I tell you, you will not believe me; ⁶⁸ and if I ask you a question, you will not answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right side of Almighty God.”

⁷⁰ They all said, “Are you, then, the Son of God?”

He answered them, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ And they said, “We don't need any witnesses! We ourselves have heard what he said!”

Jesus before Pilate^(AN)

23 The whole group rose up and took Jesus before Pilate, ² where they began to accuse him: “We caught this man misleading our people, telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor and claiming that he himself is the Messiah, a king.”

³ Pilate asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“So you say,” answered Jesus.

⁴ Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no reason to condemn this man.”

⁵ But they insisted even more strongly, “With his teaching he is starting a riot among the people all through Judea. He began in Galilee and now has come here.”

Jesus before Herod

⁶ When Pilate heard this, he asked, “Is this man a Galilean?” ⁷ When he learned that Jesus was from the region ruled by Herod, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. ⁸ Herod was very pleased when he saw Jesus, because he had heard about him and had been wanting to see him for a long time. He was hoping to see Jesus perform some miracle. ⁹ So Herod asked Jesus many questions, but Jesus made no answer. ¹⁰ The chief priests and the teachers of the Law stepped forward and made strong accusations against Jesus. ¹¹ Herod and his soldiers made fun of Jesus and treated him with contempt; then they put a fine robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. ¹² On that very day Herod and Pilate became friends; before this they had been enemies.

Jesus Is Sentenced to Death^(AO)

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought this man to me and said that he was misleading the people. Now, I have examined him here in your presence, and I have not found him guilty of any of the crimes you accuse him of. ¹⁵ Nor did Herod find him guilty, for he sent him back to us. There is nothing this man has done to deserve death. ¹⁶ So I will have him whipped and let him go.” ^17 [d]

¹⁸ The whole crowd cried out, “Kill him! Set Barabbas free for us!” (¹⁹ Barabbas had been put in prison for a riot that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰ Pilate wanted to set Jesus free, so he appealed to the crowd again. ²¹ But they shouted back, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² Pilate said to them the third time, “But what crime has he committed? I cannot find anything he has done to deserve death! I will have him whipped and set him free.”

²³ But they kept on shouting at the top of their voices that Jesus should be crucified, and finally their shouting succeeded. ²⁴ So Pilate passed the sentence on Jesus that they were asking for. ²⁵ He set free the man they wanted, the one who had been put in prison for riot and murder, and he handed Jesus over for them to do as they wished.

Jesus Is Crucified^(AP)

²⁶ The soldiers led Jesus away, and as they were going, they met a man from Cyrene named Simon who was coming into the city from the country. They seized him, put the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.

²⁷ A large crowd of people followed him; among them were some women who were weeping and wailing for him. ²⁸ Jesus turned to them and said, “Women of Jerusalem! Don't cry for me, but for yourselves and your children. ²⁹ For the days are coming when people will say, ‘How lucky are the women who never had children, who never bore babies, who never nursed them!’ ^30 (AQ)That will be the time when people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Hide us!’ ³¹ For if such things as these are done when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

³² Two other men, both of them criminals, were also led out to be put to death with Jesus. ³³ When they came to the place called “The Skull,” they crucified Jesus there, and the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left. ^34 (AR)Jesus said, “Forgive them, Father! They don't know what they are doing.”^[e]

They divided his clothes among themselves by throwing dice. ^35 (AS)The people stood there watching while the Jewish leaders made fun of him: “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah whom God has chosen!”

^36 (AT)The soldiers also made fun of him: they came up to him and offered him cheap wine, ³⁷ and said, “Save yourself if you are the king of the Jews!”

³⁸ Above him were written these words: “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹ One of the criminals hanging there hurled insults at him: “Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰ The other one, however, rebuked him, saying, “Don't you fear God? You received the same sentence he did. ⁴¹ Ours, however, is only right, because we are getting what we deserve for what we did; but he has done no wrong.” ⁴² And he said to Jesus, “Remember me, Jesus, when you come as King!”

⁴³ Jesus said to him, “I promise you that today you will be in Paradise with me.”

The Death of Jesus^(AU)

^44-45 (AV)It was about twelve o'clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o'clock; and the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. ^46 (AW)Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father! In your hands I place my spirit!” He said this and died.

⁴⁷ The army officer saw what had happened, and he praised God, saying, “Certainly he was a good man!”

⁴⁸ When the people who had gathered there to watch the spectacle saw what happened, they all went back home, beating their breasts in sorrow. ^49 (AX)All those who knew Jesus personally, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance to watch.

The Burial of Jesus^(AY)

^50-51 There was a man named Joseph from Arimathea, a town in Judea. He was a good and honorable man, who was waiting for the coming of the Kingdom of God. Although he was a member of the Council, he had not agreed with their decision and action. ⁵² He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁵³ Then he took the body down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock and which had never been used. ⁵⁴ It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵ The women who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus' body was placed in it. ^56 (AZ)Then they went back home and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body.

On the Sabbath they rested, as the Law commanded.

The Resurrection^(BA)

24 Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices they had prepared. ² They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, ³ so they went in; but they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. ⁴ They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. ⁵ Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, “Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? ^6 (BB)He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.’”

⁸ Then the women remembered his words, ⁹ returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. ¹⁰ The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. ¹¹ But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and they did not believe them. ¹² But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the grave cloths but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.^[f]

The Walk to Emmaus^(BC)

¹³ On that same day two of Jesus' followers were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking to each other about all the things that had happened. ¹⁵ As they talked and discussed, Jesus himself drew near and walked along with them; ¹⁶ they saw him, but somehow did not recognize him. ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?”

They stood still, with sad faces. ¹⁸ One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?”

¹⁹ “What things?” he asked.

“The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. ²⁰ Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. ²¹ And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. ²² Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, ²³ but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive. ²⁴ Some of our group went to the tomb and found it exactly as the women had said, but they did not see him.”

²⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! ²⁶ Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” ²⁷ And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.

²⁸ As they came near the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther; ²⁹ but they held him back, saying, “Stay with us; the day is almost over and it is getting dark.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ He sat down to eat with them, took the bread, and said the blessing; then he broke the bread and gave it to them. ³¹ Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he disappeared from their sight. ³² They said to each other, “Wasn't it like a fire burning in us when he talked to us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?”

³³ They got up at once and went back to Jerusalem, where they found the eleven disciples gathered together with the others ³⁴ and saying, “The Lord is risen indeed! He has appeared to Simon!”

³⁵ The two then explained to them what had happened on the road, and how they had recognized the Lord when he broke the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples^(BD)

³⁶ While the two were telling them this, suddenly the Lord himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”^[g]

³⁷ They were terrified, thinking that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸ But he said to them, “Why are you alarmed? Why are these doubts coming up in your minds? ³⁹ Look at my hands and my feet, and see that it is I myself. Feel me, and you will know, for a ghost doesn't have flesh and bones, as you can see I have.”

⁴⁰ He said this and showed them his hands and his feet.^{[h] 41} They still could not believe, they were so full of joy and wonder; so he asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of cooked fish, ⁴³ which he took and ate in their presence.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are the very things I told you about while I was still with you: everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and the Psalms had to come true.”

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “This is what is written: the Messiah must suffer and must rise from death three days later, ⁴⁷ and in his name the message about repentance and the forgiveness of sins must be preached to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ^49 (BE)And I myself will send upon you what my Father has promised. But you must wait in the city until the power from above comes down upon you.”

Jesus Is Taken Up to Heaven^(BF)

^50 (BG)Then he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where he raised his hands and blessed them. ^51 (BH)As he was blessing them, he departed from them and was taken up into heaven.^{[i] 52} They worshiped him and went back into Jerusalem, filled with great joy, ⁵³ and spent all their time in the Temple giving thanks to God.

The Word of Life

1 In the beginning the Word already existed; the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² From the very beginning the Word was with God. ³ Through him God made all things; not one thing in all creation was made without him. ⁴ The Word was the source of life,^[j] and this life brought light to people. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.

^6 (BI)God sent his messenger, a man named John, ⁷ who came to tell people about the light, so that all should hear the message and believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came to tell about the light. ⁹ This was the real light—the light that comes into the world and shines on all people.

¹⁰ The Word was in the world, and though God made the world through him, yet the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to his own country, but his own people did not receive him. ¹² Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children. ¹³ They did not become God's children by natural means, that is, by being born as the children of a human father; God himself was their Father.

¹⁴ The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father's only Son.

¹⁵ John spoke about him. He cried out, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘He comes after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’”

¹⁶ Out of the fullness of his grace he has blessed us all, giving us one blessing after another. ¹⁷ God gave the Law through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

John the Baptist's Message^(BJ)

¹⁹ The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly, saying: “I am not the Messiah.”

^21 (BK)“Who are you, then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”

“No, I am not,” John answered.

“Are you the Prophet?”^[k] they asked.

“No,” he replied.

²² “Then tell us who you are,” they said. “We have to take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

^23 (BL)John answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah:

²⁴ The messengers, who had been sent by the Pharisees, ²⁵ then^[l] asked John, “If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”

²⁶ John answered, “I baptize with water, but among you stands the one you do not know. ²⁷ He is coming after me, but I am not good enough even to untie his sandals.”

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

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’ ³¹ I did not know who he would be, but I came baptizing with water in order to make him known to the people of Israel.”

³² And John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on him. ³³ I still did not know that he was the one, but God, who sent me to baptize with water, had said to me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man; he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I have seen it,” said John, “and I tell you that he is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples of Jesus

³⁵ The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples, ³⁶ when he saw Jesus walking by. “There is the Lamb of God!” he said.

³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this and went with Jesus. ³⁸ Jesus turned, saw them following him, and asked, “What are you looking for?”

They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” (This word means “Teacher.”)

³⁹ “Come and see,” he answered. (It was then about four o'clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him.

⁴⁰ One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹ At once he found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” (This word means “Christ.”) ⁴² Then he took Simon to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (This is the same as Peter and means “a rock.”)

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come with me!” (⁴⁴ Philip was from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter lived.) ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law and whom the prophets also wrote about. He is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶ “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” answered Philip.

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, “Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!”

⁴⁸ Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?”

Jesus answered, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

⁴⁹ “Teacher,” answered Nathanael, “you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰ Jesus said, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you when you were under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than this!” ^51 (BM)And he said to them, “I am telling you the truth: you will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”

The Wedding in Cana

2 Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine had given out, Jesus' mother said to him, “They are out of wine.”

⁴ “You must not tell me what to do,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

⁵ Jesus' mother then told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶ The Jews have rules about ritual washing, and for this purpose six stone water jars were there, each one large enough to hold between twenty and thirty gallons. ⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill these jars with water.” They filled them to the brim, ⁸ and then he told them, “Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.” They took him the water, ⁹ which now had turned into wine, and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from (but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew); so he called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have drunk a lot, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now!”

¹¹ Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee; there he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

^12 (BN)After this, Jesus and his mother, brothers, and disciples went to Capernaum and stayed there a few days.

Jesus Goes to the Temple^(BO)

^13 (BP)It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴ There in the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables. ¹⁵ So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple, both the sheep and the cattle; he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins; ¹⁶ and he ordered those who sold the pigeons, “Take them out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!” ^17 (BQ)His disciples remembered that the scripture says, “My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire.”

¹⁸ The Jewish authorities came back at him with a question, “What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?”

^19 (BR)Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.”

²⁰ “Are you going to build it again in three days?” they asked him. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!”

²¹ But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body. ²² So when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had said.

Jesus' Knowledge of Human Nature

²³ While Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in him as they saw the miracles he performed. ²⁴ But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew them all. ²⁵ There was no need for anyone to tell him about them, because he himself knew what was in their hearts.

Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. ² One night he went to Jesus and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him.”

³ Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”^[m]

⁴ “How can a grown man be born again?” Nicodemus asked. “He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time!”

⁵ “I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus, “that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶ A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. ⁷ Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again.^{[n] 8} The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can this be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “You are a great teacher in Israel, and you don't know this? ¹¹ I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message. ^12 (BS)You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven? ^13 (BT)And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven.”^[o]

^14 (BU)As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶ For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.

¹⁸ Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. ¹⁹ This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. ²⁰ Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. ²¹ But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.

Jesus and John

²² After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the province of Judea, where he spent some time with them and baptized. ²³ John also was baptizing in Aenon, not far from Salim, because there was plenty of water in that place. People were going to him, and he was baptizing them. (^24 (BV)This was before John had been put in prison.)

²⁵ Some of John's disciples began arguing with a Jew^[p] about the matter of ritual washing. ²⁶ So they went to John and told him, “Teacher, you remember the man who was with you on the east side of the Jordan, the one you spoke about? Well, he is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷ John answered, “No one can have anything unless God gives it. ^28 (BW)You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹ The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom's voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete. ³⁰ He must become more important while I become less important.”

He Who Comes from Heaven

³¹ He who comes from above is greater than all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly matters, but he who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He tells what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his message. ³³ But whoever accepts his message confirms by this that God is truthful. ³⁴ The one whom God has sent speaks God's words, because God gives him the fullness of his Spirit. ^35 (BX)The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his power. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God's punishment.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4 The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. (² Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) ³ So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; ⁴ on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

^5 (BY)In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the trip, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” (⁸ His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

^9 (BZ)The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)^[q]

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “If you only knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ¹² It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his children and his flocks all drank from it. You don't claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Those who drink this water will get thirsty again, ¹⁴ but those who drink the water that I will give them will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give them will become in them a spring which will provide them with life-giving water and give them eternal life.”

¹⁵ “Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ “Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

¹⁷ “I don't have a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you don't have a husband. ¹⁸ You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

¹⁹ “I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ²⁰ “My Samaritan ancestors worshiped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

²¹ Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. ²³ But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God's Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. ²⁴ God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

²⁶ Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

²⁷ At that moment Jesus' disciples returned, and they were greatly surprised to find him talking with a woman. But none of them said to her, “What do you want?” or asked him, “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then the woman left her water jar, went back to the town, and said to the people there, ²⁹ “Come and see the man who told me everything I have ever done. Could he be the Messiah?” ³⁰ So they left the town and went to Jesus.

³¹ In the meantime the disciples were begging Jesus, “Teacher, have something to eat!”

³² But he answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

³³ So the disciples started asking among themselves, “Could somebody have brought him food?”

³⁴ “My food,” Jesus said to them, “is to obey the will of the one who sent me and to finish the work he gave me to do. ³⁵ You have a saying, ‘Four more months and then the harvest.’ But I tell you, take a good look at the fields; the crops are now ripe and ready to be harvested! ³⁶ The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life; so the one who plants and the one who reaps will be glad together. ³⁷ For the saying is true, ‘Someone plants, someone else reaps.’ ³⁸ I have sent you to reap a harvest in a field where you did not work; others worked there, and you profit from their work.”

³⁹ Many of the Samaritans in that town believed in Jesus because the woman had said, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they begged him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there two days.

⁴¹ Many more believed because of his message, ⁴² and they told the woman, “We believe now, not because of what you said, but because we ourselves have heard him, and we know that he really is the Savior of the world.”

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

⁴³ After spending two days there, Jesus left and went to Galilee. ^44 (CA)For he himself had said, “Prophets are not respected in their own country.” ^45 (CB)When he arrived in Galilee, the people there welcomed him, because they had gone to the Passover Festival in Jerusalem and had seen everything that he had done during the festival.

^46 (CC)Then Jesus went back to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. A government official was there whose son was sick in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to go to Capernaum and heal his son, who was about to die. ⁴⁸ Jesus said to him, “None of you will ever believe unless you see miracles and wonders.”

⁴⁹ “Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!”

The man believed Jesus' words and went. ⁵¹ On his way home his servants met him with the news, “Your boy is going to live!”

⁵² He asked them what time it was when his son got better, and they answered, “It was one o'clock yesterday afternoon when the fever left him.” ⁵³ Then the father remembered that it was at that very hour when Jesus had told him, “Your son will live.” So he and all his family believed.

⁵⁴ This was the second miracle that Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

The Healing at the Pool

5 After this, Jesus went to Jerusalem for a religious festival. ² Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool^[r] with five porches; in Hebrew it is called Bethzatha.^{[s] 3} A large crowd of sick people were lying on the porches—the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. ^{4 [t] 5} A man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶ Jesus saw him lying there, and he knew that the man had been sick for such a long time; so he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ The sick man answered, “Sir, I don't have anyone here to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am trying to get in, somebody else gets there first.”

⁸ Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.” ⁹ Immediately the man got well; he picked up his mat and started walking.

The day this happened was a Sabbath, ^10 (CD)so the Jewish authorities told the man who had been healed, “This is a Sabbath, and it is against our Law for you to carry your mat.”

¹¹ He answered, “The man who made me well told me to pick up my mat and walk.”

¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to do this?”

¹³ But the man who had been healed did not know who Jesus was, for there was a crowd in that place, and Jesus had slipped away.

¹⁴ Afterward, Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “Listen, you are well now; so stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

¹⁵ Then the man left and told the Jewish authorities that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶ So they began to persecute Jesus, because he had done this healing on a Sabbath. ¹⁷ Jesus answered them, “My Father is always working, and I too must work.”

^18 (CE)This saying made the Jewish authorities all the more determined to kill him; not only had he broken the Sabbath law, but he had said that God was his own Father and in this way had made himself equal with God.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹ So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the truth: the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing. What the Father does, the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. He will show him even greater things to do than this, and you will all be amazed. ²¹ Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, in the same way the Son gives life to those he wants to. ²² Nor does the Father himself judge anyone. He has given his Son the full right to judge, ²³ so that all will honor the Son in the same way as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

²⁴ “I am telling you the truth: those who hear my words and believe in him who sent me have eternal life. They will not be judged, but have already passed from death to life. ²⁵ I am telling you the truth: the time is coming—the time has already come—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will come to life. ²⁶ Just as the Father is himself the source of life, in the same way he has made his Son to be the source of life. ²⁷ And he has given the Son the right to judge, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Do not be surprised at this; the time is coming when all the dead will hear his voice ^29 (CF)and come out of their graves: those who have done good will rise and live, and those who have done evil will rise and be condemned.

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own authority; I judge only as God tells me, so my judgment is right, because I am not trying to do what I want, but only what he who sent me wants.

³¹ “If I testify on my own behalf, what I say is not to be accepted as real proof. ³² But there is someone else who testifies on my behalf, and I know that what he says about me is true. ^33 (CG)John is the one to whom you sent your messengers, and he spoke on behalf of the truth. ³⁴ It is not that I must have a human witness; I say this only in order that you may be saved. ^35 (CH)John was like a lamp, burning and shining, and you were willing for a while to enjoy his light. ³⁶ But I have a witness on my behalf which is even greater than the witness that John gave: what I do, that is, the deeds my Father gave me to do, these speak on my behalf and show that the Father has sent me. ^37 (CI)And the Father, who sent me, also testifies on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his face, ³⁸ and you do not keep his message in your hearts, for you do not believe in the one whom he sent. ^39 (CJ)You study the Scriptures, because you think that in them you will find eternal life. And these very Scriptures speak about me! ⁴⁰ Yet you are not willing to come to me in order to have life.

⁴¹ “I am not looking for human praise. ⁴² But I know what kind of people you are, and I know that you have no love for God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come with my Father's authority, but you have not received me; when, however, someone comes with his own authority, you will receive him. ⁴⁴ You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me? ⁴⁵ Do not think, however, that I am the one who will accuse you to my Father. Moses, in whom you have put your hope, is the very one who will accuse you. ⁴⁶ If you had really believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me. ⁴⁷ But since you do not believe what he wrote, how can you believe what I say?”