Bible in 90 Days
New Manna in the Wilderness
6 Afterwards, Yeshua went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2 A large crowd kept following Him, because they were watching the signs He was performing on the sick. 3 Then Yeshua went up the mountainside and sat down there with His disciples. 4 Passover, the Jewish feast, was near.
5 Lifting up His eyes and seeing a large crowd coming to Him, Yeshua said to Philip, “Where will we buy bread so these may eat?” 6 Now Yeshua was saying this to test him, for He knew what He was about to do.
7 Philip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii[a] isn’t enough to buy bread for each to get a little bit!”
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to Him, 9 “There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what’s that for so many?”
10 Yeshua said, “Make the people recline.” There was much grass in the area. So the men reclined, about five thousand in number. 11 Then Yeshua picked up the loaves. And having given thanks, He distributed bread to everyone who was reclining. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.
12 When the people were full, Yeshua said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftovers, so nothing is wasted.” 13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had finished eating.
14 When the people saw the sign that Yeshua performed, they began to say, “This is most certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world!” [b] 15 Realizing that they were about to come and seize Him by force to make Him king, Yeshua withdrew again to the mountain, Himself alone.
The Savior on the Sea
16 Now when evening came, Yeshua’s disciples went down to the sea. 17 Getting into a boat, they set out to cross the sea toward Capernaum. By now it had become dark, and still Yeshua had not come to them. 18 A great wind began to blow, stirring up the sea.
19 After they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia,[c] they catch sight of Yeshua walking on the sea, approaching the boat. They were terrified! 20 But Yeshua says to them, “I am. Don’t be afraid.” [d] 21 Then they wanted to take Him into the boat, and right away the boat reached the shore where they were headed.
The Bread from Heaven
22 The next day, the crowd remaining on the other side of the sea realized that no other boat had been there except the one, and that Yeshua hadn’t gone into the boat with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away alone. 23 Some other boats from Tiberias came close to the place where they had eaten the bread after the Master had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd realized that neither Yeshua nor His disciples were there, they got into the boats and set off for Capernaum to find Him. 25 When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said, “Rabbi, when did You get here?”
26 Yeshua responded to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate all the bread and were filled. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on Him, God the Father has put the seal of approval.”
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do to perform the works of God?”
29 Yeshua answered them, “This is the work of God, to trust in the One He sent.”
30 So they said to Him, “Then what sign do You perform, so that we may see and believe You? What work do You do? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘Out of heaven He gave them bread to eat.’”[e]
32 Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, it isn’t Moses who has given you bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One coming down from heaven and giving life to the world.”
34 So they said to Him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on!”
35 Yeshua said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in Me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen Me, yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and anyone coming to Me I will never reject. 38 For I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of the One who sent Me.
39 “Now this is the will of the One who sent Me, that I lose not one of all He has given Me, but raise each one on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who sees the Son and trusts in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
41 Some of the Judeans[f] started to grumble about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Isn’t this Yeshua the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
43 Yeshua answered, “Stop grumbling among yourselves! 44 No one can come to Me unless My Father who sent Me draws him—and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’[g] Everyone who has listened and learned from the Father comes to Me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God—He has seen the Father.
47 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. This bread is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Jews began arguing with one another, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?”
53 So Yeshua said to them, “Amen, amen I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. 54 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
55 “For My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. 56 He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. 57 Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who eats of Me will also live because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven—not like the bread your fathers ate and then died. He who eats this bread will live forever.”
59 He said these things while teaching at the synagogue in Capernaum.
Fallout from a Hard Teaching
60 So when many of His disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can listen to it?”
61 But Yeshua knew His disciples were murmuring, so He said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you see the Son of Man going back up to the place where He was before? 63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are life! 64 Yet some of you do not trust.” Yeshua knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not trust, as well as which one would betray Him.
65 Then He told them, “For this reason I’ve told you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”
66 From this time, many of His disciples left and quit walking with Him. 67 So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to leave also, do you?”
68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life! 69 We have trusted and have come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
70 Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is the adversary!” 71 Now He was speaking of Judah, the son of Simon of Kriot—for he, one of the Twelve, was about to betray Him.
Anticipating Hostility at Sukkot
7 After these events, Yeshua was walking about in the Galilee. He did not want to walk in Judea, because the Judean leaders wanted to kill Him. 2 Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles[h] was near. 3 Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so Your disciples also may see the works You are doing. 4 No one who wants to be well known does everything in secret. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world!” 5 For not even His brothers were trusting in Him.
6 Therefore Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go on up to the Feast. I’m not going to this feast, because My time hasn’t yet fully come.” 9 After saying these things, He stayed in the Galilee.
10 But after His brothers went to the Feast, He also went, not openly but secretly. 11 Then the Judean leaders were searching for Him at the Feast and kept asking, “Where is that fellow?” 12 There was a lot of murmuring about Him in the crowds. Some were saying, “He is good.” But others were saying, “Not so! He leads the people astray.” 13 Yet no one spoke openly about Him for fear of the Judean leaders.
Teaching at the Temple
14 About halfway through the Feast, Yeshua went up to the Temple and began teaching. 15 Then the Judean leaders were amazed, saying, “How does this man know so much, having never been taught?”[i]
16 Yeshua answered, “My teaching is not from Me, but from Him who sent Me. 17 If anyone wants to do His will, he will know whether My teaching comes from God or it is Myself speaking. 18 Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true and there is no unrighteousness in Him. 19 Hasn’t Moses given you the Torah? Yet none of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”
20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who’s trying to kill you?”
21 Yeshua answered, “I did one good work, and all of you are amazed. 22 Because Moses has given you circumcision (though it is not from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a man on Shabbat. 23 If a man receives circumcision on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry that I healed a man’s whole body on Shabbat? 24 Do not judge by appearance, but judge righteously.”
25 Then some of the people from Jerusalem were saying, “Isn’t this the person they’re trying to kill? 26 Look, He speaks openly and they’re saying nothing to Him. Can it be that the leaders know He is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this person is from. But the Messiah, whenever He may come, no one knows where He is from.”
28 Then, while teaching in the Temple courts, Yeshua cried out, “You know both who I am and where I am from! I have not come on My own, but the One who sent Me is true. You do not know Him, 29 but I know Him because I am from Him and He sent Me.”
30 Then they were trying to seize Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. 31 Yet many from the crowd believed in Him and were saying, “When the Messiah comes, He won’t perform more signs than this person has, will He?” 32 The Pharisees heard people in the crowd murmuring these things about Him, and the ruling kohanim and Pharisees sent guards to arrest Him.
33 Yeshua said, “I am with you only a little while longer, and then I am going to the One who sent Me. 34 You will look for Me but will not find Me. Where I am, you cannot come.”
35 The Judean leaders then said among themselves, “Where is this person about to go that we shall not find Him? He’s not going to the Diaspora to teach the Greeks, is He? 36 What did He mean by saying, ‘You will look for Me but will not find Me. Where I am, you cannot come’?”
Satisfying Spiritual Thirst
37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Yeshua stood up and cried out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, ‘out of his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” [j] 39 Now He said this about the Ruach, whom those who trusted in Him were going to receive; for the Ruach[k] was not yet given, since Yeshua was not yet glorified.
40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd said, “This man really is the Prophet.” 41 Others were saying, “This is the Messiah.” Still others were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from the Galilee, does He? 42 Didn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, David’s town?” [l] 43 So a division arose in the crowd because of Yeshua. 44 Some wanted to capture Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
Religious Adversaries
45 Then the guards returned to the ruling kohanim and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring Him?”
46 “Never has anyone spoken like this man,” the guards answered.
47 The Pharisees responded, “You haven’t been led astray also, have you? 48 Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him? 49 No, but this mob that doesn’t know the Torah—they are cursed!”
50 Nicodemus, the one who had come to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, 51 “Our Torah doesn’t judge a man unless it first hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?”
52 They answered him, “You aren’t from the Galilee too, are you? Search, and see that no prophet comes out of the Galilee!”[m]
53 Then everyone went to his own house.
Mercy for a Sinful Woman
8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. 2 At dawn, He came again into the Temple. All the people were coming to Him, and He sat down and began to teach them.
3 The Torah scholars and Pharisees bring in a woman who had been caught in adultery. After putting her in the middle, 4 they say to Yeshua, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of committing adultery. 5 In the Torah, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do You say?” 6 Now they were saying this to trap Him, so that they would have grounds to accuse Him.
But Yeshua knelt down and started writing in the dirt with His finger. 7 When they kept asking Him, He stood up and said, “The sinless one among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Then He knelt down again and continued writing on the ground.
9 Now when they heard, they began to leave, one by one, the oldest ones first, until Yeshua was left alone with the woman in the middle. 10 Straightening up, Yeshua said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”
11 “No one, Sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,” Yeshua said. “Go, and sin no more.”
The Light of the World
12 Yeshua spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows Me will no longer walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
13 Then the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself, so Your testimony is not valid.”
14 Yeshua answered them, “Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is valid. For I know where I came from and where I am going. But you don’t know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh, but I do not judge anyone. 16 Yet even if I do judge, My judgment is true, because it is not I alone but I with the Father who sent Me. 17 Even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two men is true. [n] 18 I am one witness for Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness for Me.”
19 Then they said to Him, “Where is your Father?”
Yeshua answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would also know My Father.” 20 He spoke these words in the treasury while teaching in the Temple, but no one arrested Him because His hour had not yet come.
21 Then again Yeshua spoke to them, “I am going away. You will look for Me and die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”
22 “He won’t kill Himself, will He?” the Judeans asked. “Is that why He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”
23 Yeshua said, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
25 So they asked Him, “Who are you?”
Yeshua replied, “What have I been telling you from the beginning? 26 I have much to say and judge about you. But the One who sent Me is true, and I tell the world what I heard from Him.” 27 They didn’t understand that He was talking to them about the Father.
28 So Yeshua said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know who I am. I do nothing by Myself, but speak just what the Father has taught Me. 29 The One who sent Me is with Me. He has not left Me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to Him.”
30 As He was speaking these things, many people put their trust in Him.
31 Then Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted Him, “If you abide in My word, then you are truly My disciples. 32 You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free!”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s children and have never been slaves to anyone! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now the slave does not remain in the household forever; the son abides forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! 37 I know you are Abraham’s children; yet you are trying to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. 38 I tell of what I have seen with the Father; so also you do what you heard from the Father.”[o]
39 “Abraham is our father,” they replied to Him.
Yeshua said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. 40 But now you are seeking to kill Me—a Man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. This Abraham did not do! 41 You are doing the deeds of your father.”
They said to Him, “We were not born as illegitimate children—we have one Father, God Himself!”
42 Yeshua said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for from God I came and now I am here. For I have not come on My own, but He sent Me. 43 Why don’t you understand My speech? Because you’re not able to hear My word! 44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks lies he is just being himself—for he is a liar and the father of lies.
45 “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 Which one of you convicts Me of sinning? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe Me? 47 He who belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you don’t hear[p] is because you do not belong to God.”
48 The Judean leaders responded, “Aren’t we right to say you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49 Yeshua answered, “I do not have a demon! I honor My Father, yet you dishonor Me. 50 But I do not seek My own glory; there is One who is seeking and judging. 51 Amen, amen I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”
52 “Now we know You have a demon!” the Judean leaders said to Him. “Abraham and the prophets died. Yet You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word, he will never taste death.’ 53 You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, are You? The prophets also died! Who do You make Yourself out to be?”
54 Yeshua answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who gives Me glory—the One of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ [q] 55 Yet you do not know Him, but I know Him. If I say I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you. Yet I do know Him and keep His Word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; he saw it and was thrilled.”
57 Then the Judeans said to Him, “You’re not even fifty years old and you’ve seen Abraham?”[r]
58 Yeshua answered, “Amen, amen I tell you, before Abraham was, I am!”
59 Then they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Yeshua hid Himself and went out from the Temple.[s]
Bringing Light to the Blind
9 As Yeshua was passing by, He saw a man who had been blind since birth. 2 His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?”
3 Yeshua answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This happened so that the works of God might be brought to light in him. 4 We must do the work of the One who sent Me, so long as it is day! Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
6 Having said these things, He spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the blind man’s eyes. 7 He told him, “Go, wash in the Pool of Siloam” (which is translated Sent). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing.
8 Therefore his neighbors and those who had seen him as a beggar kept saying, “Isn’t this the one who used to sit and beg?”
9 “This is the one!” some said.
“No, but it looks like him,” said others.
But the man himself kept saying, “I am!”
10 So they asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”
11 He answered, “The Man who is called Yeshua made mud, rubbed it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and then I received my sight!”
12 “Where is He?” they asked him.
“I don’t know,” he said.
13 They bring to the Pharisees the man who once was blind. 14 Now the day was Shabbat when Yeshua made the mud and opened the man’s eyes. 15 So again the Pharisees were asking him how he received his sight. He responded, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see!”
16 So some of the Pharisees began saying, “This man isn’t from God, because He doesn’t keep Shabbat!” But others were saying, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So there was a split among them.
17 Again they say to the blind man, “What do you say about Him, since He opened your eyes?”
And he said, “He’s a prophet.”
18 So the Judean leaders didn’t believe that he had been blind and received his sight until they called his parents. 19 They questioned them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? Then how does he see now?”
20 Then his parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 We don’t know how he now sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him—he’s old enough. He will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Judean leaders. For the Judean leaders had already agreed that anyone who professed Yeshua to be Messiah would be thrown out of the synagogue. 23 That’s why his parents said, “He’s old enough—ask him.”
24 So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner!”
25 The man replied, “I don’t know whether He’s a sinner. One thing I do know is that I was blind, but now I see!”
26 So they asked him, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”
27 “I told you already and you didn’t listen!” the man responded. “What, do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become His disciples too, do you?”
28 They railed at him and said, “You’re a disciple of that One, but we’re disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses; but as for this fellow, we don’t know where He is from.”
30 The man replied to them, “That’s amazing! You don’t know where He is from, yet He opened my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears Him and does His will, He hears this one. 32 Since the beginning of the world, no one has ever heard that anyone has opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, He couldn’t do anything.”
34 They replied to him, “You were born completely in sin, and you’re teaching us?” And they threw him out.
Is Seeing Believing?
35 Yeshua heard that they had thrown him out. Finding him, He said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[t]
36 The man answered, “Who is He, Sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in Him!”
37 Yeshua said, “You have seen Him—He is the One speaking with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.
39 Yeshua said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who don’t see may see, and the ones who do see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard Him say this and asked, “We’re not blind too, are we?”
41 Yeshua said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ So your sin remains.”
The Faithful Hear the Shepherd’s Voice
10 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. 2 But he who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. The shepherd calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
4 “When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. 5 They will never follow a stranger, but will run away from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.” 6 Yeshua told them this parable, but they did not understand what He was telling them.
7 So Yeshua said again, “Amen, amen I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All those who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate![u] If anyone comes in through Me, he will be saved. He will come and go and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal, slaughter, and destroy. I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly!
11 “I am the Good Shepherd.[v] The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12 The hired worker is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees. Then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. 13 The man is only a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
14 “I am the Good Shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me, 15 just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not from this fold; those also I must lead, and they will listen to My voice. So there shall be one flock, one Shepherd.
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life, so that I may take it up again. 18 No one takes it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own. I have the authority to lay it down, and I have the authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”
19 Again a division arose among the Judeans because of these words. 20 Many of them were saying, “He has a demon. He’s insane! Why listen to Him?” 21 Others said, “These are not the sayings of someone who is plagued by a demon. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can it?”
Some Despise the Light and Harden
22 Then came Hanukkah;[w] it was winter in Jerusalem. 23 Yeshua was walking in the Temple around Solomon’s Colonnade. 24 Then the Judean leaders surrounded Him, saying, “How long will You hold us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us outright!”
25 Yeshua answered them, “I told you, but you don’t believe! The works I do in My Father’s name testify concerning Me. 26 But you don’t believe, because you are not My sheep. 27 My sheep hear My voice. I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life! They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. And no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
31 Again the Judean leaders picked up stones to stone Him. 32 Yeshua answered them, “I’ve shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone Me?”
33 The Judean leaders answered, “We aren’t stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy. Though You are a man, You make Yourself God!”
34 Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Writings,[x] ‘I have said you are gods’? 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the Word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him, the One the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You speak blasphemy,’ because I said, ‘I am Ben-Elohim’?
37 “If I don’t do the works of My Father, don’t believe Me! 38 But if I do, even if you don’t trust Me, trust the deeds. Then you may come to know and continue to understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.” 39 Therefore they tried to capture Him again, but He escaped from their hand.
40 Again He went back across the Jordan to the place where John first started immersing, and He stayed there. 41 Many people came to Him and were saying, “John performed no sign, but all John said about this man was true.” 42 And many trusted in Him there.
Lazarus Is Dead
11 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Miriam and her sister Martha. 2 This was the same Miriam who anointed the Master with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3 So the sisters sent a word to Yeshua, saying, “Master, the one you love is sick!”
4 When Yeshua heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. It is for God’s glory, so that Ben-Elohim may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Yeshua loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 However, when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two more days.
7 Then after this, He said to His disciples, “Let’s go up to Judea again.”
8 “Rabbi,” the disciples say to Him, “just now the Judean leaders were trying to stone You! And You’re going back there again?”
9 Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of the world. 10 But if a man should walk around at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11 After He said this, He tells them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m going there to wake him up.”
12 So the disciples said to Him, “Master, if he has fallen asleep, he will get better.” 13 Now Yeshua had spoken about his death, but they thought He was talking about ordinary sleep.
14 Then Yeshua told them clearly, “Lazarus is dead! 15 I’m glad for your sake I wasn’t there, so that you may believe. Anyway, let’s go to him!”
16 Then Thomas called the Twin[y] said to the other disciples, “Let’s go too, so that we may die with Him!”
Comforting the Mourners
17 So when Yeshua arrived, He discovered that Lazarus had been in the tomb already for four days. 18 Bethany was less than two miles[z] from Jerusalem, 19 and many of the Judeans had come to Martha and Miriam to console them about their brother.
20 When Martha heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Miriam sat in the house. 21 Martha said to Yeshua, “Master, if You had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died! 22 But I know, even now, that whatever You may ask of God, He will give You.”
23 Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha said to Him, “I know, he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Yeshua said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life! Whoever believes in Me, even if he dies, shall live. 26 And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
27 She says to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, Ben-Elohim who has come into the world.” 28 After she said this, she left and secretly told her sister Miriam, “The Teacher is here, and He’s calling for you.” 29 As soon as Miriam heard, she quickly got up and was coming to Him. 30 Now Yeshua had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met Him. 31 The Judeans, who were with Miriam in the house and comforting her, seeing how quickly she got up and went out, followed her. They thought she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32 So when Miriam came to where Yeshua was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died!”
33 When Yeshua saw her weeping, and the Judeans who came with her weeping, He was deeply troubled in spirit and Himself agitated. 34 “Where have you laid him?” He asked.
“Come and see, Master,” they tell Him.
35 Yeshua wept. 36 So the Judeans said, “See how He loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Couldn’t this One, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have also kept this man from dying?”
Yeshua’s Word Raises the Dead
38 So Yeshua, again deeply troubled within Himself, comes to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Yeshua says, “Roll away the stone!”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to Him, “Master, by this time he stinks! He’s been dead for four days!”
40 Yeshua says to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they rolled away the stone. Yeshua lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard Me. 42 I knew that You always hear Me; but because of this crowd standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43 And when He had said this, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 He who had been dead came out, wrapped in burial clothes binding his hands and feet, with a cloth over his face. And Yeshua tells them, “Cut him loose, and let him go!”
Better that One Man Die
45 Therefore many of the Judeans, who had come to Miriam and had seen what Yeshua had done, put their trust in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Yeshua had done.
47 So the ruling kohanim and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we doing?” they asked. “This Man is performing many signs! 48 If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our holy place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was kohen gadol that year, said to them, “You know nothing! 50 You don’t take into account that it is better for you that one man die for the people rather than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”
51 Now he did not say this by himself; but as the kohen gadol that year, he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation. [aa] 52 And not for the nation only, but also so that He might gather together into one the scattered children of God.[ab]
53 So from that day on, they plotted to kill Him. 54 Therefore Yeshua no longer walked openly among the Judeans, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with His disciples.
55 Now the Jewish Passover was near; and many people went up out of the regions to Jerusalem before Passover, to purify themselves. 56 So they were searching for Yeshua, saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think? Won’t He come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the ruling kohanim and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it so that they might arrest Him.
Miriam Anoints the Messiah
12 Six days before Passover, Yeshua came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Yeshua had raised from the dead. 2 So they prepared a dinner there for Yeshua. Martha was serving, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. 3 Then Miriam took a pound[ac] of very expensive oil of pure nard and anointed Yeshua’s feet, and she wiped His feet dry with her hair. Now the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
4 But Judah from Kriot, one of His disciples, the one who was about to betray Him, said, 5 “Why wasn’t this oil sold for three hundred denarii[ad] and the money given to the poor?” 6 Now he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. Since he had the moneybox, he used to steal from what was put in it.
7 Therefore Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She set it aside for the day of My burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
9 Now a large crowd of Judeans knew He was there and came, not only for Yeshua but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. 10 So the ruling kohanim made plans to kill Lazarus also, 11 because on account of him many of the Jewish people were going and putting their trust in Yeshua.
Israel’s King Has Come
12 The next day, the huge crowd that had come up for the feast heard that Yeshua was coming to Jerusalem. 13 So they took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting,
“‘Hoshia-na! Baruch ha-ba b’shem Adonai!
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’[ae]
The King of Israel!”
14 Finding a young donkey, Yeshua sat on it, as it is written,
15 “Fear not, Daughter of Zion!
Look! Your King is coming,
sitting on a donkey’s colt.”[af]
16 His disciples did not understand these things at first. But when Yeshua was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that the crowd had done these things for Him.
17 So the crowd, which had been with Yeshua when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, kept on telling everyone about it. 18 It was also for this reason that the crowd came out to meet Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign. 19 So the Pharisees said to each other, “You see that you can’t do anything. Look, the whole world has taken off after Him!”
Fallen Seed Produces a Harvest
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who were going up to worship at the feast. 21 These came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in the Galilee. “Sir,” they said, “we want to see Yeshua.” 22 Philip comes and tells Andrew; Andrew and Philip come and tell Yeshua.
23 Yeshua answers them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified! 24 Amen, amen I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much fruit. 25 He who loves his life will lose it, and the one who hates his life in this world will keep it forever. 26 If any man serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there also will My servant be. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
27 “Now My soul is troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But it was for this reason I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify Your name!”
Then a voice came out of heaven, “I have glorified it, and again I will glorify it!”
29 Therefore the crowd that was standing there and heard it was saying that it had thundered. Others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.”
30 Yeshua responded, “This voice hasn’t come for My sake, but for yours. 31 Now is the judgment of this world! Now the prince of this world will be driven out! 32 And as I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to Myself.” 33 He said this to show the kind of death He was about to die.
34 The crowd answered Him, “We’ve heard from Scripture[ag] that the Messiah remains forever. How can You say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”
Choose Either the Light or the Darkness
35 Therefore Yeshua said to them, “The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in darkness doesn’t know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may become sons of light.” Yeshua spoke these things, then left and hid Himself from them.
37 But even though He had performed so many signs before them, they weren’t trusting in Him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet, who said,
“Adonai, who has believed our report?
To whom has the arm of Adonai been revealed?”[ah]
39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah also said,
40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
so they might not see with their eyes
nor understand with their hearts and turn back,
and I would heal them.”[ai]
41 Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him.
42 Nevertheless many, even among the leaders, put their trust in Him. But because of the Pharisees, they were not confessing Yeshua,[aj] so they would not be thrown out of the synagogue; [ak] 43 for they loved the glory of men more than the glory of God.
44 Yeshua cried out, “Whoever puts trust in Me believes not in Me but in the One who sent Me! 45 And whoever beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me. 46 As light I have come into the world, so that everyone who trusts in Me should not remain in darkness.
47 “If anyone hears My words but doesn’t keep them, I do not judge him; for I came to save the world, not to judge the world. 48 The one who rejects Me and doesn’t receive My words has a judge; the word I spoke will judge him on the last day. 49 For I did not speak on My own, but the Father Himself who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and speak. 50 And I know that His commandment is life everlasting. Therefore what I say, I say just as the Father has told Me.”
Modeling Servanthood
13 Now it was just before the feast of Passover. Yeshua knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them until the end.[al]
2 While the seder meal was happening, the devil had already put in the heart of Judah from Kriot that he should hand over Yeshua. 3 Yeshua knew that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God. 4 So He gets up from the meal and lays aside His outer garment; and taking a towel, He wrapped it around His waist. 5 Then He pours water into a basin. He began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel wrapped around Him.
6 Then He comes to Simon Peter, who says to Him, “Master, are You going to wash my feet?”
7 Yeshua responded, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.”
8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”
Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.”
9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Master, then not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”
10 Yeshua said to him, “He who has bathed has no need to wash, except the feet; he is completely clean. And you all are clean, though not every one.” 11 He knew who was betraying Him; for this reason, He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 So after He had washed their feet and put His robe back on and reclined again, He said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? 13 You call Me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Master’—and rightly you say, for I am. 14 So if I, your Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given you an example—you should do for each other what I have done for you.
16 “Amen, amen I tell you, a servant isn’t greater than his master, and the one who is sent isn’t greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!”
Yeshua Reveals His Betrayer
18 “I am not speaking to all of you—I know whom I have chosen. But so the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ [am] 19 From now on I am telling you, before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I am. 20 Amen, amen I tell you, he who receives the one I send, receives Me; and he who receives Me, receives the One who sent Me.”
21 After He said these things, Yeshua was agitated in spirit and testified, “Amen, amen I tell you, one of you will betray Me!”
22 The disciples began looking at each other, perplexed—who was He talking about? 23 One of His disciples, whom Yeshua loved, was reclining at His side. 24 Simon Peter nods to him and says, “Ask Him—who is He talking about?”
25 Then he who leaned on Yeshua’s chest says to Him, “Master, who is it?”
26 Yeshua answers, “It’s the one I will give this bit of matzah to, after I dip it.” After dipping the matzah,[an] He takes it and gives it to Judah from Kriot, the son of Simon. 27 And with that bit, satan entered into him. Then Yeshua tells him, “What you’re about to do, do quickly!”
28 But no one reclining at the table knew why Yeshua said this to him. 29 Since Judah had the moneybox, some thought Yeshua was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So after Judah received the bit of matzah, he left immediately. Now it was night.
Leaving a Legacy of Love
31 Then when Judah had gone out, Yeshua said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him! 32 If God is glorified in Him,[ao] God will glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will search for Me; and just as I told the Judean leaders, so I say to you now, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
34 “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also you must love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
36 “Master, where are You going?” Simon Peter said to Him.
Yeshua answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow Me later.”
37 Peter said to Him, “Master, why can’t I follow You now? I’ll lay down my life for You!”
38 Yeshua answers, “Will you lay down your life for Me? Amen, amen I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times!”
The Way to the Father’s House
14 “Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to Myself, so that where I am you may also be. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”[ap]
5 Thomas said to Him, “Master, we don’t know where You are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Yeshua said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life! No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Master, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
9 Yeshua said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you haven’t come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own; but the Father dwelling in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe because of the works themselves.
12 “Amen, amen I tell you, he who puts his trust in Me, the works that I do he will do; and greater than these he will do, because I am going to the Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me[aq] anything in My name, I will do it.”
The Believer’s Helper
15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper[ar] so He may be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him. You know Him, because He abides with you and will be in you. 18 I will not abandon you as orphans;[as] I will come to you. 19 In a little while, the world will no longer behold Me, but you will behold Me. Because I live, you also will live!
20 “In that day, you will know that I am in My Father, you are in Me, and I am in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
22 Judah (not the one from Kriot) said to Him, “Master, what has happened, that You are about to reveal Yourself to us and not the world?”
23 Yeshua answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words. And the word you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me. 25 These things I have spoken to you while dwelling with you. 26 But the Helper, the Ruach ha-Kodesh whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you everything and remind you of everything that I said to you.
27 “Shalom I leave you, My shalom I give to you; but not as the world gives! Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid. 28 You’ve heard Me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe!
30 “I will not talk with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has nothing on Me. 31 But in order that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me.
“Get up, let’s go from here!”
Abiding in the Vine
15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He trims so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away like a branch and is dried up. Such branches are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned.
7 “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you. 8 In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be My disciples.”
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love! 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and your joy may be full.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another just as I have loved you. [at] 13 No one has greater love than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 “I am no longer calling you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. Now I have called you friends, because everything I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
16 “You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I selected you so that you would go and produce fruit, and your fruit would remain. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.
17 “These things I command you, so that you may love one another.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.