LEB YHN Chapter 11

Lazarus Dies

11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 3 So the sisters sent word[fn] to him, saying, “Lord, behold, the one whom you love is sick.” 4 And when he[fn] heard it,[fn] Jesus said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) 6 So when he heard that he was sick, then he remained in the place where[fn] he was two days.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were seeking just now to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus replied, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks around in the daylight, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks around in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. 11 He said these things, and after this he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I can awaken him.” 12 So the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 (Now Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was speaking about real sleep.[fn]) 14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and I am glad for your sake[fn] that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 Then Thomas (the one who is called Didymus)[fn] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go also, so that we may die with him.”

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

17 So when he[fn] arrived, Jesus found he had already been four days in the tomb. 18 (Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia.[fn] 19 So many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their[fn] brother.) 20 Now Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. 21 So Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even[fn] now I know that whatever you ask God, God will grant you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die forever.[fn] Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”

Jesus Weeps

28 And when she[fn] had said this, she went and called her sister Mary privately, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 So that one, when she heard it,[fn] got up quickly and went to him. 30 (Now Jesus has not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha went to meet him.) 31 So the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they[fn] saw Mary—that she stood up quickly and went out—followed her, because they[fn] thought that she was going to the tomb in order to weep there.

32 Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and[fn] saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within himself. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews were saying, “See how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Was not this man who opened the eyes of the blind able to do something[fn] so that this man also would not have died?”

Lazarus Is Raised

38 Then Jesus, deeply moved within himself again, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying on it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, “Lord, he is stinking already, because it has been four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his[fn] eyes above and said, “Father, I give thanks to you that you hear me. 42 And I know that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it,[fn] so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 And when he[fn] had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The one who had died came out, his[fn] feet and his[fn] hands bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped with a facecloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him and let him go.”

The Jewish Leaders Plot to Kill Jesus

45 Then many of the Jews who had come with Mary and saw the things which he did believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs! 48 If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place[fn] and our[fn] nation.”

49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas (who was high priest in that year), said to them, “You do not know anything at all! 50 Nor do you consider that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and the whole nation not perish.” 51 (Now he did not say this from himself, but being high priest in that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also that the children of God who are scattered would be gathered into one.) 53 So from that day they resolved that they should kill him. 54 So Jesus was no longer walking openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the surrounding country before the Passover, so that they could purify themselves. 56 So they were looking for Jesus, and were speaking with one another while[fn] standing in the temple courts,[fn] “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?” 57 (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, they should report it,[fn] in order that they could arrest him.)