Introduction

1 In the beginning the Word was;

and the Word was with God;

and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God;

3 through him all things came into being,

and nothing came into being apart from him.

4 That which came into being in him was life;

and the life was the light of humanity;

5 and the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness never overpowered it.

6 There appeared a man sent from God, whose name was John;

7 he came as a witness – to bear witness to the light

so that through him everyone might believe.

8 He was not the light,

but he came to bear witness to the light.

9 That was the true light which enlightens everyone coming into the world.

10 He was in the world;

and through him the world came into being –

yet the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own –

yet his own did not receive him.

12 But to all who did receive him he gave power to become children of God –

to those who believe in his name.

13 For not to natural conception, nor to human instincts, nor to human will did they owe the new life,

but to God.

14 And the Word became human, and lived among us,

(We saw his glory – the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father),

full of love and truth.

15 (John bears witness to him; he cried aloud – for it was he who spoke –

‘He who is coming after me is now before me,

for he was ever first’);

16 out of his fullness we have all received

gift after gift of love;

17 for the Law was given through Moses,

love and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever yet seen God;

God the only Son, who is ever with the Father –

he has revealed him.

The Preparation

19 When the religious authorities in Jerusalem sent some Priests and Levites to ask John – ‘Who are you?’, 20 he told them clearly and simply, ‘I am not the Christ.’

21 ‘What then?’ they asked. ‘Are you Elijah?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘I am not.’

‘Are you “the prophet”?’ He answered, ‘No.’

22 ‘Who then are you?’ they continued. ‘Tell us so that we have an answer to give to those who have sent us. What do you say about yourself?’

23 ‘I,’ he answered, ‘am –

“The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness: make a straight road for the Lord”,

as the prophet Isaiah said.’

24 These men had been sent from the Pharisees; 25 and their next question was, ‘Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ or Elijah or “the prophet”?’ 26 John’s answer was – ‘I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know; 27 he is coming after me, yet I am not worthy even to unfasten his sandal.’ 28 This happened at Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and exclaimed, ‘Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 I was talking about him when I said “After me there is coming a man who ranks ahead of me, because before I was born he already was.” 31 I did not know who he was, but I have come baptizing with water to make him known to Israel.’ 32 John also said:

‘I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, he said to me “He on whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him – he it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.” 34 This I have seen myself, and I have declared my belief that he is the Son of God.’Titleless Section Break

35 The next day, when John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 he looked at Jesus as he passed and exclaimed, ‘There is the Lamb of God!’ 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and followed Jesus. 38 But Jesus turned round, and saw them following. ‘What are you looking for?’ he asked. ‘Rabbi,’ they answered (or, as we should say, “Teacher”), ‘where are you staying?’

39 ‘Come, and you will see,’ he replied. So they went, and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him.

It was then about four in the afternoon. 40 One of the two, who heard what John said and followed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah!’ (a word which means “Christ,” or “Consecrated”.) 42 Then he brought him to Jesus. Looking straight at him, Jesus said, ‘You are Simon, the son of John; you will be called Cephas’ (which means “Peter,” or “Rock”). 43 The following day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip, and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ 44 Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter. 45 He found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and of whom the prophets also wrote – Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph’s son!’

46 ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ asked Nathanael. ‘Come and see,’ replied Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said, ‘Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!’

48 ‘How do you know me?’ asked Nathanael. ‘Even before Philip called you,’ replied Jesus, ‘when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’

49 ‘Rabbi,’ Nathanael exclaimed, ‘you are the Son of God, you are king of Israel!’

50 ‘Do you believe in me,’ asked Jesus, ‘because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than those! 51 In truth I tell you,’ he added, ‘you will all see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.’

The Work in Judaea, Galilee and Samaria

2 Two days after this there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there. 2 Jesus himself, too, with his disciples, was invited to the wedding. 3 And, when the wine ran short, his mother said to him, ‘They have no wine left.’

4 ‘What do you want with me?’ answered Jesus. ‘My time has not come yet.’ 5 His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ 6 There were standing there six stone water-jars, in accordance with the Jewish rule of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, ‘Fill the water-jars with water.’ 8 And, when they had filled them to the brim, he added, ‘Now take some out, and carry it to the Master of the feast.’ The servants did so. 9 And, when the Master of the feast had tasted the water which had now become wine, not knowing where it had come from – although the servants who had taken out the water knew – 10 He called the groom and said to him, ‘Everyone puts good wine on the table first, and inferior wine afterwards, when his guests have drunk freely; but you have kept back the good wine till now!’ 11 This, the first sign of his mission, Jesus gave at Cana in Galilee, and by it revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.Titleless Section Break

12 After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum – he, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; but they stayed there only a few days.Titleless Section Break

13 Then, as the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the Temple Courts he found people who were selling bullocks, sheep, and pigeons, and the money changers at their counters. 15 So he made a whip of cords, and drove them all out of the Temple Courts, and the sheep and bullocks as well; he scattered the money of the money changers, and overturned their tables, 16 and said to the pigeon-dealers, ‘Take these things away. Do not turn my Father’s house into a market house.’ 17 His disciples remembered that scripture said – “Passion for your house will consume me.”

18 Then some of the religious authorities asked Jesus, ‘What sign are you going to show us, since you act in this way?’

19 ‘Destroy this temple,’ was his answer, ‘and I will raise it in three days.’

20 ‘This Temple,’ the authorities replied, ‘has been forty-six years in building, and are you going to “raise it in three days”?’ 21 But Jesus was speaking of his body as a temple. 22 Afterwards, when he had risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the passage of scripture, and the words which Jesus had spoken.Titleless Section Break

23 While Jesus was in Jerusalem, during the Passover Festival, many came to trust in him, when they saw the signs of his mission that he was giving. 24 But Jesus did not put himself in their power because he knew what was in their hearts. 25 He did not need anyone to tell him about people because he could read what was in them.

Titleless Section Break

3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a leading man among his people. 2 This man came to Jesus by night, and said to him, ‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one could give such signs as you are giving, unless God were with him.’

3 ‘In truth I tell you,’ exclaimed Jesus, ‘unless a person is reborn, they cannot see the kingdom of God.’

4 ‘How can a person,’ asked Nicodemus, ‘be born when they are old? Can they be born a second time?’

5 ‘In truth I tell you,’ answered Jesus, ‘unless a person owes their birth to water and Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 All that owes its birth to human nature is human, and all that owes its birth to the Spirit is spiritual. 7 Do not wonder at my telling you that you all need to be reborn. 8 The wind blows wherever it wants, and you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it goes; it is the same with everyone who owes his birth to the Spirit.’

9 ‘How can that be?’ asked Nicodemus. 10 ‘What! You a teacher of Israel,’ exclaimed Jesus, ‘and yet do not understand this! 11 In truth I tell you that we speak of what we know, and state what we have seen; and yet you do not accept our statements. 12 If, when I tell you earthly things, you do not believe me, how will you believe me when I tell you of heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven, except him who descended from heaven – the Son of Man himself. 14 And, as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.’

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. 18 The person who believes in him escapes condemnation, while the person who does not believe in him is already condemned, because they have not believed in the only Son of God. 19 The ground of their condemnation is this, that though the light has come into the world, people preferred the darkness to the light, because their actions were wicked. 20 For the person who lives an evil life hates the light, and will not come to it, fearing that their actions will be exposed; 21 but the person who lives by the truth comes into the light, so it can be clearly seen that God is in all they do.Titleless Section Break

22 After this, Jesus went with his disciples into the country parts of Judea; and there he stayed with them, and baptized. 23 John, also, was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there were many streams there; and people were constantly coming and being baptized. 24 (For John had not yet been imprisoned). 25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a fellow Jew on the subject of purification; 26 and the disciples came to John and said, ‘Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, and to whom you have yourself borne testimony – he, also, is baptizing, and everybody is going to him.’ 27 John’s answer was – ‘A person can gain nothing but what is given them from heaven. 28 You are yourselves witnesses that I said “I am not the Christ,” but “I have been sent before him as a messenger.” 29 It is the groom who has the bride; but the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens to him, is filled with joy when he hears the groom’s voice. This joy I have felt to the full. 30 He must become greater, and I less.’

31 He who comes from above is above all others; but a child of earth is earthly, and his teaching is earthly, too. He who comes from heaven is above all others. 32 He states what he has seen and what he heard, and yet no one accepts his statement. 33 They who did accept his statement confirm the fact that God is true. 34 For he whom God sent as his messenger gives us God’s own teaching, for God does not limit the gift of the Spirit. 35 The Father loves his Son, and has put everything in his hands. 36 The person who believes in the Son has eternal life, while a person who rejects the Son will not even see that life, but remains under God’s displeasure.

Titleless Section Break

4 Now, when the Master heard that the Pharisees had been told that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John 2 (Though it was not Jesus himself, but his disciples, who baptized), 3 he left Judea, and set out again for Galilee. 4 He had to pass through Samaria, 5 and, on his way, he came to a Samaritan town called Shechem, near the plot of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s Spring was there, and Jesus, being tired after his journey, sat down beside the spring, just as he was. It was then about midday. 7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water; and Jesus said to her – ‘Give me some to drink,’ 8 For his disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9 ‘How is it,’ replied the Samaritan woman, ‘that you who are a Jew ask for water from a Samaritan woman like me?’ (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans). 10 ‘If you knew of the gift of God,’ replied Jesus, ‘and who it is that is saying to you “Give me some water,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’

11 ‘You have no bucket, Sir, and the well is deep,’ she said. ‘Where did you get that “living water?” 12 Surely you are not greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us the well, and used to drink from it himself, and his sons, and his cattle!’

13 ‘All who drink of this water,’ replied Jesus, ‘will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever once drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst any more; but the water that I will give him will become a spring welling up within him – a source of eternal life.’

15 ‘Give me this water, Sir,’ said the woman, ‘so that I may not be thirsty, nor have to come all the way here to draw water.’

16 ‘Go and call your husband,’ said Jesus, ‘and then come back.’

17 ‘I have no husband,’ answered the woman. ‘You are right in saying “I have no husband,” ’ replied Jesus, 18 ‘For you have had five husbands, and the man with whom you are now living is not your husband; in saying that, you have spoken the truth.’

19 ‘I see, Sir, that you are a prophet!’ exclaimed the woman. 20 ‘It was on this mountain that our ancestors worshiped; and yet you Jews say that the proper place for worship is in Jerusalem.’

21 ‘Believe me,’ replied Jesus, ‘a time is coming when it will be neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem that you will worship the Father. 22 You Samaritans do not know what you worship; we know what we worship, for salvation comes from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father spiritually and truly; for such are the worshipers that the Father desires. 24 God is Spirit; and those who worship him must worship spiritually and truly.’

25 ‘I know,’ answered the woman, ‘that the Messiah, who is called the Christ, is coming; when once he has come, he will tell us everything.’

26 ‘I am he,’ Jesus said to her, ‘I who am speaking to you.’ 27 At this moment his disciples came up, and were surprised to find him talking with a woman; but none of them asked “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman, leaving her pitcher, went back to the town, and said to the people, 29 ‘Come and see someone who has told me everything that I have done. Can he be the Christ?’ 30 And the people left the town and went to see Jesus.

31 Meanwhile the disciples kept saying to him, ‘Take something to eat, Rabbi.’

32 ‘I have food to eat,’ he answered, ‘of which you know nothing.’

33 ‘Can anyone have brought him anything to eat?’ the disciples said to one another. 34 ‘My food,’ replied Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me, and to complete his work. 35 Don’t you say that it still wants four months to harvest? Why, look up, and see how white the fields are for harvest! 36 Already the reaper is receiving wages and gathering in sheaves for eternal life, so that sower and reaper rejoice together. 37 For here the proverb holds good – “One sows, another reaps.” 38 I have sent you to reap that on which you have spent no labour; others have laboured, and you have reaped the results of their labour.’

39 Many from that town came to believe in Jesus – Samaritans though they were – because the woman had said, “He has told me everything that I have done.” 40 And, when these Samaritans had come to Jesus, they begged him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 But far more came to believe in him because of what he said himself, 42 and they said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you say that we believe in him, for we have heard him ourselves and know that he really is the Saviour of the world.’Titleless Section Break

43 After these two days Jesus went on to Galilee; 44 for he himself declared that “a prophet is not honoured in his own country.” 45 When he entered Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, for they had seen all that he did at Jerusalem during the Festival, at which they also had been present. 46 So Jesus came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. Now there was one of the king’s officers whose son was lying ill at Capernaum. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had returned from Judea to Galilee, he went to him, and begged him to come down and cure his son; for he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus answered, ‘Unless you all see signs and wonders, you will not believe.’

49 ‘Sir,’ said the officer, ‘come down before my child dies.’ And Jesus answered, ‘Go, your son is living.’ 50 The man believed what Jesus said to him, and went; 51 and, while he was on his way down, his servants met him, and told him that his child was living. 52 So he asked them at what time the boy began to get better. ‘It was yesterday, about one o’clock,’ they said, ‘that the fever left him.’ 53 By this the father knew that it was at the very time when Jesus had said to him “Your son is living”; and he himself, with all his household, believed in Jesus. 54 This was the second occasion on which Jesus gave a sign of his mission on coming from Judea to Galilee.

Titleless Section Break

5 Sometime after this there was a Jewish Festival; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 There is in Jerusalem, near the sheep-gate, a bath with five colonnades round it. It is called in Hebrew “Bethesda.” 3 In these colonnades a large number of sick people were lying – blind, lame, and crippled. 4 [fn] 5 One man who was there had been crippled for thirty-eight years. 6 Jesus saw the man lying there, and, finding that he had been in this state a long time, said to him, ‘Do you wish to be cured?’

7 ‘I have no one, Sir,’ the sick man answered, ‘to put me into the bath when there is a troubling of the water, and, while I am getting to it, someone else steps down before me.’

8 ‘Stand up,’ said Jesus, ‘take up your mat, and walk.’ 9 The man was cured immediately, and took up his mat and began walking. 10 Now it was the Sabbath. So the religious authorities said to the man who had been cured, ‘This is the Sabbath; you must not carry your mat.’

11 ‘The man who cured me,’ he answered, ‘said to me “Take up your mat and walk.” ’

12 ‘Who was it,’ they asked, ‘that said to you “Take up your mat and walk”?’ 13 But the man who had been restored did not know who it was; for Jesus had moved away, because there was a crowd there. 14 Afterwards Jesus found the man in the Temple Courts, and said to him, ‘You are cured now; do not sin again, or something worse may happen to you.’

15 The man went away, and told the authorities that it was Jesus who had cured him. 16 And that was why they began to persecute Jesus – because he did things of this kind on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus replied, ‘My Father works to this very hour, and I work also.’ 18 This made the authorities all the more eager to kill him, because not only was he doing away with the Sabbath, but he actually called God his own Father – putting himself on an equality with God.

19 So Jesus made this further reply, ‘In truth I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself; he does only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does also. 20 For the Father loves his Son, and shows him everything that he is doing; and he will show him still greater things – so that you will be filled with wonder. 21 For, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he pleases. 22 The Father himself does not judge any one, but has entrusted the work of judging entirely to his Son, 23 so that everyone may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. The person who does not honour the Son fails to honour the Father who sent him. 24 In truth I tell you that the person who listens to my message and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come under condemnation, but has already passed out of death into life. 25 In truth I tell you that a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and when those who listen will live. 26 For, just as the Father has inherent life within him, so also he has granted to the Son to have inherent life within him; 27 and, because he is Son of Man, he has also given him authority to act as judge. 28 Do not wonder at this; for the time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice, 29 and will come out – those who have done good rising to life, and those who have lived evil lives rising for condemnation. 30 I can do nothing of myself; I judge as I am taught; and the judgment that I give is just, because my aim is not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

31 ‘If I bear testimony to myself, my testimony is not trustworthy; 32 it is another who bears testimony to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is trustworthy. 33 You have yourselves sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. 34 But the testimony which I receive is not from people; I am saying this for your salvation. 35 He was the Lamp that was burning and shining, and you were ready to rejoice, for a time, in his light. 36 But the testimony which I have is of greater weight than John’s; for the work that the Father has given me to carry out – the work that I am doing – is in itself proof that the Father has sent me as his messenger. 37 The Father who has sent me has himself borne testimony to me. You have neither listened to his voice, not seen his form; 38 and you have not taken his message home to your hearts, because you do not believe him whom he sent as his messenger. 39 You search the scriptures, because you think that you find in them immortal life; and, though it is those scriptures that bear testimony to me, 40 you refuse to come to me to have life.

41 ‘I do not receive honour from people, 42 but I know this of you, that you have not the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe in me, when you receive honour from one another and do not desire the honour which comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have been resting your hopes. 46 For, had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for it was of me that Moses wrote; 47 but, if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my teaching?’

Titleless Section Break

6 After this, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee – otherwise called the Lake of Tiberias. 2 A great crowd of people, however, followed him, because they saw the signs of his mission in his work among those who were sick. 3 Jesus went up the hill, and sat down there with his disciples. 4 It was near the time of the Jewish Festival of the Passover. 5 Looking up, and noticing that a great crowd was coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, ‘Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?’ 6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he meant to do. 7 ‘Even if we spent a years’ wages on bread,’ answered Philip, ‘it would not be enough for each of them to have a little.’

8 ‘There is a boy here,’ said Andrew, another of his disciples, Simon Peter’s brother, 9 ‘Who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that for so many?’

10 ‘Make the people sit down,’ said Jesus. It was a grassy spot; so the people, who numbered about five thousand, sat down, 11 and then Jesus took the loaves, and, after saying the thanksgiving, distributed them to those who were sitting down; and the same with the fish, giving the people as much as they wanted. 12 When they were satisfied, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Collect the broken pieces that are left, so that nothing may be wasted.’ 13 The disciples did so, and filled twelve baskets with the pieces of the five barley loaves, which were left after all had eaten.

14 When the people saw the signs which Jesus gave, they said, ‘This is certainly the prophet who was to come into the world.’ 15 But Jesus, having discovered that they were intending to come and carry him off to make him king, went again up the hill, quite alone.

16 When evening fell, his disciples went down to the sea, 17 and, getting into a boat, began to cross to Capernaum. By this time darkness had set in, and Jesus had not yet come back to them; 18 the sea, too, was getting rough, for a strong wind was blowing. 19 When they had rowed three or four miles, they caught sight of him walking on the water and approaching the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But Jesus said to them, ‘It is I; do not be afraid!’ 21 And after this they were glad to take him into the boat; and the boat at once arrived off the shore, for which they had been making.Titleless Section Break

22 The people who remained on the other side of the sea had seen that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not gone into it with his disciples, but that they had left without him. 23 Some boats, however, had come from Tiberias, from near the spot where they had eaten the bread after the Master had said the thanksgiving. 24 So, on the next day, when the people saw that Jesus was not there, or his disciples either, they themselves got into the boats, and went to Capernaum to look for him. 25 And, when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said, ‘When did you get here, Rabbi?’

26 ‘In truth I tell you,’ answered Jesus, ‘it is not because of the signs which you saw that you are looking for me, but because you had the bread to eat and were satisfied. 27 Work, not for the food that perishes, but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for on him the Father – God himself – has set the seal of his approval.’

28 ‘How,’ they asked, ‘are we to do the work that God wants us to do?’

29 ‘The work that God wants you to do,’ answered Jesus, ‘is to believe in him whom God sent as his messenger.’

30 ‘What sign, then,’ they asked, ‘are you giving, which we may see, and so believe you? What is the work that you are doing? 31 Our ancestors had the manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says – “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’

32 ‘In truth I tell you,’ replied Jesus, ‘Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my Father does give you the true bread from heaven; 33 for the bread that God gives is that which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world.’

34 ‘Master,’ they exclaimed, ‘give us that bread always!’

35 ‘I am the life-giving bread,’ Jesus said to them, ‘whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never thirst again. 36 But, as I have said already, you have seen me, and yet you do not believe in me. 37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me; and no one who comes to me will I ever turn away. 38 For I have come down from heaven, to do, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me; 39 and his will is this – that I should not lose one of all those whom he has given me, but should raise them up at the Last day. 40 For it is the will of my Father that everyone who sees the Son, and believes in him, should have immortal life; and I myself will raise him up at the Last day.’

41 The people began murmuring against Jesus for saying – “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” 42 ‘Is not this Jesus, Joseph’s son,’ they asked, ‘whose father and mother we know? How is it that he now says that he has come down from heaven?’

43 ‘Do not murmur among yourselves,’ said Jesus in reply. 44 ‘No one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; and I will raise him up at the Last day. 45 It is said in the prophets – “And they will all be taught by God.” Everyone who is taught by the Father and learns from him comes to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except him who is from God – he has seen the Father. 47 In truth I tell you, the person who believes in me has eternal life. 48 I am the life-giving bread. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, and yet died. 50 The bread that comes down from heaven is such that whoever eats of it will never die. 51 I am the living bread that has come down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, they will live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’

52 They began disputing with one another, ‘How is it possible for this man to give us his flesh to eat?’

53 ‘In truth I tell you,’ answered Jesus, ‘unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, you have not life within you. 54 Everyone who takes my flesh for their food, and drinks my blood, has eternal life; and I will raise them up at the Last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood true drink. 56 Everyone who takes my flesh for their food, and drinks my blood, remains united to me, and I to them. 57 As the living Father sent me as his messenger, and as I live because the Father lives, so the person who takes me for their food will live because I live. 58 That is the bread which has come down from heaven – not such as your ancestors ate, and yet died; the person who takes this bread for their food will live for ever.’

59 All this Jesus said in a synagogue, when he was teaching in Capernaum. 60 On hearing it, many of his disciples said, ‘This is harsh doctrine! Who can bear to listen to it?’ 61 But Jesus, aware that his disciples were murmuring about it, said to them, 62 ‘Is this a hindrance to you? What, then, if you should see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit that gives life; human strength achieves nothing. In the teaching that I have been giving you there is Spirit and there is life. 64 Yet there are some of you who do not believe in me.’ For Jesus knew from the first who they were that did not believe in him, and who it was that would betray him; 65 and he added, ‘This is why I told you that no one can come to me, unless enabled by the Father.’ 66 After this many of his disciples drew back, and did not go about with him any longer. 67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also wish to leave me?’ 68 But Simon Peter answered, ‘Master, to whom would we go? Eternal life is in your teaching; 69 and we have learned to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.’

70 ‘Didn’t I myself choose you to be the Twelve?’ replied Jesus, ‘and yet, even of you, one is playing the devil’s part.’ 71 He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who was about to betray him, though he was one of the Twelve.

Titleless Section Break

7 After this, Jesus went about in Galilee, for he would not do so in Judea, because the religious authorities (in Jerusalem) were eager to put him to death. 2 When the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 his brothers said to him, ‘Leave this part of the country, and go into Judea, so that your disciples, as well as we, may see the work that you are doing. 4 For no one does a thing privately, if they are seeking to be widely known. Since you do these things, you should show yourself publicly to the world.’ 5 For even his brothers did not believe in him.

6 ‘My time,’ answered Jesus, ‘is not come yet, but your time is always here. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me, because I testify that its ways are evil. 8 Go yourselves up to the Festival; I am not going to this Festival yet, because my time has not yet come.’ 9 After telling them this, he stayed on in Galilee.

10 But, when his brothers had gone up to the Festival, Jesus also went up – not publicly, but privately. 11 The authorities were looking for him at the Festival and asking “Where is he?”; 12 and there were many whispers about him among the people, some saying “He is a good man;” others, “No! He is leading the people astray.” 13 No one, however, spoke freely about him, because they were afraid of the authorities.Titleless Section Break

14 About the middle of the Festival week, Jesus went up into the Temple Courts, and began teaching. 15 The authorities were astonished. ‘How has this man got his learning,’ they asked, ‘when he has never studied?’ 16 So, in reply, Jesus said, ‘My teaching is not my own; it is his who sent me. 17 If anyone has the will to do God’s will, they will find out whether my teaching is from God, or whether I speak on my own authority. 18 The person who speaks on their own authority seeks honour for themselves; but the one who seeks the honour of him who sent him is sincere, and there is nothing false in him. 19 Was not it Moses who gave you the Law? Yet not one of you obeys it! Why are you seeking to put me to death?’

20 ‘You must be possessed by a demon!’ the people exclaimed. ‘Who is seeking to put you to death?’

21 ‘There was one thing I did,’ replied Jesus, ‘at which you are all still wondering. 22 But that is why Moses has instituted circumcision among you – not, indeed, that it began with him, but with our ancestors – and that is why you circumcise even on a Sabbath. 23 When a man receives circumcision on a Sabbath to prevent the Law of Moses from being broken, how can you be angry with me for making a man sound and well on a Sabbath? 24 Do not judge by appearances; judge justly.’ 25 At this some of the people of Jerusalem exclaimed, ‘Is not this the man who they are seeking to put to death? 26 Yet here he is, speaking out boldly, and they say nothing to him! Is it possible that our leading men have really discovered that he is the Christ? 27 Yet we know where this man is from; but, when the Christ comes, no one will be able to tell where he is from.’ 28 Therefore, Jesus, as he was teaching in the Temple Courts, raised his voice and said, ‘Yes; you know me and you know where I am from. Yet I have not come on my own authority, but he who sent me may be trusted; and him you do not know. 29 I do know him, for it is from him that I have come, and he sent me as his messenger.’ 30 So they sought to arrest him; but no one touched him, for his time was not come yet. 31 Many of the people, however, believed in him. ‘When the Christ comes,’ they said, ‘will he give more signs of his mission than this man has given?’ 32 The Pharisees heard the people whispering about him in this way, and so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him; 33 at which Jesus said, ‘I will be with you but a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34 You will look for me, and you will not find me; and you will not be able to come where I will be.’

35 ‘Where is this man going,’ the people asked one another, ‘that we would not find him? Will he go to our countrymen abroad, and teach foreigners? 36 What does he mean by saying “You will look for me, and you will not find me; and you will not be able to come where I will be”?’Titleless Section Break

37 On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus, who was standing by, exclaimed, ‘If anyone is thirsty, they should come to me and drink. 38 From the heart of those who believe in me will flow, as is said in scripture, rivers of living water.’ 39 (By this he meant the Spirit, which those who had believed in him were to receive; for the Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been exalted.) 40 Some of the people, when they heard these words, said, ‘This is certainly the Prophet!’; 41 others said, ‘the Christ!’; but some asked, ‘What! Does the Christ come from Galilee? 42 Is not it said in scripture that it is of the descendants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village to which David belonged, that the Christ is to come?’ 43 So there was a sharp division among the people because of Jesus. 44 Some of them wanted to arrest him, and yet no one touched him. 45 When the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, they were asked, ‘Why have you not brought him?’

46 ‘No one ever spoke as he speaks!’ they answered. 47 ‘What! Have you been led astray too?’ the Pharisees replied. 48 ‘Have any of our leading men believed in him, or any of the Pharisees? 49 As for these people who do not know the Law – they are cursed!’ 50 But one of their number, Nicodemus, who before this had been to see Jesus, said to them, 51 ‘Does our Law pass judgment on a person without first giving them a hearing, and finding out what they have been doing?’

52 ‘Are you also from Galilee?’ they retorted. ‘Search, and you will find that no prophet is to arise in Galilee!’Titleless Section Break

53 And everyone went home 8 except Jesus, who went to the Mount of Olives[fn]. 2 But he went again into the Temple Courts early in the morning, and all the people came to him; and he sat down and taught them. 3 Presently, however, the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placed her in the middle of the Court, 4 and said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, this woman was found in the act of adultery. 5 Now Moses, in the Law, commanded us to stone such women to death; what do you say?’

6 They said this to test him, in order to have a charge to bring against him. But Jesus stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger. 7 However, as they continued asking him, he raised himself, and said, ‘Let the person among you who has never done wrong throw the first stone at her.’

8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard that, they went out one by one, beginning with the eldest; and Jesus was left alone with the woman in the middle of the Court. 10 Raising himself, Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?’

11 ‘No one, Sir,’ she answered.

‘Neither do I condemn you,’ said Jesus ‘go, and do not sin again.’Titleless Section Break

12 Jesus again addressed the people. ‘I am the light of the world,’ he said. ‘The person who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’

13 ‘You are bearing testimony to yourself!’ exclaimed the Pharisees, ‘your testimony is not trustworthy.’

14 ‘Even if I bear testimony to myself,’ answered Jesus, ‘my testimony is trustworthy; for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from, nor where I am going. 15 You judge by appearances; I judge no one. 16 Yet, even if I were to judge, my judgment would be trustworthy; because I am not alone, but the Father who sent me is with me. 17 Why, in your own Law it is said that the testimony of two persons is trustworthy. 18 I, who bear testimony to myself, am one, and the Father who sent me also bears testimony to me.’ 19 ‘Where is your father, then?’ they asked. ‘You know neither me nor my Father,’ replied Jesus. ‘If you had known me, you would have also known my Father.’ 20 These statements Jesus made in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple Courts. Yet no one arrested him, for his time had not then come.Titleless Section Break

21 Jesus again spoke to the people. ‘I am going away,’ he said, ‘and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin; you cannot come where I am going.’

22 ‘Is he going to kill himself,’ the people exclaimed, ‘that he says – “You cannot go where I am going”?’ 23 ‘You,’ added Jesus, ‘are from below, I am from above; you are of this present world, I am not; 24 and so I told you that you would die in your sins, for, unless you believe that I am what I am, you will die in your sins.’

25 ‘Who are you?’ they asked. ‘Why ask exactly what I have been telling you?’ said Jesus. 26 ‘I have still much that concerns you to speak of and to pass judgment on; yet he who sent me may be trusted, and I speak to the world only of the things which I have heard from him.’ 27 They did not understand that he meant the Father. 28 So Jesus added, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will understand that I am what I am, and that I do nothing of myself, but that I say just what the Father has taught me. 29 Moreover, he who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone; for I always do what pleases him.’ 30 While he was speaking in this way, many came to believe in him. 31 So Jesus went on to say to those who had believed him, ‘If you remain constant to my message, you are truly my disciples; 32 and you will find out the truth, and the truth will set you free.’

33 ‘We are descendants of Abraham,’ was their answer, ‘and have never yet been in slavery to anyone. What do you mean by saying “you will be set free”?’ 34 ‘In truth I tell you,’ replied Jesus, ‘everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 And a slave does not remain in the home always; but a son remains always. 36 If, then, the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed! 37 I know that you are descendants of Abraham; yet you are seeking to put me to death, because my message finds no place in your hearts. 38 I tell you what I have myself seen in the presence of my Father; and you, in the same way, do what you have learned from your father.’

39 ‘Our father is Abraham,’ was their answer. ‘If you are Abraham’s children,’ replied Jesus, ‘do what Abraham did. 40 But, as it is, you are seeking to put me to death – a man who has told you the truth as he heard it from God. Abraham did not act in that way. 41 You are doing what your own father does.’

‘We are not bastards,’ they said, ‘we have one Father – God himself.’

42 ‘If God were your Father,’ Jesus replied, ‘you would have loved me, for I came out from God, and now am here; and I have not come of myself, but he sent me as his messenger. 43 How is it that you do not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to listen to my message. 44 As for you, you are children of your father the devil, and you are determined to do what your father loves to do. He was a murderer from the first, and did not stand by the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he does what is natural to him; because he is a liar, and the father of lying. 45 But, as for me, it is because I speak the truth to you that you do not believe me. 46 Which of you can convict me of sin? Why then don’t you believe me, if I am speaking truth? 47 The person who comes from God listens to God’s teaching; the reason why you do not listen is because you do not come from God.’

48 ‘Aren’t we right, after all,’ replied the people, ‘in saying that you are a Samaritan, and are possessed by a demon?’

49 ‘I am not possessed by a demon,’ Jesus answered, ‘but I am honouring my Father; and yet you dishonour me. 50 Not that I am seeking honour for myself; there is one who is seeking my honour, and he decides. 51 In truth I tell you, if anyone lays my message to heart, he will never really die.’

52 ‘Now we are sure that you are possessed by a demon,’ the people replied. ‘Abraham died, and so did the prophets; and yet you say “If anyone lays my message to heart, they will never know death.” 53 Are you greater than our ancestor Abraham, who died? And the prophets died too. Whom do you make yourself out to be?’

54 ‘If I do honour to myself,’ answered Jesus, ‘such honour counts for nothing. It is my Father who does me honour – and you say that he is your God; 55 and yet you have not learned to know him; but I know him; and, if I were to say that I do not know him, I should be a liar like you; but I do know him, and I lay his message to heart. 56 Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; and he did see it, and was glad.’

57 ‘You are not fifty years old yet,’ the people exclaimed, ‘and have you seen Abraham?’

58 ‘In truth I tell you,’ replied Jesus, ‘before Abraham existed I was.’ 59 At this they took up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself, and left the Temple Courts.

Titleless Section Break

9 As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been blind from his birth. 2 ‘Rabbi,’ asked his disciples, ‘who was it that sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’

3 ‘Neither the man nor the parents,’ replied Jesus, ‘but he was born blind so that the work of God should be made plain in him. 4 We must do the work of him who sent me, while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ 6 Saying this, Jesus spat on the ground, made some paste with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 ‘Go,’ he said, ‘and wash your eyes in the Bath of Siloam’ (a word which means “messenger”). So the man went and washed his eyes, and returned able to see. 8 His neighbours, and those who had formerly known him by sight as a beggar, exclaimed, ‘Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?’

9 ‘Yes,’ some said, ‘it is’; while others said, ‘No, but he is like him.’ The man himself said, ‘I am he.’

10 ‘How did you get your sight, then?’ they asked. 11 ‘The man whom they call Jesus,’ he answered, ‘made a paste, and anointed my eyes, and said to me “Go to Siloam and wash your eyes.” So I went and washed my eyes, and gained my sight.’

12 ‘Where is he?’ they asked. ‘I do not know,’ he answered. 13 They took the man, who had been blind, to the Pharisees. 14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the paste and gave him his sight. 15 So the Pharisees also questioned the man as to how he had gained his sight. ‘He put a paste on my eyes,’ he answered, ‘and I washed them, and I can see.’

16 ‘The man cannot be from God,’ said some of the Pharisees, ‘for he does not keep the Sabbath.’

‘How is it possible,’ retorted others, ‘for a bad man to give signs like this?’ 17 So there was a difference of opinion among them, and they again questioned the man. ‘What do you yourself say about him, for it is to you that he has given sight?’ 18 The religious authorities, however, refused to believe that he had been blind and had gained his sight, until they had called his parents and questioned them. 19 ‘Is this your son,’ they asked, ‘who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he can see now?’

20 ‘We know that this is our son,’ answered the parents, ‘and that he was born blind; 21 but how it is that he can see now we do not know; nor do we know who it was that gave him his sight. Ask him – he is old enough – he will tell you about himself.’ 22 His parents spoke in this way because they were afraid of the authorities; for the authorities had already agreed that, if anyone should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, he should be expelled from their synagogues. 23 This was why his parents said “He is old enough; ask him.” 24 So the authorities again called the man who had been blind, and said to him, ‘Give God the praise; we know that this is a bad man.’

25 ‘I know nothing about his being a bad man,’ he replied. ‘One thing I do know, that although I was blind, now I can see.’

26 ‘What did he do to you?’ they asked. ‘How did he give you your sight?’

27 ‘I told you just now,’ he answered, ‘and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Surely you also do not want to become his disciples?’

28 ‘You are his disciple,’ they retorted scornfully. ‘But we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses; but, as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’

30 ‘Well,’ the man replied, ‘this is very strange; you do not know where he comes from, and yet he has given me my sight! 31 We know that God never listens to bad people, but, when a person is god-fearing and does God’s will, God listens to them. 32 Since the world began, such a thing was never heard of as anyone’s giving sight to a person born blind. 33 If this man had not been from God, he could not have done anything at all.’

34 ‘You,’ they retorted, ‘were born totally depraved; and are you trying to teach us?’ So they expelled him. 35 Jesus heard of their having put him out; and, when he had found the man, he asked, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’

36 ‘Tell me who he is, Sir,’ he replied, ‘so that I may believe in him.’

37 ‘Not only have you seen him,’ said Jesus, ‘but it is he who is now speaking to you.’

38 ‘Then, Sir, I do believe,’ said the man, bowing to the ground before him; 39 and Jesus added, ‘It was to put people to the test that I came into this world, in order that those that cannot see should see, and that those that can see should become blind.’ 40 Hearing this, some of the Pharisees who were with him said, ‘Then are we blind too?’

41 ‘If you had been blind,’ replied Jesus, ‘you would have had no sin to answer for; but, as it is, you say “We can see,” and so your sin remains. 10 In truth I tell you, whoever does not go into the sheepfold through the door, but climbs up at some other place, that person is a thief and a robber; 2 but the person who goes in through the door is shepherd to the sheep. 3 For him the watchman opens the door; and the sheep listen to his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out. 4 When he has brought them all out, he walks in front of them, and his sheep follow him, because they know his voice. 5 They will not follow a stranger, but will run away from him; because they do not know a stranger’s voice.’ 6 This was the allegory that Jesus told them, but they did not understand of what he was speaking. 7 So he continued, ‘In truth I tell you, I am the door for the sheep. 8 All who came before me were thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the door; he who goes in through me will be safe, and he will go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal, to kill, and to destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it in greater fullness. 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. 12 The hired man who is not a shepherd, and who does not own the sheep, when he sees a wolf coming, leaves them and runs away; then the wolf seizes them, and scatters the flock. 13 He does this because he is only a hired man and does not care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd; and I know my sheep, and my sheep 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 besides, which do not belong to this fold; I must lead them also, and they will listen to my voice; and they will become one flock under one shepherd. 17 This is why the Father loves me, because I lay down my life – to receive it again. 18 No one took it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to receive it again. This is the command which I received from my Father.’

19 In consequence of these words a difference of opinion again arose among the people. 20 Many of them said, ‘He is possessed by a demon and is mad; why do you listen to him?’ 21 Others said, ‘This is not the teaching of one who is possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?’Titleless Section Break

22 Soon after this the Festival of the Rededication was held at Jerusalem. 23 It was winter; and Jesus was walking in the Temple Courts, in the Colonnade of Solomon, 24 when the people gathered round him, and said, ‘How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us so frankly.’

25 ‘I have told you so,’ replied Jesus, ‘and you do not believe me. The work that I am doing in my Father’s name bears testimony to me. 26 But you do not believe me, because you are not of my flock. 27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me; 28 and I give them eternal life, and they will not be lost; nor will anyone snatch them out of my hands. 29 What my Father has entrusted to me is more than all else; and no one can snatch anything out of the Father’s hands. 30 The Father and I are one.’

31 Some of the people again brought stones to throw at him; 32 and seeing this, Jesus said, ‘I have done before your eyes many good actions, inspired by the Father; for which of them would you stone me?’

33 ‘It is not for any good action that we would stone you,’ they answered, ‘but for blasphemy; and because you, who are only a man, make yourself out to be God.’

34 ‘Are there not,’ replied Jesus, ‘these words in your Law – “I said, You are gods”? 35 If those to whom God’s word were addressed were said to be “gods” – and scripture cannot be set aside – 36 do you say of one whom the Father has consecrated and sent as his messenger to the world “You are blaspheming,” because I said “I am God’s Son”? 37 If I am not doing the work that my Father is doing, do not believe me; 38 if I am doing it, even though you do not believe me, believe what that work shows; so that you may understand, and understand more and more clearly, that the Father is in union with me, and I with the Father.’ 39 The authorities again sought to arrest him; but he escaped their hands.Titleless Section Break

40 Then Jesus again crossed the Jordan to the place where John used to baptize at first, and stayed there some time, during which many people came to see him. 41 ‘John gave no sign of his mission,’ they said. ‘But everything that he said about this man was true.’ 42 And many learned to believe in Jesus there.

Titleless Section Break

11 Now a man named Lazarus, of Bethany, was lying ill; he belonged to the same village as Mary and her sister Martha. 2 This Mary, whose brother Lazarus was ill, was the Mary who anointed the Master with perfume, and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sisters, therefore, sent this message to Jesus – “Master, your friend is ill”; 4 and, when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness is not to end in death, but is to redound to the honour of God, in order that the Son of God may be honoured through it.’ 5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. 6 Yet, when he heard of the illness of Lazarus, he still stayed two days in the place where he was. 7 Then, after that, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’

8 ‘Rabbi,’ they replied, ‘the authorities there were but just now seeking to stone you; and are you going there again?’

9 ‘Are not there twelve hours in the day?’ answered Jesus. ‘If someone walks about in the daytime, they don’t stumble, because they can see the light of the sun; 10 but, if they walk about at night, they stumble, because they have not the light.’ 11 And, when he had said this, he added, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may wake him.’

12 ‘If he has fallen asleep, Master, he will get well,’ said the disciples. 13 But Jesus meant that he was dead; they, however, supposed that he was speaking of natural sleep. 14 Then he said to them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead; 15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may learn to believe in me. But let us go to him.’ 16 At this, Thomas, who was called “The Twin,” said to his fellow disciples, ‘Let us go too, so that we may die with him.’ 17 When Jesus reached the place, he found that Lazarus had been four days in the tomb already. 18 Bethany being only about two miles from Jerusalem, 19 a number of the people had come there to comfort Martha and Mary because of their brother’s death. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat quietly at home. 21 ‘Master,’ Martha said to Jesus, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 Even now, I know that God will grant you whatever you ask him.’

23 ‘Your brother will rise to life,’ said Jesus. 24 ‘I know that he will,’ replied Martha, ‘in the resurrection at the Last day.’

25 ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ said Jesus. ‘He who believes in me will live, though he die; 26 and he who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

27 ‘Yes Master,’ she answered. ‘I have learned to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.’ 28 After saying this, Martha went and called her sister Mary, and whispered, ‘The teacher is here, and is asking for you.’ 29 As soon as Mary heard that, she got up quickly, and went to meet him. 30 Jesus had not then come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 So the people, who were in the house with Mary, comforting her, when they saw her get up quickly and go out, followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she threw herself at his feet. ‘Master,’ she exclaimed, ‘if you had been here, my brother would not have died!’ 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the people who had come with her weeping also, he groaned deeply, and was greatly distressed. 34 ‘Where have you buried him?’ he asked. ‘Come and see, Master,’ they answered. 35 Jesus burst into tears. 36 ‘How he must have loved him!’ the people exclaimed; 37 but some of them said, ‘Could not this man, who gave sight to the blind man, have also prevented Lazarus from dying?’ 38 Again groaning inwardly, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against the mouth of it. 39 ‘Move the stone away,’ said Jesus. ‘Master,’ said Martha, the sister of the dead man, ‘by this time the smell must be offensive, for this is the fourth day since his death.’

40 ‘Didn’t I tell you,’ replied Jesus, ‘that, if you would believe in me, you should see the glory of God?’ 41 So they moved the stone away; and Jesus, with uplifted eyes, said, ‘Father, I thank you that you have heard my prayer; 42 I know that you always hear me; but I say this for the sake of the people standing near, so that they may believe that you has sent me as your messenger.’

43 Then, after saying this, Jesus called in a loud voice, ‘Lazarus! Come out!’ 44 The dead man came out, wrapped hand and foot in a winding-sheet; his face, too, had been wrapped in a cloth. ‘Set him free,’ said Jesus, ‘and let him go.’Titleless Section Break

45 In consequence of this, many of the people, who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him. 46 Some of them, however, went to the Pharisees, and told them what he had done. 47 The chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the High Council, and said, ‘What are we to do, now that this man is giving so many signs? 48 If we allow him to continue as we are doing, everyone will believe in him; and the Romans will come and will take from us both our Temple and our nation.’ 49 One of them, however, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, 50 ‘You are utterly mistaken. You do not consider that it is better for you that one person should die for the people, rather than the whole nation should be destroyed.’ 51 Now he did not say this of his own accord; but, as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was to die for the nation – 52 And not for the nation only, but also that he might unite in one body the children of God now scattered far and wide. 53 So from that day they plotted to put Jesus to death.Titleless Section Break

54 In consequence of this, Jesus did not go about publicly among the people any more, but left and went into the country bordering on the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. 55 But the Jewish Festival of the Passover was near; and many people had gone up from the country to Jerusalem, for their purification, before the Festival began. 56 So they looked for Jesus there, and said to one another, as they stood in the Temple Courts, ‘What do you think? Do you think he will come to the Festival?’ 57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had already issued orders that, if anyone learned where Jesus was, he should give information, so that they might arrest him.

The Last Days

12 Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead, was living. 2 There a supper was given in his honour at which Martha waited, while Lazarus was one of those present at the table. 3 So Mary took a pound of choice spikenard perfume of great value, and anointed the feet of Jesus with it, and then wiped them with her hair. The whole house was filled with the scent of the perfume. 4 One of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was about to betray Jesus, asked, 5 ‘Why was not this perfume sold for a year’s wages, and the money given to poor people?’ 6 He said this, not because he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and, being in charge of the purse, used to take what was put in it. 7 ‘Leave her alone,’ said Jesus, ‘so that she may keep it until the day when my body is being prepared for burial. 8 The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me.’

9 Now great numbers of people found out that Jesus was at Bethany; and they came there, not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 The chief priests, however, plotted to put Lazarus, as well as Jesus, to death, 11 because it was owing to him that many of the people had left them, and were becoming believers in Jesus. 12 On the following day great numbers of people who had come to the Festival, hearing that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, took palm branches, 13 and went out to meet him, shouting as they went, ‘God save him! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord – the king of Israel!’ 14 Having found a young donkey, Jesus seated himself on it, in accordance with the passage of scripture – 15 “Fear not, people of Zion. Your king is coming to you, sitting on the foal of a donkey.” 16 His disciples did not understand all this at first; but, when Jesus had been exalted, then they remembered that these things had been said of him in scripture, and that they had done these things for him. 17 Meanwhile the people who were with him, when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, were telling what they had seen. 18 This, indeed, was why the crowd met him – because people had heard that he had given this sign of his mission. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you are gaining nothing! Why, all the world has run after him!’Titleless Section Break

20 Among those who were going up to worship at the Festival were some Greeks, 21 who went to Philip of Bethsaida in Galilee, and said, ‘Sir, we wish to see Jesus.’ 22 Philip went and told Andrew, and then together they went and told Jesus. 23 This was his reply – ‘The time has come for the Son of Man to be exalted. 24 In truth I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains solitary; but, if it dies, it becomes fruitful. 25 A person who loves their life loses it; while someone who hates their life in the present world will preserve it for eternal life. 26 If someone is ready to serve me, let them follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be also. If a person is ready to serve me, my Father will honour them. 27 Now I am distressed at heart and what can I say? Father, bring me safe through this hour – yet it was for this reason that I came to this hour – 28 Father, honour your own name.’ At this there came a voice from heaven, which said, ‘I have already honoured it, and I will honour it again.’ 29 The crowd of bystanders, who heard the sound, said that it was thundering. Others said, ‘An angel has been speaking to him.’

30 ‘It was not for my sake that the voice came,’ said Jesus, ‘but for yours. 31 Now this world is on its trial. Now the Spirit that is ruling this world will be driven out; 32 and I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.’ 33 By these words he indicated what death he was destined to die. 34 ‘We,’ replied the people, ‘have learned from the Law that the Christ is to remain for ever; how is it, then, that you say that the Son of Man must be “lifted up” Who is this “Son of Man”?’

35 ‘Only a little while longer,’ answered Jesus, ‘will you have the light among you. Travel on while you have the light, so that darkness may not overtake you; he who travels in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you still have the light, believe in the light, so that you may be children of light.’ After he had said this, Jesus went away, and hid himself from them. 37 But, though Jesus had given so many signs of his mission before their eyes, they still did not believe in him, 38 in fulfilment of the words of the prophet Isaiah, where he says – “Lord, who has believed our teaching? And to whom has the might of the Lord been revealed?” 39 The reason why they were unable to believe is given by Isaiah elsewhere, in these words – 40 “He has blinded their eyes, and blunted their mind, so that they should not see with their eyes, and perceive with their mind, and turn – And I should heal them.” 41 Isaiah said this, because he saw Christ’s glory; and it was of him that he spoke. 42 Yet for all this, even among the leading men there were many who came to believe in Jesus; but, because of the Pharisees, they did not acknowledge it, because they were afraid that they should be expelled from their synagogues; 43 for they valued honour from people more than honour from God. 44 But Jesus had proclaimed, ‘He who believes in me believes, not in me, but in him who sent me; 45 and he who sees me sees him who sent me. 46 I have come as a light into the world, so that no one who believes in me should remain in the darkness. 47 When anyone hears my teaching and pays no heed to it, I am not his judge; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 He who rejects me, and disregards my teaching, has a judge already – the message which I have delivered will itself be his judge at the Last day. 49 For I have not delivered it on my own authority; but the Father, who sent me, has himself given me his command as to what I should say, and what message I should deliver. 50 And I know that eternal life lies in keeping his command. Therefore, whatever I say, I say only what the Father has taught me.’
13 Before the Passover Festival began, Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave the world and go to the Father. He had loved those who were his own in the world, and he loved them to the last. 2 The devil had already put the thought of betraying Jesus into the mind of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon; 3 and at supper, Jesus – although knowing that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God, and was to return to God – 4 rose from his place, and, taking off his upper garments, tied a towel round his waist. 5 He then poured some water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel which was tied round him. 6 When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said, ‘You, Master! Are you going to wash my feet?’

7 ‘You do not understand now what I am doing,’ replied Jesus, ‘but you will learn by and by.’

8 ‘You will never wash my feet!’ exclaimed Peter. ‘Unless I wash you,’ answered Jesus, ‘you have nothing in common with me.’

9 ‘Then, Master, not my feet only,’ exclaimed Simon Peter, ‘but also my hands and my head.’

10 ‘He who has bathed,’ replied Jesus, ‘has no need to wash, unless it be his feet, but is altogether clean; and you,’ he said to the disciples, ‘are clean, yet not all of you.’ 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said “You are not all clean.” 12 When he had washed their feet, and had put on his upper garments and taken his place, he spoke to them again. ‘Do you understand what I have been doing to you?’ he asked. 13 ‘You yourselves call me “the teacher” and “the Master”, and you are right, for I am both. 14 If I, then – “the Master” and “the teacher” – have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet; 15 for I have given you an example, so that you may do just as I have done to you. 16 In truth I tell you, a servant is not greater than their master, neither is a messenger greater than the one who sends them. 17 Now that you know these things, happy are you if you do them. 18 I am not speaking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but this is in fulfilment of the words of scripture – “He that is eating my bread has lifted his heel against me.” 19 For the future I will tell you of things before they take place, so that, when they take place, you may believe that I am what I am. 20 In truth I tell you, the one who receives anyone that I send receives me; and the person who receives me receives him who sent me.’ 21 After saying this, Jesus was much troubled, and said solemnly, ‘In truth I tell you that it is one of you who will betray me.’ 22 The disciples looked at one another, wondering whom he meant. 23 Next to Jesus, in the place on his right hand, was one of his disciples, whom he loved. 24 So Simon Peter made signs to that disciple, and whispered, ‘Tell me who it is that he means.’ 25 Being in this position, that disciple leant back on Jesus’ shoulder, and asked him, ‘Who is it, Master?’

26 ‘It is the one,’ answered Jesus, ‘to whom I will give a piece of bread after dipping it in the dish.’ And, when Jesus had dipped the bread, he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot; 27 and it was then, after he had received it, that Satan took possession of him. So Jesus said to him, ‘Do at once what you are going to do.’ 28 But no one at the table understood why he said this to Judas. 29 Some thought that, as Judas kept the purse, Jesus meant that he was to buy some things needed for the Festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 After taking the piece of bread, Judas went out immediately; and it was night.Titleless Section Break

31 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been exalted, and God has been exalted through him; 32 and God will exalt him with himself – yes, he will exalt him forthwith. 33 My children, I am to be with you but a little while longer. You will look for me; and what I said to the people – “You cannot come where I am going” – I now say to you. 34 I give you a new commandment – love one another; love one another as I have loved you. 35 It is by this that everyone will recognise you as my disciples – by your loving one another.’

36 ‘Where are you going, Master?’ asked Peter. ‘I am going where you cannot now follow me,’ answered Jesus, ‘but you will follow me later.’

37 ‘Why cannot I follow you now, Master?’ asked Peter. ‘I will lay down my life for you.’

38 ‘Will you lay down your life for me?’ replied Jesus. ‘In truth I tell you, the cock will not crow until you have disowned me three times. 14 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s home there are many dwellings. If it had not been so, I should have told you, for I am going to prepare a place for you. 3 And, since I go and prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me, so that you may be where I am; 4 and you know the way to the place where I am going.’

5 ‘We do not know where you are going, Master,’ said Thomas. ‘So how can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus answered, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one ever comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had recognised me, you would have known my Father also; for the future you will recognise him, indeed you have already seen him.’

8 ‘Master, show us the Father,’ said Philip, ‘and we will be satisfied.’

9 ‘Have I been all this time among you,’ said Jesus, ‘and yet you, Philip, have not recognised me? The person who has seen me has seen the Father, how can you say, then, “Show us the Father”? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in union with the Father, and the Father with me? In giving you my teaching I am not speaking on my own authority; but the Father himself, always in union with me, does his own work. 11 Believe me,’ he said to them all, ‘when I say that I am in union with the Father and the Father with me, or else believe me because of the work itself. 12 In truth I tell you, the person who believes in me will themselves do the work that I am doing; and they will do greater work still, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask, in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be honoured in the Son. 14 If you ask anything, in my name, I will do it. 15 If you love me, you will lay my commands to heart, 16 and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, to be with you always – the Spirit of truth. 17 The world cannot receive this Spirit, because it does not see him or recognise him, but you recognise him, because he is always with you, and is within you. 18 I will not leave you bereaved; I will come to you. 19 In a little while the world will see me no more, but you will still see me; because I am living, you will be living also. 20 At that time you will recognise that I am in union with the Father, and you with me, and I with you. 21 It is they who have my commands and lays them to heart who loves me; and the person who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them, and will reveal myself to them.’

22 ‘What has happened, Master,’ said Judas (not Judas Iscariot), ‘that you are going to reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?’

23 ‘Whoever loves me,’ Jesus answered, ‘will lay my message to heart; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 The person who does not love me will not lay my message to heart; and the message to which you are listening is not my own, but comes from the Father who sent me. 25 I have told you all this while still with you, 26 but the helper – the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name – will teach you all things, and will recall to your minds all that I have said to you. 27 Peace be with you! My own peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, or dismayed. 28 You heard me say that I was going away and would return to you. Had you loved me, you would have been glad that I was going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I. 29 And this I have told you now before it happens, so that, when it does happen, you may still believe in me. 30 I will not talk with you much more, for the Spirit that is ruling the world is coming. He has nothing in common with me; 31 but he is coming so that the world may see that I love the Father, and that I do as the Father commanded me. Come, let us be going.

Titleless Section Break

15 ‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. 2 Any unfruitful branch in me he takes away, and he cleanses every fruitful branch, so that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the message that I have given you. 4 Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains united to the vine; no more can you, unless you remain united to me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remains united to me, while I remain united to you – you bear fruit plentifully; for you can do nothing apart from me. 6 If anyone does not remain united to me, they are thrown away, as a branch would be, and withers up. Such branches are collected and thrown into the fire, and are burnt. 7 If you remain united to me, and my teaching remains in your hearts, ask whatever you wish, and it will be yours. 8 It is by your bearing fruit plentifully, and so showing yourselves my disciples, that my Father is honoured. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; remain in my love. 10 If you lay my commands to heart, you will remain in my love; just as I have laid the Father’s commands to heart and remain in his love. 11 I have told you all this so that my own joy may be yours, and that your joy may be complete. 12 This is my command – love one another, as I have loved you. 13 No one can give greater proof of love than by laying down their life for their friends. 14 And you are my friends, if you do what I command you. 15 I no longer call you “servants,” because a servant does not know what their master is doing; but I have given you the name of “friends,” because I made known to you everything that I learned from my Father. 16 It wasn’t you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my name. 17 I am giving you these commands that you may love one another. 18 If the world hates you, you know that it has first hated me. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world – that is why the world hates you. 20 Remember what I said to you – “A servant is not greater than their master.” If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have laid my message to heart, they will lay yours to heart also. 21 But they will do all this to you, because you believe in my name, for they do not know him who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have had no sin to answer for; but as it is, they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The person who hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them such work as no one else ever did, they would have had no sin to answer for; but, as it is, they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 And so is fulfilled what is said in their Law – “They hated me without cause.” 26 But, when the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth, who comes from the Father – will bear testimony to me; 27 yes, and you also are to bear testimony, because you have been with me from the first. 16 ‘I have spoken to you in this way so that you may not falter. 2 They will expel you from their synagogues; indeed the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think that they are making an offering to God. 3 They will do this, because they have not learned to know the Father, or even me. 4 But I have spoken to you of these things so that, when the time for them comes, you may remember that I told you about them myself. 5 I did not tell you all this at first, because I was with you. But now I am to return to him who sent me; and yet not one of you asks me – “Where are you going?” 6 Although your hearts are full of sorrow at all that I have been saying to you. 7 Yet I am only telling you the truth; it is for your good that I should go away. For otherwise the helper will never come to you, but, if I leave you, I will send him to you. 8 And he, when he comes, will bring conviction to the world as to sin, and as to righteousness, and as to judgment; 9 as to sin, for people do not believe in me; 10 as to righteousness, for I am going to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 as to judgment, for the Spirit that is ruling this world has been condemned. 12 I have still much to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. 13 Yet when he – The Spirit of truth – comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but he will speak of all that he hears; and he will tell you of the things that are to come. 14 He will honour me; because he will take of what is mine, and will tell it to you. 15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said that he takes of what is mine, and will tell it to you. 16 In a little while you will no longer see me; and then in a little while you will see me indeed.’

17 At this some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying to us “In a little while you will not see me, and then in a little while you will see me indeed”; and by saying “Because I am going to the Father”? 18 What does he mean by “In a little while”?’ they said. ‘We do not know what he is speaking about.’ 19 Jesus saw that they were wanting to ask him a question, and said, ‘Are you trying to find out from one another what I meant by saying “In a little while you will not see me; and then in a little while you will see me indeed”? 20 In truth I tell you that you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice; you will suffer pain, but your pain will turn to joy. 21 A woman in labour is in pain because her time has come; but no sooner is the child born, than she forgets her trouble in her joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 You, in the same way, are sorry now; but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will rob you of your joy. 23 And at that time you will not ask me anything; in truth I tell you, if you ask the Father for anything, he will grant it to you in my name. 24 So far you have not asked for anything, in my name; ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 25 I have spoken to you of all this in figures; a time is coming, however, when I will not speak any longer to you in figures, but will tell you about the Father plainly. 26 You will ask, at that time, in my name; and I do not say that I will intercede with the Father for you; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came from the Father. 28 I came out from the Father, and have come into the world; and now I am to leave the world, and go to the Father.’

29 ‘At last,’ exclaimed the disciples, ‘you are using plain words and not speaking in figures at all. 30 Now we are sure that you know everything, and need not wait for anyone to question you. This makes us believe that you did come from God.’

31 ‘Do you believe that already?’ Jesus answered. 32 ‘Listen! A time is coming – indeed it has already come – when you are to be scattered, each going his own way, and to leave me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 I have spoken to you in this way, so that in me you may find peace. In the world you will find trouble; yet, take courage! I have conquered the world.’

Titleless Section Break

17 After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes heavenwards, and said:

‘Father, the hour has come; honour your Son, so that your Son may honour you; 2 even as you gave him power over all humanity, so that he should give eternal life to everyone you have given him. 3 And the eternal life is this – to know you the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent as your messenger. 4 I have honoured you on earth by completing the work which you have given me to do; 5 and now do you honour me, Father, at your own side, with the honour which I had at your side before the world began. 6 I have revealed you to those whom you gave me from the world; they were your own, and you gave them to me; and they have laid your message to heart. 7 They recognise now that everything that you gave me was from you; 8 for I have given them the teaching which you gave me, and they received it, and clearly understood that I came from you, and they believed that you have sent me as your messenger. 9 I intercede for them; I am not interceding for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are your own – 10 All that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine – and I am honoured in them. 11 Now I am to be in this world no longer, but they are still to be in the world, and I am to come to you. Holy Father, keep them by that revelation of your name which you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them, I kept them by that revelation, and I have guarded them; and not one of them has been lost, except that lost soul – in fulfilment of scripture. 13 But now I am to come to you; and I am speaking like this, while still in the world, so that they may have my own joy, in all its fullness, in their hearts. 14 I have given them your message; and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world, even as I do not belong to the world. 15 I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from evil. 16 They do not belong to the world, even as I do not belong to the world. 17 Consecrate them by the truth; your message is truth. 18 Just as you have sent me as your messenger to the world, so I send them as my messengers to the world. 19 And it is for their sakes that I am consecrating myself, so that they also may be truly consecrated. 20 But it is not only for them that I am interceding, but also for those who believe in me through their message, 21 that they all may be one – that as you, Father, are in union with us – and so the world may believe that you have sent me as your messenger. 22 I have given them the honour which you have given me, so that they may be one as we are one – 23 I in union with them and you with me – so that they may be perfected in their union, and so that the world may know that you have sent me as your messenger, and that you have loved them as you have loved me. 24 Father, my desire for all those whom you have given me is that they may be with me where I am, so that they may see the honour which you have given me; for you did love me before the beginning of the world. 25 Righteous Father, though the world did not know you, I knew you; and these people knew that you have sent me as your messenger. 26 I have made you known to them, and will do so still; that the love that you have had for me may be in their hearts, and that I may be in them also.’

Titleless Section Break

18 When Jesus had said this, he went out with his disciples and crossed the Kidron ravine to a place where there was a garden, into which he and his disciples went. 2 The place was well known to Judas, the betrayer, for Jesus and his disciples had often met there. 3 So Judas, who had obtained the soldiers of the Roman garrison, and some guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons. 4 Jesus, aware of all that was coming upon him, went to meet them, and said to them, ‘For whom are you looking?’

5 ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ was their answer. ‘I am he,’ said Jesus. (Judas, the betrayer, was also standing with them.) 6 When Jesus said “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he again asked for whom they were looking, and they answered, ‘Jesus of Nazareth.’

8 ‘I have already told you that I am he,’ replied Jesus, ‘so, if it is for me that you are looking, let these people go.’ 9 This was in fulfilment of his words – “Of those whom you have given me I have not lost one.” 10 At this, Simon Peter, who had a sword with him, drew it, and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11 But Jesus said to Peter, ‘Sheathe your sword. Should I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?’

12 So the soldiers of the garrison, with their commanding officer and the Jewish guards, arrested Jesus and bound him, 13 and took him first of all to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had counselled the religious authorities, that it was best that one person should die for the people. 15 Meanwhile Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. That disciple, being well-known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, 16 while Peter stood outside by the door. Presently the other disciple – the one well-known to the high priest – went out and spoke to the portress, and brought Peter in. 17 So the maidservant said to Peter, ‘Aren’t you also one of this man’s disciples?’

‘No, I am not,’ he said. 18 The servants and guards were standing round a charcoal fire (which they had made because it was cold), and were warming themselves. Peter, too, was with them, standing and warming himself. 19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. 20 ‘For my part,’ answered Jesus, ‘I have spoken to all the world openly. I always taught in some synagogue, or in the Temple Courts, places where everyone assembles, and I never spoke of anything in secret. 21 Why question me? Question those who have listened to me as to what I have spoken about to them. They must know what I said.’ 22 When Jesus said this, one of the guards, who was standing near, gave him a blow with his hand. ‘Do you answer the high priest like that?’ he exclaimed. 23 ‘If I said anything wrong, give evidence about it,’ replied Jesus, ‘but if not, why do you strike me?’ 24 Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest. 25 Meanwhile Simon Peter was standing there, warming himself; so they said to him, ‘Aren’t you also one of his disciples?’ Peter denied it. ‘No, I am not,’ he said. 26 One of the high priest’s servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, exclaimed, ‘Didn’t I myself see you with him in the garden?’ 27 Peter again denied it; and at that moment a cock crowed.Titleless Section Break

28 From Caiaphas they took Jesus to the Government house. It was early in the morning. But they did not enter the Government house themselves, otherwise they might become defiled, and so be unable to eat the Passover. 29 Therefore Pilate came outside to speak to them. ‘What charge do you bring against this man?’ he asked. 30 ‘If he had not been a criminal, we should not have given him up to you,’ they answered. 31 ‘Take him yourselves,’ said Pilate, ‘and try him by your own Law.’

‘We have no power to put anyone to death,’ the authorities replied – 32 in fulfilment of what Jesus had said when indicating the death that he was destined to die. 33 After that, Pilate went into the Government house again, and calling Jesus up, asked him, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’

34 ‘Do you ask me that yourself?’ replied Jesus, ‘or did others say it to you about me?’

35 ‘Do you take me for a Jew?’ was Pilate’s answer. ‘It is your own nation and the chief priests who have given you up to me. What have you done?’

36 ‘My kingly power,’ replied Jesus, ‘is not due to this world. If it had been so, my servants would be doing their utmost to prevent my being given up to the authorities; but my kingly power is not from the world.’

37 ‘So you are a king after all!’ exclaimed Pilate. ‘Yes, it is true I am a king,’ answered Jesus. ‘I was born for this, I have come into the world for this – to bear testimony to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth listens to my voice.’

38 ‘What is truth?’ exclaimed Pilate. After saying this, he went out to the crowd again, and said, ‘For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged. 39 It is, however, the custom for me to grant you the release of one man at the Passover Festival. Do you wish for the release of the king of the Jews?’

40 ‘No, not this man,’ they shouted again, ‘but Barabbas!’ This Barabbas was a robber.

Titleless Section Break

19 After that, Pilate had Jesus scourged. 2 The soldiers made a crown with some thorns and put it on his head and threw a purple robe round him. 3 They kept coming up to him and saying, ‘Long live the king of the Jews!’ and they gave him blow after blow with their hands. 4 Pilate again came outside, and said to the people, ‘Look! I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find nothing with which he can be charged.’ 5 Then Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe; and Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’ 6 When the chief priests and the guards saw him, they shouted, ‘Crucify him! Crucify him!’

‘Take him yourselves and crucify him,’ said Pilate. ‘For my part, I find nothing with which he can be charged.’

7 ‘But we,’ replied the crowd, ‘have a Law, under which he deserves death for making himself out to be the Son of God.’ 8 When Pilate heard what they said, he became still more alarmed; 9 and, going into the Government house again, he said to Jesus, ‘Where do you come from?’ 10 But Jesus made no reply. So Pilate said to him, ‘Do you refuse to speak to me? Don’t you know that I have power to release you, and have power to crucify you?’

11 ‘You would have no power over me at all,’ answered Jesus, ‘if it had not been given you from above; and, therefore, the man who betrayed me to you is guilty of the greater sin.’ 12 This made Pilate anxious to release him; but the crowd shouted, ‘If you release that man, you are no friend of the Emperor! Anyone who makes himself out to be a king is setting himself against the Emperor!’ 13 On hearing what they said, Pilate brought Jesus out, and took his seat on the Bench at a place called “The Stone Pavement” – in Hebrew “Gabbatha.” 14 It was the Passover Preparation day, and about noon. Then he said to the crowd, ‘Here is your king!’ 15 At that the people shouted, ‘Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!’

‘What! Should I crucify your king?’ exclaimed Pilate. ‘We have no king but the Emperor,’ replied the chief priests; 16 so Pilate gave Jesus up to them to be crucified.Titleless Section Break

So they took Jesus; 17 and he went out, carrying his cross himself, to the place which is named from a skull, or, in Hebrew, Golgotha. 18 There they crucified him, and two others with him – one on each side, and Jesus between them. 19 Pilate also had these words written and put up over the cross – “JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.” 20 These words were read by many people, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and they were written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. 21 The chief priests said to Pilate, ‘Do not write “The king of the Jews”, but write what the man said – “I am the king of the Jews.” ’ 22 But Pilate answered, ‘What I have written, I have written.’Titleless Section Break

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four shares – a share for each soldier – and they took the coat also. The coat had no seam, being woven in one piece from top to bottom. 24 So they said to one another, ‘Do not let us tear it, but let us cast lots for it, to see who will have it.’ This was in fulfilment of the words of scripture –

“They shared my clothes among them,

and over my clothing they cast lots.”

That was what the soldiers did. 25 Meanwhile near the cross of Jesus were standing his mother and his mother’s sister, as well as Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala. 26 When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved, standing near, he said to his mother, ‘There is your son.’ 27 Then he said to that disciple, ‘There is your mother.’ And from that very hour the disciple took her to live in his house.Titleless Section Break

28 Afterwards, knowing that everything was now finished, Jesus said, in fulfilment of the words of scripture, ‘I am thirsty.’ 29 There was a bowl standing there full of common wine; so they put a sponge soaked in the wine on the end of a hyssop-stalk, and held it up to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the wine, he exclaimed, ‘All is finished!’ Then, bowing his head, he resigned his spirit to God. 31 It was the Preparation day, and so, to prevent the bodies from remaining on the crosses during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a great day), the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies removed. 32 Accordingly the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and then those of the other who had been crucified with Jesus; 33 but, on coming to him, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. 34 One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water immediately flowed from it. 35 This is the statement of one who actually saw it – and his statement may be relied on, and he knows that he is speaking the truth – and it is given in order that you also may be convinced. 36 For all this happened in fulfilment of the words of scripture – “Not one of its bones will be broken.” 37 And there is another passage which says – “They will look on him whom they pierced.” 38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus – but a secret one, owing to his fear of the religious authorities – begged Pilate’s permission to remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him leave; so Joseph went and removed the body. 39 Nicodemus, too – the man who had formerly visited Jesus by night – came with a roll of myrrh and aloes, weighing nearly a hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen with the spices, according to the Jewish mode of burial. 41 At the place where Jesus had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a newly made tomb in which no one had ever been laid. 42 And so, because of its being the Preparation day, and as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

The Risen Life

20 On the first day of the week, early in the morning, while it was still dark, Mary of Magdala went to the tomb, and saw that the stone had been removed. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter, and to that other disciple who was Jesus’ friend, and said to them, ‘They have taken away the Master out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him!’ 3 So, Peter started off with that other disciple, and they went to the tomb. 4 The two began running together; but the other disciple ran faster than Peter, and reached the tomb first. 5 Stooping down, he saw the linen wrappings lying there, but did not go in. 6 Presently Simon Peter came following behind him, and went into the tomb; and he looked at the linen wrappings lying there, 7 and the cloth which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the wrappings, but rolled up on one side, separately. 8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, went inside too, and he saw for himself and was convinced. 9 For they did not then understand the passage of scripture which says that Jesus must rise again from the dead. 10 The disciples then returned to their companions.

11 Meanwhile Mary was standing close outside the tomb, weeping. Still weeping, she leant forward into the tomb, 12 and perceived two angels clothed in white sitting there, where the body of Jesus had been lying, one where the head and the other where the feet had been. 13 ‘Why are you weeping?’ asked the angels. ‘They have taken my Master away,’ she answered, ‘and I do not know where they have laid him.’ 14 After saying this, she turned round, and looked at Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 ‘Why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?’ he asked. Supposing him to be the gardener, Mary answered, ‘If it was you, Sir, who carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away myself.’

16 ‘Mary!’ said Jesus. She turned round, and exclaimed in Hebrew, ‘Rabboni!’ (or, as we should say, “teacher”). 17 ‘Do not hold me,’ Jesus said, ‘for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers, and tell them that I am ascending to him who is my Father and their Father, my God and their God.’ 18 Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Master, and that he had said this to her.Titleless Section Break

19 In the evening of the same day – the first day of the week – after the doors of the room, in which the disciples were, had been shut because they were afraid of the religious authorities, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you’; 20 after which he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Master. 21 Again Jesus said to them, ‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me as his messenger, so I am sending you.’ 22 After saying this, he breathed on them, and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit; 23 if you remit anyone’s sins, they have been remitted; and, if you retain them, they have been retained.’Titleless Section Break

24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called “The Twin,” was not with them when Jesus came; 25 so the rest of the disciples said to him, ‘We have seen the Master!’

‘Unless I see the marks of the nails in his hands,’ he exclaimed, ‘and put my finger into the marks, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.’ 26 A week later the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. After the doors had been shut, Jesus came and stood among them, and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ 27 Then he said to Thomas, ‘Place your finger here, and look at my hands; and place your hand here, and put it into my side; and do not refuse to believe, but believe.’ 28 And Thomas exclaimed, ‘My Master, and my God!’

29 ‘Is it because you have seen me that you have believed?’ said Jesus. ‘Blessed are they who have not seen, and yet have believed!’Titleless Section Break

30 There were many other signs of his mission that Jesus gave in presence of the disciples, which are not recorded in this book; 31 but these have been recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God – and that, through your belief in his name, you may have life.

Titleless Section Break

21 Later on, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. 2 It was in this way, – Simon Peter, Thomas, who was called “The Twin,” Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples of Jesus, were together, when Simon Peter said, 3 ‘I am going fishing.’

‘We will come with you,’ said the others. They went out and got into the boat, but caught nothing that night. 4 Just as day was breaking, Jesus came and stood on the beach; but the disciples did not know that it was he. 5 ‘My children,’ he said, ‘have you anything to eat?’

‘No,’ they answered. 6 ‘Cast your net to the right of the boat,’ he said, ‘and you will find fish.’ So they cast the net, and now they could not haul it in because of the quantity of fish. 7 The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Master!’ When Simon Peter heard that it was the Master, he fastened his coat round him (for he had taken it off), and threw himself into the sea. 8 But the rest of the disciples came in the boat (for they were only about a hundred yards from shore), dragging the net full of fish. 9 When they had come ashore, they found a charcoal fire ready, with some fish already on it, and some bread as well. 10 ‘Bring some of the fish which you have just caught,’ said Jesus. 11 So Simon Peter got into the boat and hauled the net ashore full of large fish, a hundred and fifty-three of them; and yet, although there were so many, the net had not been torn. 12 ‘Come and have breakfast.’, Jesus said. None of the disciples dared ask him who he was, because they knew it was the Master. 13 Jesus went and took the bread and gave it to them, and the fish too. 14 This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.Titleless Section Break

15 When breakfast was over, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the others?’

‘Yes, Master,’ he answered, ‘you know that I am your friend.’

‘Feed my lambs,’ said Jesus. 16 Then, a second time, Jesus asked, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’

‘Yes, Master,’ he answered, ‘you know that I am your friend.’

‘Tend my sheep,’ said Jesus. 17 The third time, Jesus said to him, ‘Simon, son of John, are you my friend?’ Peter was hurt at his third question being “Are you my friend?”; and exclaimed, ‘Master, you know everything! You can tell that I am your friend.’

‘Feed my sheep,’ said Jesus. 18 ‘In truth I tell you,’ he continued, ‘when you were young, you used to put on your own clothes, and walk wherever you wished; but, when you have grown old, you will have to stretch out your hands, while someone else puts on your clothes, and takes you where you do not wish.’ 19 Jesus said this to show the death by which Peter was to honour God, and then he added, ‘Follow me.’ 20 Peter turned round, and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following – the one who at the supper leant back on the Master’s shoulder, and asked him who it was who would betray him. 21 Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, what about this man?’

22 ‘If it is my will that he should wait until I come,’ answered Jesus, ‘what has that to do with you? Follow me yourself.’ 23 So the report spread among his followers that that disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say that he was not to die, but said ‘If it is my will that he should wait until I come, what has that to do with you?’Titleless Section Break

24 It is this disciple who states these things, and who recorded them; and we know that his statement is true.Titleless Section Break

25 There are many other things which Jesus did; but, if every one of them were to be recorded in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not hold the books that would be written.