1 In the beginning was the message,[fn] and the message was with God, and the message was and is God. 2 The message was with God even at the creation of the universe. 3 Everything came into existence through the messenger[fn]—not even one thing came into existence apart from him. 4 He holds life, and that life is the light of humankind. 5 And that light is shining in the darkness, and darkness cannot overcome him.

6 [ref]A man arrived who had been sent by God. His name was Yohan. 7 He came as a testimony to tell about the light so that everyone would believe the light. 8 Yohan himself wasn’t the light—he was merely the announcer of the light. 9 The true light which enlightens every person was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world and he’s the creator of the world, and yet the world didn’t even know him. 11 He came to his own chosen people, but they wouldn’t accept him, 12 however anyone who would accept him and trusted in his authority, he gave them the right to become children of God— 13 not physical children and not coming from human actions, but children of God.

14 And the message became a human and lived here among us and we saw his greatness—the greatness of an only child of the father—full of grace and truth.

15 Yohan explained about him and loudly told everyone, “This is the one I meant when I said, ‘There’s someone coming after me, yet who came before me, because he existed before I did!’ ”

16 Because he has so much, we all received grace and then even more grace. 17 The commandments came to us through Mosheh, but grace and truth came to us through Yeshua the messiah. 18 No one has ever actually seen God, but the human son born from God the father and in close touch with him, he was the one to explain God to us.

19 Yohan explained some of this when the Jewish leaders sent out priests and temple workers from Yerushalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 He didn’t flinch from the truth and so he told them, “I am not the chosen messiah.”

21 [ref]So they asked him again, “Are you Eliyah come back to life?”

And he answered, “No, I’m not.”

They asked, “Are you the prophet?”

Again he answered, “No, I’m not.”

22 So they asked him, “Who are you then? We need to give an answer to the ones who sent us. How do you describe yourself?”

23 [ref]So he said, “I am a voice shouting[fn] in the wilderness smooth the path of the master, as the prophet Isayah said.”

24 Some of the ones sent out were members of the Pharisee party. 25 These ones asked Yohan, “So why are you immersing people then if you aren’t the messiah or Eliyah or the prophet?”

26 He answered, “I’m immersing people in water, but somewhere here among us all there’s someone you don’t know— 27 the one coming after me, and I’m not even good enough to untie his sandal straps!”

28 All this happened in Bethany on the east side of the Yordan River where Yohan was immersing people.

29 The next day Yohan saw Yeshua coming towards him, and said, “Hey! Here’s the sacrificial lamb of God who’s come to take away the sin of the world. 30 This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘There’s someone coming after me, yet who came before me, because he existed before I did.’ 31 I didn’t know who he was but nevertheless I came and immersed people in water so that this man could be revealed to all Israel.”

32 And Yohan further explained, “I saw God’s spirit come down and settle on him. 33 I didn’t know which one was him, but the one who sent me to immerse people in water said, ‘When you see the spirit coming down and settling on someone, he is the one who will immerse people with God’s holy spirit.’ 34 And I have seen that, and so I can assure you that he is God’s son.”

35 The next day, Yohan was back there with two of his apprentices 36 and noticing Yeshua walking nearby he said, “Look! There’s the sacrificial lamb of God.”

37 When his two apprentices heard him say that, they left him and followed Yeshua. 38 But Yeshua turned and saw them following him, and asked them, “What do you two want?”

And they said to him, “Teacher, where do you live?”

39 “Come and see,” Yeshua replied. So they went with him and saw where he lived, and then they stayed there that night, because it was already late afternoon.

40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter was one of those two who heard Yohan and then followed Yeshua. 41 As soon as he found his brother, he said to Simon, “We have found the messiah—God’s chosen one,” 42 and led him to Yeshua. When Yeshua saw him, he said, “Ah, you are Simon, Yohan’s son, but from now on you’ll be called Peter which means stone.”

43 The following day, Yeshua wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me!” 44 Philip was from the town of Bethsaida where Andrew and Peter lived. 45 Philip then found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the one that Mosheh and the prophets wrote about in the Scriptures. He’s Yeshua from Nazareth.”

46 And Nathanael said, “Does anything good come from Nazareth?”

So Philip answered, “Well, come and see for yourself.”

47 Yeshua saw Nathanael approaching and said, “Ah, this is an honest Israeli.”

48 But Nathanael queried him, “Where do you know me from?”

And Yeshua replied, “Actually I saw you under that fig tree before Philip had even called you.”

49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Great teacher! You are God’s son! You’re the king of Israel!”

50 Yeshua responded, “So you believe this because I said that I had seen you under the fig tree. You’ll get to see much greater things than that!” 51 [ref]And he continued, “Honestly, I’m telling all of you: you’ll be seeing the sky opened up and God’s messengers going up and coming down on me—humanity’s child.”

2 On the Tuesday[fn], there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and Yeshua’s mother was there 2 and Yeshua and his apprentices were also invited. 3 When the wine ran out at the wedding, his mother said to him, “They haven’t got any more wine.”

4 Yeshua answered, “What does that have to do with us, mother? It’s not the time for my ministry yet.”

5 But his mother told the servants, “Just do whatever he tells you.”

6 Now there were six empty stone water jars there that are used for Jewish purification ceremonies. (Each one could hold over 70 litres.) 7 So Yeshua told them to fill the jars with water, and they filled them up. 8 Then he said, “Ok, now take a sample out and give it to the MC.” So they took some 9 and when the MC tasted the water that had now turned to wine, not knowing where it had come from he called the groom 10 and exclaimed, “Most people supply the best wine at the beginning of the reception, and the cheaper stuff when people are a bit tipsy. But you’ve kept the best wine until last!”

11 This event in Cana, Galilee, was the first of the miracles that Yeshua did, and it revealed his greatness and his followers believed that he was from God.

12 [ref]After that, Yeshua and his mother and brothers and his followers travelled east to Capernaum, but they only stayed there a few days.

13 [ref]By then it was getting close to the time of the Jewish Festival of the Passover, and Yeshua went down to Yerushalem. 14 There in the temple, he discovered merchants selling cows and sheep and doves, and moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15 Yeshua formed some cords into a whip and drove the sheep and cows out of the temple grounds, and he overturned the tables—spilling the coins of the moneychangers onto the ground. 16 He scolded the ones selling doves, saying, “Get them out of here! Don’t be making my father’s house into a market.” 17 [ref]That reminded his followers of the scripture: “I’ll be filled with zeal for your temple.”

18 Then the Jewish leaders responded, “Do a miracle to show that you have the authority to do these things.”

19 [ref]But Yeshua answered, “Well, destroy this temple and I’ll raise[fn] it again in three days.”

20 The leaders smirked, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and you reckon that you can raise it again in three days?”

21 But Yeshua had been meaning his own body when he was talking about the temple. 22 In the future when he was actually raised from the dead, his followers remembered this statement, and they believed both the Hebrew scriptures and Yeshua’s message.

23 When Yeshua was at the Passover Feast in Yerushalem, many believed in his authority because they saw the miracles that he was able to do. 24 But Yeshua never fully entrusted himself to them, because he knew what people are like. 25 (He didn’t need anyone to tell him what people are like because he could see what any person was like on the inside.)

3 After dark one evening, a Jewish leader named Nicodemus who was a member of the Pharisee party 2 went to Yeshua and said, “Teacher, we know that God has sent you as a teacher, because no one could do these kinds of miracles if God wasn’t with him.”

3 Yeshua responded, “I’ll tell you frankly that no one can enter God’s kingdom unless he is reborn.”

4 Nicodemus questioned, “How can an adult be reborn? A person can’t just return to their mother’s womb and then get born a second time!”

5 But Yeshua continued, “Honestly, I’m telling you: unless a person is born from both water and the spirit, they can’t enter God’s kingdom. 6 Someone that’s born from a body is flesh and bone, but someone that’s born from God’s spirit is spiritual. 7 So you shouldn’t be surprised that I told you that everyone needs to be reborn. 8 The wind blows wherever it wants, and you can hear its sound but you can’t actually see where it’s coming from and where it’s going to. So too with everyone who’s born from God’s spirit.”

9 Nicodemus replied, “How can all this even happen?”

10 “You’re a Jewish teacher,” Yeshua answered, “and yet you don’t know all this? 11 It’s true that we just teach what we know, and explain what we’ve seen ourselves, but you people aren’t accepting our testimony. 12 If I tell all of you earthly things and you don’t believe them, how will you ever believe if I explain heavenly things? 13 None of you have gone up into heaven, but I, humanity’s child, have come down from heaven.

14 [ref]“Just like Mosheh lifted up that bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, it’s also necessary for humanity’s child to be lifted up,[fn] 15 so that everyone who believes in him won’t die, but will live forever.[fn] 16 Because in that same way, God loves the people of the world enough to cause his only son to be born and to give him to the world, so that everyone who believes this will not die, but will go on to live forever.

17 “God didn’t send his son here to condemn people, but rather to save them. 18 Anyone who trusts in me will not be condemned. However, anyone who doesn’t believe this has already been condemned because he rejected the authority of the only son that God fathered. 19 And this is the verdict: that light has come into the world, but some people love the darkness more than the light because they do evil things, 20 because everyone who does evil things hates the light and doesn’t come to the light so that their actions won’t be exposed. 21 But anyone who does what is right, comes toward the light so that their actions can be revealed as being done with God’s help.”

22 After this, Yeshua and his followers went down to Yudea, and stayed there and immersed some believers. 23 Yohan was also immersing people at Aenon near Salim because there was plenty of water there and people would come to him to get immersed. 24 [ref](At this point in time, Yohan had not yet been put in prison.) 25 Then a debate about purification started between Yohan’s followers and a religious leader.[fn] 26 So some people went to Yohan and said, “Teacher, that man that came to you across the river and that you testified about, now he’s immersing people and so they’re all going to him.”

27 “None of us get anything if it’s not being given from heaven,” Yohan answered. 28 [ref]“You yourselves know that I said that I’m not the messiah, but rather the one coming before him. 29 It’s the groom that has the bride—the best man is happy because he sees that the groom is happy. So I’m actually completely happy with all this. 30 It’s right and proper that he should increase and I should fade out.”

31 “The one who came down from heaven is greater than any of us. We came from this world and speak in our earthly ways. The one who came down from heaven is greater than any of us. 32 He explains about what he’s seen and heard, but people don’t believe him. 33 Anyone who does believe him, confirms that God is true. 34 The one that God sent tells us God’s words, because God doesn’t ration his spirit. 35 [ref]The father loves the son and has put him in charge of everything. 36 Anyone who believes God’s son will live forever, but anyone who disobeys the son won’t be seeing life, but will feel God’s severe anger instead.”

4 When Yeshua found out that the Pharisee party knew that he was gaining and immersing more followers than Yohan had, 2 (although actually it wasn’t Yeshua himself that was immersing them, but his trainees that were doing it), 3 he left Yudea and went back up to Galilee. 4 On the way up, he decided to go through Samaria.

5 [ref]By choosing that route, they came to a town in Samaria called Sukar, which was near the place that the patriarch Yosef had inherited from his father Yacob, 6 and Yacob’s well was there. Yeshua was tired from all the walking and was sitting by the well around midday.

7 A woman came from the town to get water from the well, and Yeshua asked her for a drink 8 since his followers had gone into the town to buy some lunch.

9 [ref]The woman said to him, “You’re a Jew. How come you’re asking me for a drink when I’m from Samaria?” (Jews don’t normally associate with anyone from Samaria.)

10 Yeshua answered, “If you had recognised God’s gift and who it is who’s asking you for a drink, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water to drink.”

11 But the woman countered, “Mister, you don’t even have rope and a bucket to reach the water in the deep well. How then could you get ‘living water’? 12 I doubt that you’re greater than our ancestor Yacob who made this well for us and drank this water along with his children and his animals.”

13 Yeshua responded, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water that I give them will find a well springing up inside them—springing into eternal life.”

15 So the woman said, “Ok, then. Give me some of that water so that I won’t get thirsty and won’t have to keep coming out here to the well.”

16 Yeshua said, “First, go and get your husband and return here.”

17 “I don’t have a husband!” she retorted.

“True enough—indeed you don’t,” Yeshua said. 18 “You’ve had five husbands and you’re not married to the man you’re living with, so that was true.”

19 “Mister, I can see that you’re a prophet,” the woman reacted. 20 “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that people should only worship there in Yerushalem.”

21 Then Yeshua told her, “You need to believe that I was sent from God, woman, because a day is coming when everyone will be worshipping him neither on this mountain, nor in Yerushalem. 22 You people in Samaria don’t even know who you worship, but we do, because people will be saved by means of us Jews. 23 But a time is coming, starting even now, when the true worshippers will be worshipping the father in spirit and truth, because those are the ones that he is wanting to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and the ones worshipping him must worship in spirit and total honesty.”

25 The woman said, “I’m aware that the messiah is coming—the chosen one of God. Whenever he appears, he’ll teach us everything.”

26 “I am the messiah,” Yeshua responded. “Yes, he’s speaking to you!”

27 After this, his followers arrived back, and they were astounded that he was speaking with a woman. However no one dared ask her, “What are you after?” Or to ask him, “Why are you talking with her?”

28 So the woman left her water jar there, and went back into the town where she told the people, 29 “Come and see a man who knew as much about me as I know myself! He must be the messiah!” 30 So they went out from the town to go and see Yeshua.

31 Meanwhile, Yeshua’s followers encouraged him, “Teacher, here, eat.”

32 But he said, “I’ve had food to eat that you don’t know about.”

33 This made his followers ask each other, “Did you see anyone bring him something to eat?”

34 “Obeying God who sent me is like food to me, and I plan to finish his work,” Yeshua explained. 35 “Don’t you all have a saying about needing to wait four months for a harvest? But I’m telling you that you all should open your eyes and look at the fields, because they’re already lightening up as harvest time approaches. 36 The harvester gets paid with a harvest that will last forever so that the ones who plant and the ones who harvest can all celebrate. 37 There’s truth in the statement that one person plants and a different person harvests. 38 I’ve sent you all out to harvest where you haven’t worked before—others did the groundwork and you benefit from their work.”

39 And many people of Samaria came out of that town and believed that Yeshua is God because the woman had told them that he knew everything about her. 40 So when they all came, they asked him to stay in their town and they stayed on there for a couple of days.

41 As a result of his teaching, many more believed 42 so then they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said, but now that we’ve heard him for ourselves, we can see that he really is the saviour of the world.”

43 After his two days in Samaria, Yeshua continued on up to Galilee. 44 [ref]He himself had told them that no prophet gets honoured in his own home town. 45 [ref]When he got to Galilee, the people accepted him, having seen everything that he’d done at the feast in Yerushalem because they had also been down there.

46 [ref]So he went again to Cana there in Galilee where he had made the water into wine. Now there was a royal official there, whose son in Capernaum was ill. 47 When the official heard that Yeshua was coming up from Yudea to Galilee, he went and asked him if he would come and heal his son who was dying. 48 Yeshua said to him, “You people won’t believe unless you see miracles and other marvels.”

49 But the official begged him, “Sir, please come before my child dies.”

50 “Go back there and see,” Yeshua responded. “Your son will recover.”

The man believed what Yeshua had told him, and so he started off. 51 On his way, his slaves met him and reported that the boy was alive and well.

52 So the official asked them what time it was that he got better, and they replied that the fever had subsided around 1pm. 53 The father knew that that was the time when Yeshua had told him that his son would recover, and as a result his whole household believed that Yeshua came from God.

54 This was the second miracle that Yeshua did after leaving Yudea and going to Galilee.

5 After all this, there was another Jewish feast, so Yeshua went down to Yerushalem. 2 In Yerushalem at the Sheep Gate, there’s the Bethsaida pool that has five alcoves 3 and a large number of sick, blind, lame, and paralysed people lie there in them. 4 ◘ 5 One man had been there for thirty-eight years, 6 and when Yeshua noticed him and knew that he’d been there for so long, he asked, “Do you want to get better?”

7 “Yes mister,” the sick man answered, “but when the water starts moving, I don’t have a companion to lift me into the pool, so someone else always get there before me.”

8 Then Yeshua said, “Stand up and pick up your bedroll and start walking.” 9 The man immediately stood up, picked up his gear, and started to walk.

However, this was the weekly rest day. 10 [ref]So the religious leaders said to the man, “Hey! It’s against the law for you to carry your bedding on the rest day!”

11 But the man answered, “The man who made me better told me to pick up my bedroll and start walking.”

12 “Oh. Who was it that told you to take that stuff and start walking?”

13 But the man who had been healed didn’t even know who it was, because Yeshua had quickly left when a crowd had formed.

14 Later on, Yeshua found the man in the temple and told him, “Look, you’re better now so don’t go on sinning, because you don’t want anything worse to happen to you.”

15 The man then went and told the leaders that it was Yeshua who had made him better. 16 As a result, the leaders started harassing Yeshua because he had done this on a rest day. 17 But Yeshua just replied, “My father is working today, and so I’m also working.”

18 Because of this, the leaders became determined that he must be put to death—not just because he broke the rules for the rest day, but most of all because he was calling God his own father, thus making himself equal to God!

19 So Yeshua responded to them, “I want to tell you all something: The son can’t initiate anything by himself. He can only do what he sees his father doing, because whatever his father is doing, he also does things like that. 20 You see, the father loves his son and shows him everything that he’s doing. In fact, he’ll be showing him even greater things than what he’s done already, so that you all will be amazed. 21 Because the father brings the dead back to life, giving them new life, so too the son can give life to anyone who he wants. 22 The father won’t be judging anyone, but has already given that task to the son, 23 so that the people might honour the son like they honour the father. But anyone who is not honouring the son, is also dishonouring the father who sent him.

24 “I assure you that anyone who hears my message and believes that I was sent by God, will live forever and will not be condemned, but has moved from death into life. 25 I can also assure you that a time is coming, and in fact is here already, when the dead will be hearing the voice of God’s son and that voice will bring them back to life. 26 As the father is the source of life, he gave the power of giving life to the son 27 and gave him the authority to be the final judge, because he is humanity’s child. 28 Don’t be surprised at this, because a time is coming when everyone in their graves will be hearing his voice, 29 [ref]and the ones having done what is good will be given new life, and the ones having done what is evil will be condemned.”

30 Yeshua continued explaining to the religious leaders, “I don’t do anything in isolation. Whenever I hear from him, only then do I judge and my judgement is correct and impartial because I’m not imposing my desires, but the desire of the one who sent me.

31 “If I just testified about myself, my testimony would not be correct or even valid. 32 However it’s another one that’s testifying about me, and I know that his testimony about me is true. 33 [ref]You sent people out to question Yohan and his testimony was true. 34 but I don’t even need any testimony that comes from people, because I am teaching you how to be saved. 35 Yohan was a bright and shining light and you appreciated it for a short time. 36 But I have a stronger testimony than Yohan’s because the father has entrusted works to me to complete, and which I’m already doing and which clearly show that the father sent me here. 37 [ref]And since he sent me, he himself has testified about me. You people have never listened to his voice, nor have you ever seen him! 38 And his way of thinking is obviously not in your minds, because you don’t believe the one that he sent. 39 You look in the Jewish scriptures because you suppose that they’ll lead you to eternal life. Those very scriptures testify about me coming, 40 yet you refuse to come to me in order to receive life.

41 “I’m not getting any praise from people 42 but I do know that you people don’t actually love God in your hearts. 43 I have come with my father’s authority and you don’t accept me, but if someone came claiming their own authority, you’d happily accept them. 44 How could you possibly believe when you just accept acclamations from each other, but don’t even seek praise from the only God. 45 But don’t be assuming that I’ll be accusing you all in front of the father. No, the one who’ll accuse you is Mosheh because he’s the one that you’re hoping to please. 46 The trouble is that if you actually believed what Mosheh wrote, you would believe me, because Mosheh was writing about me. 47 But since you don’t really believe his writings, you’re not at all likely to believe me.”

6 After all this, Yeshua crossed the lake in a boat.[fn] 2 A large crowd followed him because they’d seen his miraculous healings of sick people. 3 Yeshua climbed a hill and sat there with his apprentices. 4 At that time, it was getting close to the Jewish Festival of Passover. 5 When Yeshua looked out and saw the large crowd coming, he asked Philip, “Where can we get enough food from to feed all this crowd?” 6 But he was only saying this to test Philip because he already knew what he was going to do.

7 Philip answered, “To buy even just a snack for this many people would take several months’ wages!”

8 Now one of Yeshua’s apprentices, Simon Peter’s brother, Andrew, said to Yeshua, 9 “There’s a young boy here with five buns and two small cooked fish, but that wouldn’t even start to feed this crowd.”

10 But Yeshua told them to get all the people to sit down as there was a large grassy area. So they all sat down—some five thousand men were counted. 11 Then he took the buns and gave thanks to God, and started passing around both the buns and the fish, and everyone ate as much as they wanted. 12 Once everyone was full, Yeshua got his apprentices to collect the leftover fragments so as not to waste anything. 13 So they gathered the leftovers and filled twelve baskets with leftover bread.

14 The people who had witnessed this and other miracles said, “This really is the prophet that God promised to send!” 15 But Yeshua knew that they intended to come and grab him to proclaim him as their king, so he moved out of the crowd and on up the hill.

16 As it moved into evening, Yeshua’s apprentices went back down to the lake 17 and having boarded the boat, they set out across the lake toward Capernaum. By then it was dark, and there was still no sign of Yeshua. 18 Then a strong wind hit the lake and the water got rough. 19 When they had rowed about five kilometres, they saw Yeshua walking on top of the lake and approaching the boat, and they were very scared. 20 But he told them, “Don’t worry—it’s me.” 21 After that they were willing to let him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at their arrival place.

22 The next day, the crowd looked across the lake and saw that only one small boat had crossed, and they knew that only Yeshua’s apprentices had boarded that boat and left, and not Yeshua himself. 23 Other boats came across from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread after the master had given thanks. 24 So when all the people saw that Yeshua wasn’t around and his apprentices had left, they went off looking for Yeshua in Capernaum.

25 When they found him there across the lake, they queried, “Teacher, how did you get here?”

26 “Honestly, I know that you’re not looking for me because you saw God working miracles,” Yeshua answered, “but because you all had plenty of food to fill you up. 27 Don’t just work for the food which goes off, but for the food which lasts forever—the food which humanity’s child will give to you because God the father has put his mark of approval on him.”

28 Puzzled, they asked him, “What should we be doing if we want to work for God?”

29 He answered, “Doing God’s work is putting your trust in the one that he sent here.”

30 “If so,” they said, “what miracle will you do for us to see so that we can believe that you came from God? What can you do? 31 [ref]Our ancestors ate the manna[fn] out in the wilderness, just like Mosheh wrote, ‘He gave them bread from the sky to eat.’ ”

32 Yeshua said to them, “Actually I can tell you that it wasn’t Mosheh who gave them bread from heaven, but my father gives you the real bread from heaven, 33 because God’s bread is the one who came down from heaven and who gives life to the world.”

34 So they requested, “Mister, keep giving us that bread.”

35 “I am the bread that gives life,” Yeshua answered, “anyone who comes to me will never hunger, and the one believing in me, will never be thirsty again. 36 But as I said already, although you have seen me you refuse to believe me. 37 Everyone that the father gives to me will come to me, and I certainly won’t turn away anyone who comes to me, 38 because I came down from heaven, not to do what I want, but to do what the one who sent me wants. 39 And what he wants is for me to not lose anyone that he’s given to me, but to bring them back to life on the last day. 40 My father wants everyone who watches me and believes in me to live forever, because I will bring them back to life on that final day.”

41 This little speech made the religious leaders grumble about him because he had said that he was the food that came down from heaven, 42 as they figured out, “This is Yeshua the son of Yosef and so we know his parents. So how can he say that he came down from heaven?”

43 Yeshua scolded them, “Don’t be grumbling to each other. 44 No one can join me unless the father who sent me attracts them, and then I’ll be bringing them back to life on that final day. 45 [ref]The prophets wrote that the people will be taught by God. And everyone who’s heard and learned from the father comes to me. 46 Not that any person has seen the father—only the one who came from God has seen him. 47 I tell you sincerely: anyone who believes in me will live forever. 48 I am the bread that gives true life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, but they all went on to die. 50 But I am the bread that came down from heaven and anyone who eats this will not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven and if anyone eats this bread, he will live through to the next age.”

52 At this point, the religious leaders began to argue with each other, “How could this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 So Yeshua explained, “Indeed if you don’t eat my flesh and drink my blood, you aren’t truly alive! 54 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will gain eternal life—I will bring them back to life on that final day. 55 For my flesh is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56 Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I will live in him. 57 The father is alive and sent me here, and I am alive because of Him, so also the person who eats me will be alive because of me. 58 Unlike your ancestors who ate that bread from the sky and then died, anyone who eats this bread that came down from heaven will live through to the next age.”

59 Yeshua taught all of this in the meeting hall there in Capernaum. 60 But even many of his followers who heard it said, “This is difficult teaching—it’s too hard to take.”

61 But Yeshua already knew inside that his followers were grumbling about this and asked them, “Do you find this offensive? 62 What if you were to see humanity’s child ascending to where he came from? 63 It’s the spirit that is the source of life, not the body. The concepts that I’ve taught you are all spiritual and life-giving. 64 But there are some here who don’t believe me.” Actually, Yeshua had already known from the beginning just who would believe and which person would betray him 65 so he said, “That’s why I told you that no one can come to me unless the father has given them to me.”

66 After this, many of his followers went back and no longer accompanied him around.

67 So Yeshua said to his twelve apprentices, “Don’t you want to leave as well?”

68 [ref]“Master,” Simon answered, “if we went, who would we follow then? You’re the only one who teaches about living forever. 69 We believe and know that you are the holy son of God.”

70 Yeshua responded, “Didn’t I choose all twelve of you myself? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 (He was talking about Yudas, Simon Iscariot’s son, because he was the one who would go on to betray him.)

7 After all this, Yeshua travelled around Galilee. (He didn’t want to travel around Yudea because the leaders there wanted to execute him.) 2 [ref]As it was now getting close to the Jewish Feast With Tents, 3 his brothers said to him, “You should leave this place and go down to Yudea so that all your followers can see the miracles that you’re doing. 4 If you want to become well-known, you don’t do things out of the main stream. If you want to do miracles, go and show yourself to the wider world. 5 (You see, not even Yeshua’s own half-brothers believed that he came from God.)

6 So Yeshua responded, “Well, you guys can do that any time, but it’s not the right time for me yet. 7 All the people won’t hate you guys, but they do hate me because I teach about the evil things they are doing. 8 You all go on down to Yerushalem ahead of me. I’m not going to the feast yet because it’s not yet the right time for me.” 9 After saying this, Yeshua stayed up in Galilee.

10 But after his half-brothers had left to go down to Yerushalem, Yeshua also went—not in the public limelight but just incognito so to speak. 11 However at the celebrations, the Jewish religious leaders were searching for him, and were asking around where he was.

12 Even among the crowds there was a lot of quiet banter with some saying that Yeshua is a good man and others complaining that he was misleading the people. 13 Either way, no one was speaking out in public about him, because they were afraid of the reaction of the religious leaders.

14 Finally sometime in the middle of the celebrations, Yeshua went into the temple and started teaching in there. 15 Even the Jewish leaders were surprised, asking, “How can this man know so much when he hasn’t been trained as a teacher?”

16 Yeshua himself responded, “My teaching doesn’t come from me, but from the one who sent me. 17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, they’ll soon figure out whether my teaching comes from God or if I’m just making it up myself. 18 Any person who just teaches their own thoughts is just seeking their own advancement, but anyone who wants to promote the one who sent them, this is authentic and there’s no hidden self-interest. 19 Didn’t Mosheh write down God’s commandments for you, yet not a single one of you obeys them. Why are you wanting to execute me?”

20 “You must be demon-possessed,” said some in the crowd, “Who would be wanting to execute you.”

21 Yeshua responded, “I did one miracle and you were all amazed. 22 [ref]Mosheh gave you the commandment about circumcision (even though it actually came from before his time), but to obey this, you’ll even circumcise a baby boy on the Rest Day. 23 [ref]So if a baby boy can be circumcised on the Rest Day so that Mosheh’ commandments aren’t broken, they why did you get angry with me because I made a man healthy on the Rest Day? 24 Don’t just ‘judge’ things so that you yourselves look good, but judge impartially, seeking the best for others.”

25 After this, some of the locals from Yerushalem started asking, “Isn’t this the man they were wanting to execute? 26 Well, here he is teaching in public, yet they’re not even confronting him. Perhaps the leaders know that he really is the messiah? 27 But we even know where this man is from. Surely when the messiah comes, no one would know his family background.”

28 So as Yeshua continued teaching, he called out, “Indeed you all know me and my home and my family. But I didn’t come here of my own accord, but the one who sent me here is truthful, even though you don’t even know him. 29 I know him, because I came from him, indeed, he was the one who sent me here.”

30 So now they really want to arrest him, but no one touched him because it was not yet the proper time. 31 Many in the crowd did believe that he was from God and they were saying, “When the messiah comes, would he be doing greater miracles than what we’ve seen this man do?”

32 The Pharisee party heard the crowd muttering about these things and sent out some of their servants along with the chief priests to go and arrest Yeshua. 33 So Yeshua said, “I’ll only be with you all for a short while longer and then I’ll be going to the one who sent me. 34 You’ll look for me but won’t be able to find me, and you can’t go where I’ll be going.”

35 The leaders wondered, “Where could he be going that we wouldn’t be able to find him? Will he go and live with the Jews living out there among the Greeks and start teaching the Greeks? 36 And what does he mean about looking for him and not being able to find him, and not being able to go where he goes?”

37 [ref]On the final climax day of the celebrations, Yeshua stood there and shouted, “Anyone who’s thirsty, come here to me and drink. 38 [ref]Whoever trusts me will have rivers of living water flowing out from him just like the scriptures say.” 39 He was talking about God’s spirit that the ones who trust him would receive in the future—not yet because Yeshua hadn’t been lifted up to heaven yet.

40 When some in the crowd heard his teaching, they said, “He really is the coming prophet.” 41 Others said, “He must be the messiah.”

But some pointed out, “The messiah won’t come from Galilee. 42 [ref]Don’t the scriptures say that he’ll be a descendant of King David and that he’ll come from David’s town of Bethlehem?” 43 And so the crowd was divided about Yeshua. 44 Some of the Pharisees’ servants wanted to arrest him, but decided to leave him alone for now.

45 So when the servants returned back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, they were asked, “Why haven’t you brought him?”

46 They answered, “We’ve never heard anyone speak like he does.”

47 “Don’t tell us that you’ve also been taken in by him?” the Pharisees asked them. 48 “None of our leaders or any of us Pharisees believe that he’s from God. 49 But all these people ignorant of the scriptures are bewitched.”

50 [ref]Now Nicodemus (the one who had previously visited Yeshua) spoke up, 51 “Since when did our rules allow us to judge a person before we’ve even heard them out and investigated what they’re doing?”

52 “So do you come from Galilee as well?” they sneered, “Look in the scriptures and you’ll soon see that no prophet emerges out of Galilee.”The story of the woman caught in adultery does not appear in the majority of the oldest manuscripts that we have. Hence, it is not included in this translation. (That doesn’t necessarily mean that the event never happened—just that it almost certainly wasn’t part of Yohan’s original account.)

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12 [ref]Because of this, Yeshua told them, “I am the light for the world—whoever follows me won’t walk in the darkness but will have the light that gives life.”

13 [ref]Some from the Pharisee party argued, “You are testifying about yourself, so that testimony is invalid.”

14 Yeshua responded, “Even when I am testifying about myself, my testimony is valid, because I know where I came from and where I’m going. 15 You all are judging according to your earthly values. I’m not judging anyone. 16 But even if I was judging, my judgement would be correct, because it wouldn’t just be me judging, but also the father who sent me. 17 [ref]It’s even written in your own laws that the testimony of two men is valid. 18 So that’s me testifying about myself, plus the father who sent me also testifies about me.”

19 “And where is your father?” they asked.

Yeshua answered them, “You don’t know either me or my father. If you did know me, then you’d also know my father.”

20 He explained all this while he was teaching in the treasury part of the temple, but no one arrested him because the time for his suffering had not yet arrived.

21 So he continued, “I will be going away and all of you will be looking for me, but you’ll all just die in your sins and won’t be able to go where I’ll be going.”

22 This puzzled the Jewish teachers, “Surely he’s not going to commit suicide! What else could he mean about ‘you can’t go where I’m going to be going’?”

23 Yeshua explained, “All of you are from the world below, but I’m from the world above. You all are part of this world, but I’m not part of it. 24 That’s why I said that you’ll be dying in your sins, because if you refuse to believe that I am God, you will indeed all be dying in your sins.”

25 “So who are you?” they asked.

And he answered, “Still just the same as I’ve been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have a lot that I need to tell you all and to judge many of your actions, because the one who sent me is true, and it’s what I hear from him that I speak to all people.”

27 (They didn’t realise that he was talking to them about the father in heaven.) 28 So Yeshua told them, “When you all lift up[fn] humanity’s child on a pole, then you will know that I am God, and that I don’t do anything by myself, but I say all this just as the father told me to. 29 And the one who sent me is with me—he didn’t just leave me alone—because I am continually doing what pleases him.”

30 After he’d said all this, many people believed in him.

31 Because of this, Yeshua told all the Jews who believed in him, “If you all continue to believe my message, then you’re my true followers. 32 You will have known the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 [ref]But some queried, “We are Abraham’s descendants and we’ve never been slaves to anyone, so how can you say that we’ll be set free?”

34 “I can assure you all that anyone who sins is a slave to sin,” Yeshua answered. 35 “And the slaves don’t necessarily remain in the family home forever—only the children have that right. 36 So if the son sets you free, then you’ll be truly free.

37 “Yes, I know that you’re all descendants of Abraham, but you’re trying to kill me because my message doesn’t lodge in you. 38 Indeed I talk about what I’ve actually seen with the father, but you all are doing what you’ve heard from your father.”

39 But they retorted, “Abraham is our father.”[fn]

And Yeshua responded, “Well, if you really were descendants of Abraham, you’d behave more like him. 40 But instead you’re trying to find a way to have me killed—to kill the man who has spoken the truth to you—truth that I heard from God. Abraham never did that. 41 You’re doing what your father wants you all do to.”

But they shot back, “It’s not us who was conceived by a couple that weren’t even married! Anyway, we only have one father and that’s God.”

42 “If God was your father you all would be loving me,” Yeshua responded, “because I came from God and for God. I didn’t just come by myself, but God sent me here. 43 Why can’t you comprehend what I’m saying? The reason that you can’t stand listening to my message 44 is because you come from your father, the devil, and you want to do what your father wants. But he was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stick to the truth because there’s no truth in him. Whenever he tells lies, he’s speaking from his own nature, because he’s a liar and the source of lying. 45 But because I’m speaking the truth, you don’t believe in me. 46 Which of you can scold me for my sins? If I am speaking the truth, why don’t you believe I’m from God? 47 Anyone who belongs to God, listens to what God says. But you all can’t even hear the message, because you don’t belong to God.”

48 The Jewish leaders asked, “Aren’t we right in saying that you’re from Samaria and that you have a demon?”

49 “No, I don’t have a demon,” Yeshua answered, “but I honour my father and you’re dishonouring me. 50 But I’m not searching greatness for myself—my father is the one searching and the one judging. 51 I can assure you, that anyone who puts my teaching into practice can be certain to avoid death in this age.”

52 “Now we know that you have a demon!” the Jews said. “Abraham and the prophets all died, but you’re saying that those who follow your teaching can be certain to avoid death in this age. 53 How could you be greater than our ancestor Abraham who died? Even the prophets died. Who do you think you are?”

54 Again Yeshua answered, “If I praise myself, my praise is worthless, but it’s my father who praises me—the one who you say is your God 55 although in fact you don’t even know him. But I have known him, and so I can’t say that I haven’t known him or I’d be a liar like all of you. But I have known him and I am putting his desires into practice. 56 Your ancestor Abraham would have been excited to see me here—in fact he did see ahead and was very happy about it.”

57 Because of that, the Jewish leaders asked, “You aren’t even fifty years old yet. How could you have seen Abraham?”[fn]

58 Yeshua answered, “I can assure you that I am[fn] before Abraham ever existed.”

59 When they heard that, they picked up rocks to throw at Yeshua to kill him. But Yeshua became hidden from their sight, and went on out of the temple.

9 As Yeshua was walking along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth 2 and his followers asked him, “Honoured teacher, why was this man born blind? Was it because he himself sinned, or his parents?”

3 Yeshua answered, “It wasn’t either this man or his parents that sinned.[fn] But so that God can work in him for others to see, 4 as long as it’s daytime, we need to do what the one who sent us wants, but when nighttime comes, no one will be able to work. 5 [ref]As long as I’m here in this world, I am the light of the world.”

6 After he’d said this, Yeshua spat on the ground and after mixing some clay into a slurry, he spread it on the eyes of the man 7 and told him to go and wash in the Siloam Pool.[fn]

8 Then the neighbours of the man and others who had seen him earlier, knowing that he was a beggar asked, “Isn’t he the one who always sat and begged here?”

9 And indeed, some were saying, “Yes, this is him.” But others were saying, “No, but he looks quite similar.”

And the man said, “I am him.”

10 So they asked him, “Well, how come that now you can see?”

11 “A man named Yeshua made a slurry,” he said, “and spread it on my eyes and told me to go and wash at Siloam Pool. So I went and did it, and when I washed my eyes, I could see.”

12 “Where is he now?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” said the man.

13 Then they brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now, it had been the Rest Day when Yeshua had made the slurry and enabled him to see, 15 and because of this, some in the Pharisee party asked him how it was that now he could see. And he answered, “Well, he put a slurry on my eyes and when I washed them, I could see.”

16 “Well clearly that man is not from God,” some of them said, “because he doesn’t respect the Rest Day.”

However others said, “But if he’s just a sinner, how could he do miracles like that?”

17 So they asked the man who had been blind, “Well, what do you have to say because it was your eyes that he opened?”

“He must be a prophet,” the man said.

18 But some of the Jews weren’t even sure that he really had been blind before and could now see, so they called for his parents 19 and asked them, “You two say that this is your son and that he was born blind. If so, how come that now he can see?”

20 His parents answered, “We know that he’s our son, and we know that he was born blind. 21 But as for how come he can now see, we don’t know that. Nor do we know who healed his eyes. But ask him—he’s old enough to speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders, because the leaders had already announced that anyone who said that Yeshua was the messiah would get banned from all religious ceremonies, 23 so that’s why they had said, “He’s old enough—just ask him.”)

24 So the leaders summoned the man born blind a second time and commanded him, “Only praise God himself for this, because we know that that man is a sinner.”

25 “Well, I don’t know whether or not he’s a sinner,” replied the man. “All I know is that I used to be blind but now I can see.”

26 “What did he do to you?” they asked again. “How did he open your eyes?”

27 And he answered, “I already told you that, and you didn’t even listen. Why do you want to hear it all over again? Do you guys all want to become his followers as well?”

28 Then they insulted him and said, “You might be a follower of that man, but we are followers of Mosheh. 29 We know that God spoke to Mosheh, but we don’t even know where this other fellow is from.”

30 “Wow, that’s pretty amazing,” the man responded. “That man opened up my eyes, and you teachers don’t even know where he’s from! 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he listens to those who worship him and do what he wants. 32 In all the centuries past we never heard that a person could give sight to someone who was born blind. 33 If this man isn’t from God, surely he wouldn’t be able to do that!”

34 They reacted, “You’re just an ignorant sinner, and you think you can teach us!” Then they had him thrown out of the room.

35 Yeshua heard that they had thrown out the man who could now see, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe that humanity’s child came from God?”

36 And the man answered, “Mister, who is he so that I can believe in him?”

37 “You’ve seen him and heard him and he’s speaking to you right now,” said Yeshua.

38 “I do believe, master,” the man responded. Then he knelt down in front of Yeshua.

39 Yeshua said, “I came into this world to dispense judgement, so that the people who can’t see will be able to see, and so that the ones who can see will become blind.”

40 The Pharisees with him heard that and asked, “Are you saying that we’re blind?”

41 “If you were blind,” Yeshua replied, “you wouldn’t be sinning, but since you all declare that you can see, then your sin remains.

10 “Honestly I can tell you: It’s not the person that enters the sheep enclosure by the gate that is a thief and robber, but rather the one who climbs in a different way. 2 The one that comes in the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. 3 The gatekeeper opens up for him, and when he calls the sheep by name they listen to his voice and he leads them out. 4 Whenever he moves the sheep, he goes in front and the sheep follow him because they recognise his voice. 5 They would never follow a stranger because they wouldn’t know his voice, in fact they’d run away from him.”

6 Yeshua told them this illustration, but none of those who heard it knew what it meant.

7 So Yeshua continued, “Honestly I will tell you that I am the entrance for the sheep. 8 The ones who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. 9 I am the entrance. Anyone who comes in via me will be saved, and will be able to go in and out and find pasture. 10 The thief only comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I came so that they could live, and live a full life.

11 “I am the good shepherd—the good shepherd gives his own life for the sheep.[fn] 12 The paid worker is not even the shepherd, because the sheep aren’t his own and if he sees a wolf coming he just abandons the sheep and takes off and the wolf scatters the sheep and snatches some— 13 that’s because he’s just a worker and doesn’t really care about the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd and I know my sheep and they know me, 15 [ref]just like the father knows me and I know the father—in fact I will give my life for the sheep. 16 I also have other sheep which are not in this field and it’s appropriate for me to bring those other sheep also, then they’ll be hearing my voice because there’ll be just one flock with one shepherd.

17 The father loves me because I am laying down my life so that I can take it back again. 18 No one is taking it from me, but I’m laying it down myself. I have authority to lay it down, and also authority to take it back again because I received this command from my father.”

19 The Jewish religious leaders were again divided about Yeshua’s teaching 20 with many of them saying, “He’s got a demon,” and, “He’s stark raving mad—why are you all even listening to him!”

21 But others were saying, “He doesn’t sound like he’s demon-possessed. And how could a demon make a blind man see?”

22 By then it was winter and the time for the Jewish Festival of Dedication in Yerushalem. 23 Yeshua was walking in the temple in an area known as Solomon’s Porch 24 when he was surrounded by the Jewish religious leaders and interrogated, “How long do you plan to keep us in suspense for? If you are the messiah, just tell us clearly.”

25 “I already told you all,” Yeshua answered, “but you didn’t believe me. The miracles that I do with the authority of my father testify about me, 26 but you don’t accept what the miracles point to because you aren’t part of my flock. 27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them and they follow after me. 28 I give them life which will never end so they won’t ever be destroyed, and no one will be able to snatch them away from me. 29 My father is the one who gave them to me, and he’s more powerful than any other, so no one can snatch them away from him. 30 The father and I are one.”

31 Again the Jewish leaders picked up rocks to throw at him to kill him 32 but Yeshua asked them, “I showed you all many miracles from my father. Which miracle do you want to kill me for?”

33 [ref]They answered, “It’s not for any good deed that we think you deserve to die, but because you, a human, dishonour God by claiming to be him.”

34 [ref]Yeshua answered, “Isn’t it written in your scriptures that God said, ‘You all are gods’? 35 Now the scriptures can’t be wrong, and if the ones who heard teaching from God were called gods, 36 why are you telling the one that the father blessed and sent out into the world that I am insulting God because I said that I’m God’s son? 37 If I’m not doing my father’s work, then you don’t need to believe that he sent me, 38 but if I am doing his work, even if you don’t believe that he sent me, at least believe in what I do so that you all can know that the father is in me and I’m in the father.”

39 That was enough that they tried yet again to arrest him, but he was able to get out and away from their influence.

40 [ref]Then Yeshua crossed the Yordan river to the place where Yohan had immersed the people, and he stayed there. 41 Many people visited him there, and they were saying that even though Yohan had never done even one miracle, on the other hand everything that he had said about Yeshua was true, 42 and many people there believed that Yeshua was from God.

11 [ref]Now there was a man called Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany along with his sisters Martha and Maria. 2 [ref](Maria was the one who later poured fragrant oil over Yeshua and wiped his feet with her hair.) But now their brother was seriously ill 3 and so the two sisters sent a message to Yeshua saying, “Master, this man that you love is seriously ill.”

4 However, when Yeshua got the message he said to those around him, “This sickness won’t end in death but in honour for God, so that his son will also be honoured because of it.”

5 Now it was true that Yeshua loved the three of them. 6 Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed in the place where he was for two more days 7 before he said to his followers, “It’s time to head down to Yudea again.”

8 But they double-checked, “Honoured teacher, the Yudeans wanted to execute you, so do you really want to go back there again?”

9 And Yeshua answered, “There are twelve hours of light in the day. Anyone who walks during the daytime doesn’t stumble because he is seeing the light that shines in this world. 10 But anyone who walks at night will stumble, because the light is not in them.” 11 And he continued, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m going so that I can wake him up.”

12 But his followers objected, “Master, it’s good if he’s sleeping because it helps with healing.”

13 But Yeshua had spoken about Lazarus’ death—not just normal sleep as they had thought. 14 So Yeshua told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead 15 and I’m glad that I wasn’t there, because you all will benefit as your faith grows. Anyway, let’s get moving.”

16 Thomas (nicknamed ‘Twin’) grumbled to the others, “Yeah, we might as well go so that we can get killed as well.”

17 So when they eventually arrived, Lazarus body had already been in the burial chamber for four days. 18 The village of Bethany was less than three kilometres from Yerushalem, 19 so many of the Yudeans from there had come out to console Martha and Maria after the death of their brother.

20 As soon as Martha heard that Yeshua had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Maria stayed behind where she was sitting in the house. 21 Martha cried, “Yeshua, master. If you’d been here, my brother wouldn’t have died, 22 because I already know that anything that you ask from God, he will give it to you.”

23 Yeshua responded, “Your brother will come back to life.”

24 “Yes, I know that he’ll come back to life at the resurrection on the last day,” said Martha.

25 But Yeshua continued, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes that I’m from God, even if they die they’ll still be living, 26 and everyone who’s alive and believes that I was sent from God, will not die in the next age.”

27 Martha replied, “Yes, master, I do believe that you’re the messiah, God’s son, the one sent into this world.”

28 After saying this, Martha went and quietly called her sister Maria, “The teacher is on his way and he wants to see you.” 29 So Maria quickly got up and went to find him. 30 At that stage, Yeshua hadn’t yet come into the village proper, but was still at the edge where Martha had met him. 31 The Yudean people who’d been sitting with Maria in sympathy there in the house, when they saw her get up quickly and go out, they assumed that she was going to the cemetery to weep there.

32 But when Maria found Yeshua, she knelt at his feet and said, “Master, if you’d been here my brother wouldn’t have died.”

33 Now when Yeshua saw her weeping there, along with the others that had followed also weeping, he himself was quite affected and groaned inside, 34 but he just asked, “Where has he been laid?”

“Master, come and see,” they replied.

35 Then Yeshua broke down and burst into tears, 36 which made the others comment, “See how much he cared about him.”

37 But some of them mocked, “This is the man who could make a blind man see again, yet how come he wasn’t able to stop this man from dying!”

38 So Yeshua who was still holding back sobs, went to the cemetery. Lazarus’ body had been placed in a cave with a stone blocking it, 39 and Yeshua instructed them to take away the stone.

Martha (the sister of the dead man) spoke up, “Master, the stink will be bad because it’s already been four days.”

40 But Yeshua responded, “Didn’t I tell you that if you would believe, then you would see God’s power?” 41 So they took the stone away and Yeshua looked upwards and said, “Father, I thank you that you listen to me. 42 Actually I know that you always hear me, but I said that for the sake of these people so that they will believe that it was you who sent me here.” 43 After saying that, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 Then the man who had died slowly shuffled out—still with linen strips wrapped around his hands and his feet, and a cloth wrapped around his face.

45 Because of that, many of the Yudeans believed that Yeshua was from God after having followed Maria and seeing what Yeshua did. 46 But others went and told the Pharisee party what Yeshua had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisee party called a formal meeting and asked, “What should we do because this man is doing many miracles. 48 If we allow him to continue like this, all the crowds will be believing he’s the messiah, and then the Romans will come and destroy both our temple and our governance.”

49 But one of them, Caiaphas who was chief priest that year, spoke up, “You don’t know anything. 50 Don’t you all realise that its better for all of us if one man dies so that the people and the nation won’t be destroyed?” 51 (He didn’t say this from his own thinking, but being chief priest that year, he was announcing God’s message that Yeshua was going to die for the nation, 52 and not only for this nation, but for all of God’s children scattered around the world to become united.)

53 As a result, from that day on they decided that Yeshua needed to be executed. 54 Because of that, Yeshua no longer walked around Yudea in public, but went out to the town of Ephraim out in the wilderness and stayed there with his followers.

55 At that time, the Jewish Passover celebrations were approaching, and many people from the regions went to Yerushalem ahead of the celebrations to purify themselves. 56 They were looking out for Yeshua and as they stood around in the temple, they asked each other, “What do you think? Surely he won’t come to the celebrations.” 57 The chief priests and the Pharisee party had already announced that if anyone knew where Yeshua was, they must inform them so that they could arrest him.

12 Because of this, Yeshua went to Bethany six days before the Passover. This was where Lazarus lived, the one he had brought back to life. 2 So they prepared dinner for him there and Martha was serving and Lazarus was among those sitting with Yeshua. 3 [ref]Then Maria took about 300g of very expensive nard oil and smeared it on Yeshua’s feet, and then wiped off his feet with her own hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 But Yudas, one of Yeshua’s apprentices (the one who would eventually turn him in) complained, 5 “How come this lotion wasn’t sold for almost a year’s wages and then the money given to the poor?” 6 But he didn’t say this because he cared for poor people, but because he carried the purse for the group and used to steal from it.

7 But Yeshua responded, “Let her continue. She has kept this for the time of my burial. 8 [ref]You’ll always have poor people with you, but you won’t always have me here.”

9 When it was discovered that Yeshua was there in Bethany, many Yudeans started arriving, not only because of Yeshua, but also to see Lazarus who’d been dead and Yeshua had brought him back to life. 10 But the chief priests decided in a meeting that they should also have Lazarus killed, 11 because many people were ignoring them and instead were believing that Yeshua came from God.

12 The next day a large crowd of people who had come for the celebrations and had heard that Yeshua was coming to Yerushalem 13 [ref]took long branches from palm trees and brought them out as they went to meet him. They called out, “Honoured saviour! The one coming in the authority of the master has been blessed by God. This is Israel’s king.”

14 Now Yeshua had found a young donkey and rode it into the city just like it was written in the scriptures,

15 [ref]“Don’t be worried you children of Tsiyyon/Zion. Your king is coming mounted on a donkey’s foal.”

16 (Yeshua’s apprentices didn’t realise all these things at the time, but it was later after Yeshua was lifted up to heaven that they were reminded that these things had been written about him, and that they had indeed happened to him.)

17 People in the crowd were telling each other about how they’d been with Yeshua when he’d called Lazarus out from the burial chamber and brought him back to life, 18 So because of this, others also wanted to met Yeshua because they’d heard that he’d done that miracle. 19 So the Pharisees discussed this together, “We’re getting nowhere with this. Look, it seems like the whole world wants to follow him.”

20 And some Greek people were also going to Yerushalem to worship God at the celebrations 21 and they approached Philip from Bethsaida (up in Galilee) and asked him, “Mister, we’d like to meet this Yeshua.” 22 So Philip went and told Andrew, and the two of them went and told Yeshua.

23 Now Yeshua told them, “The time has come for humanity’s child to be honoured. 24 I can assure you that unless a wheat seed drops into the ground and dies, it will stay just as it is, but if it dies, it’s able to produce a harvest. 25 [ref]Anyone who loves their life will lose it, but the person hating their life in this world will stay alive forever. 26 Anyone who wants to serve me needs to follow after me, so that wherever I am, my servant will also be there. Anyone who serves me will be honoured by the father.

27 Now, I’m very troubled. What else could I say other than, ‘Father, let me avoid what’s coming.’ But it was exactly this that I came for. 28 Father, may your authority and be honoured.”

And a voice from the sky answered, “I’ve already brought honour to it and will do so again.”

29 This caused some in the crowd standing there to say that they’d heard thunder while others said that a messenger must have spoken to Yeshua.

30 “That voice wasn’t for my sake,” Yeshua responded, “but for all of you. 31 This world is about to be judged and its ruler will be thrown out, 32 and when I’m lifted up[fn] from the earth, I will attract everyone towards me.” 33 By saying this, he was indicating how he was going to die.

34 [ref]So the crowd queried him, “We heard from the scriptures that the messiah will stay until the end of the age so why do you say that humanity’s child will be lifted up. And who is this ‘humanity’s child’?”

35 Yeshua answered them, “The light will be among you all for just a little bit longer, so get walking while you have the light so that you won’t have to deal with darkness. Anyone walking in the dark doesn’t know where they’re going. 36 While you still have the light, believe in the light so that you will become children of light.”

Yeshua said these things and then after leaving them, he was hidden from them.

37 Even though Yeshua had done so many miracles in front of the people, they didn’t believe that he was the messiah. 38 [ref]This fulfilled what the prophet Isayah wrote,

“Master, who believed our report?

And who was the master’s power revealed to?”

39 Because of this, they weren’t able to believe, and again as Isayah wrote,

40 [ref]“He has blinded their eyes and maimed their emotions,

so that they can’t see with their eyes and understand with their minds,

or they might be turned and then I would heal them.”

41 Isayah wrote this because he saw the messiah’s greatness and spoke concerning him. 42 Likewise, many of the Jewish leaders believed that Yeshua was the messiah, but they didn’t tell others because they didn’t want the Pharisee party to banish them from their services 43 as they valued the praise of people more than praise from God.

44 Then Yeshua called out, “Anyone who believes that I came from God is not just believing in me, but also believing in the one who sent me, 45 and anyone who watches me working, is watching the one who sent me. 46 I came into this world as light so that anyone who believes in me won’t have darkness residing in them. 47 I won’t be judging anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it, because I didn’t come to judge the world but rather to save it. 48 Anyone who rejects me and doesn’t accept my teaching does have a judge though—it’s the message that I spoke that will judge them at the end of time 49 because I wasn’t speaking from my own thoughts, but it was the father himself who sent me that told me what to say and what to teach. 50 And I’m fully aware that obeying his commands leads to living forever. Therefore whenever I speak, I just say whatever the father said to me.”

13 Even before the actual feast part of the Passover celebrations, Yeshua knew that his time had come—the time when he would leave this world and return to the father. He loved his followers who were in the world right through to the end.

2 And now it was getting near time for the dinner and the devil had already put into Yudas Iscariot’s mind the idea of handing Yeshua over to the authorities. 3 Yeshua knew that the father had given everything to him, putting it under his control, and he knew that he had come from God and would return to God. 4 So he got up from the dinner table, changed out of his clothes, and wrapped a linen towel around himself. 5 Then he put water into the wash bowl and started washing the feet of his apprentices, wiping them dry with the linen towel that was he was wearing wrapped around him. 6 After he’d washed a few, he got to Simon Peter who asked him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 “What I’m doing now,” Yeshua answered, “you won’t really understand, but in the future you will.”

8 Peter responded, “Well I’m never ever going to let you wash my feet!”

“If I don’t wash them,” Yeshua answered, “then you won’t be included in my group.”

9 “Well, if that’s so,” Peter said, “don’t just wash my feet but my hands and my head as well.”

10 Yeshua responded, “Any person who’s already washed themselves only needs to wash their feet now to be clean. And so you’re clean, but not every one of you.” 11 He said this last bit because he already knew who was going to hand him over.

12 [ref]So when he’d finished washing their feet, he got dressed again and sat down and asked, “Do you know what I just did to you all? 13 You call me teacher and master, and so you should, because I am. 14 So if the master and teacher of you all washed your feet, then you also ought to wash each other’s feet. 15 I have given this to you all as an example that you can also do to others. 16 [ref]I can assure you that a slave isn’t greater than his master, and an missionary isn’t greater than the king who sends him. 17 If you can figure all this out and then do it, you will be blessed by God.

18 [ref]“But I’m not talking about all of you. I know each one that I chose, but this that was written in the scriptures must be fulfilled,

‘The one sharing food with me, lifted up his boot against me.’

19 So I’m telling you now before it happens so that when it does happen, then you’ll all believe that I am the messiah. 20 [ref]I can assure you all that anyone who accepts any person that I might send, they’re accepting me, and anyone who accepts me, is accepting the one who sent me.”

21 After saying these things, Yeshua thoughts were troubled and he said, “I can assure you that one of you will be turning me in.”

22 This made his apprentices glance around at each other, puzzled about which one he was talking about. 23 One of them that Yeshua especially liked,[fn] was leaning against him at the table. 24 So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out who Yeshua had been talking about, 25 and he leaned back on Yeshua and asked quietly, “Master, who is it?”

26 “It’s the one I hand this piece of bread to after I’ve dipped it in the sauce,” Yeshua answered. Then after dipping his piece of bread in, he gave it to Yudas Iscariot. 27 After accepting the piece of bread, Satan entered into Yudas, and then Yeshua told him, “What you’re about to do, do it soon.” 28 But none of the others sitting around the table knew what Yeshua meant. 29 Some of them thought that since Yudas held their purse, perhaps Yeshua was getting him to buy something they needed for the feast or to give something to the poor.

30 Anyway, having eaten the piece of bread, Yudas went straight outside where it was already dark.

31 After Yudas had gone, Yeshua told the others, “Now humanity’s child will be honoured and God will be honoured through him. 32 Also God himself will be honouring him and will do that immediately. 33 My friends, I’ll only be with you a little bit longer. Then you’ll all look for me and as I told[ref] the religious leaders, you won’t be able to go where I’m going. So now I’ve also told all of you. 34 [ref]I’m giving you a new commandment—you need to love each other. The way that I loved all of you is how you should love each other. 35 This is actually how you’ll know if you are my followers: if you are loving each other.”

36 Now Peter followed-up, “Master, where are you going?”

“Where I’m going,” Yeshua answered, “you won’t be able to follow me at this stage, but you will follow me eventually.”

37 Peter asked again, “Why can’t I follow after you now? I’m prepared to give my life for you.”

38 “You think you’ll be giving your life for me?” Yeshua responded. “I can assure you that the rooster won’t crow until you’ve already disowned knowing me three times.”

14 Yeshua continued telling them, “Don’t be living in fear. You believe that God is real, and you also believe that I was sent by him. 2 There are many places to live in my father’s residence—I would have told you if there wasn’t because I’m going there to prepare a place for all of you. 3 And after I’ve gone to prepare that place, then I’ll be coming back again and will bring you to myself, so that where I am, you can all be there also. 4 You know how to get where I’m going.”

5 “Master,” Thomas asked, “we don’t even know where you’re going, let alone how to get there.”

6 And Yeshua answered, “I am the path and the truth and the life. No one can get to the father except via me. 7 If you had all known me, you would also have known my father, and from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 So Philip said, “Master, show us the father and that’ll be enough for us.”

9 “I’ve been with you all for quite some time,” Yeshua replied, “and yet you still don’t even know me, Philip. 10 You don’t believe that I am in the father and the father is in me. These things that I’ve been telling you all, I don’t just make them up myself, but the father who lives in me is doing what he wants. 11 You all need to believe that I am in the father and the father is in me. If that’s hard, at least believe it because of what he’s doing. 12 I can assure you all that anyone who believes that God sent me and is the source of the miracles that I do, that person will be able to do the same and even greater miracles because I am going to the father. 13 Whatever you request from me with my name and authority, I will do it so that the father might be honoured because of the son. 14 Anything that you all request using my name and authority will be done.

15 “If you all love me, you will obey my commands. 16 And I will ask the father and he will give you another assistant to be with you all for this age— 17 the spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him.

18 “And I won’t leave you all here as orphans, but I will come back to you. 19 It won’t be long now and the world won’t see me any more, but you will see me because I’ll be alive and you all will be alive also. 20 At that time you will know that I am in my father, and you all are in me, and I am in you all.

21 “Anyone who takes my commands and obeys them, that’s the person who loves me, and anyone who loves me will be loved by my father, and I too will be loving them and will be revealing myself to them.”

22 Yudas (not Yudas Iscariot) asked, “Master, what’s going on? Why would you reveal yourself to us and not to the whole world?”

23 Yeshua answered, “If anyone loves me, they’ll obey my teaching, and my father will love them and we will go to that person and live with them. 24 But anyone who doesn’t love me, won’t obey my teaching. The words that you hear from me are not my own, but come from the father who sent me.

25 “I told you all this while I have been here with you all. 26 But the holy spirit, the assistant who the father will be sending with my authority, he will be teaching you everything, and will be reminding you of everything that I told you all.

27 I will leave peace with you all. I’m giving my peace to you all, but what I’m giving isn’t like what the world gives. Don’t be upset or afraid. 28 You all heard me say that I’m going away and then will be coming back. If you really loved me, you’d be very happy that I’m going to the father, because the father is greater than me.

29 But I’ve told you now before it happens, so that when it does come to pass, you’ll be able to believe that it was preplanned. 30 I won’t have much more time to talk to you, because the ruler of the world is coming and he has nothing in common with me, 31 but he’s coming so that the world can know that I love the father and whatever the father told me to do, I’m doing it.

“Come on, stand up. We need to be leaving this place.”

15 “I am the true vine and my father is the farmer. 2 He removes every one of my branches that doesn’t bear fruit, but those that do bear fruit, he prunes them so they’ll produce even more. 3 You are all clean already because of the teaching that I’ve given you. 4 Stay in me, and I will stay in you all, because just as a branch can’t bear fruit in isolation when it’s not connected to the vine, neither can you if you don’t stay in me.

5 “I am the vine and you all are the branches. Anyone who stays in me will produce a lot of fruit—apart from me you can’t do anything. 6 Anyone who doesn’t stay in me will be thrown away like a branch, and will wither and be gathered together with others, and thrown into the fire to be burnt. 7 If you stay in me and my teaching stays in you, then you can request whatever you all want and it will be done for you. 8 My father will be honoured and praised when you produce a lot of fruit, and you all become my followers. 9 I loved you all just as the father loved me, so stay in my love. 10 If you obey my commands, you all will be staying in my love, just like I’ve obeyed my father’s commands and I am staying in his love.

11 “I’ve told you these things so that I’ll be happy with you all, and so that your happiness will be genuine and long-lasting. 12 [ref]So here’s my request: keep loving each other just like I loved you all. 13 No one has greater love than the one who gives up their own life for their friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I am telling you. 15 I’m not calling you slaves, because a slave doesn’t know his master’s plans, but I’m calling you friends because I’ve told you everything that I heard from my father. 16 You didn’t choose me, but I chose you all, and I assigned you to go and produce fruit and for your fruit to be permanent so that whatever you request from the father in my name and authority, he will give it to you. 17 I am telling you all this so that you can all love each other.

18 “If the world hates you, you all know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If you belonged to this world, then the world would love you as it loves its own people, but you don’t belong to this world because I chose you out of it. That’s why they hate all of you. 20 [ref]Remember that I told you that slaves are not greater than their master. So if they persecuted me, they’ll also be persecuting you all. (If they’d obeyed my teaching, they would also obey your teaching.) 21 But they will do all these things against you because of my name, because they don’t know the father who sent me. 22 They wouldn’t be considered sinners except that I came and spoke to them, so now they don’t have any excuse for their sin. 23 Anyone who hates me, also hates my father. 24 If I hadn’t done miracles among them of the sort that no one else has done, they wouldn’t be considered to be sinners, but now they’ve observed me and hated both me and my father. 25 [ref]The writings of the prophets will certainly come to pass, that ‘they hated me undeservedly’.

26 “When the assistant arrives that I will send to you all from the father, the spirit of truth coming from the father, he will tell the truth about me. 27 You also will be able to tell the truth about me because you all were with me from the beginning.

16 “I’ve told you this so that you won’t stumble. 2 First they will ban you all from their religious services, then there’s a time coming when people will kill you thinking they’re actually doing a sacred service to God, 3 but they’ll be doing these things because they don’t know either the father or me. 4 I’ve told you these things so that when they happen in the future, you’ll remember that I’ve already told you about them.

“I didn’t tell you all of this right at the beginning because I was with you all, 5 but soon I’ll be returning to the one who sent me. Yet none of you are asking me where I’ll be going, 6 rather you are all just weighed down because I’ve told you these things. 7 But honestly it’s for your benefit that I will leave here, because if I don’t, then the assistant won’t be coming to you. But after I’ve gone, I’ll send him to you all. 8 When he comes, he’ll scold the world about sin and teach them about righteousness and judgement— 9 about sin because they don’t believe that I was sent by God, 10 about righteousness because I am going to the father and you won’t be able to see me any longer, 11 and about judgement because the ruler of this world has been judged.

12 “I still have a lot to tell you all, but you’re not able to handle it all right now. 13 But when the assistant comes, the spirit of truth, he will guide you in all truth because he won’t be speaking from his own thoughts, but will tell you what he’s been told, and he will explain to you what’s still going to happen. 14 He’ll be honouring me because he’ll take what is mine and will explain it to you all. 15 Everything that the father has is mine, that’s why I said he will take what is mine and explain it to you.

16 “It won’t be much longer and you won’t be able to see me any more, and then a little while after that, and you’ll see me again.”

17 This got his followers asking each other, “What’s all this about seeing him for not much longer, and then seeing him again after a while? And why does he say he’s going to the father?” 18 So they were saying, “What’s this about ‘not much longer’? We don’t know what he means.”

19 However Yeshua knew what they wanted to ask him, and so he said to them, “You are trying to find out from each other what I meant when I said that you won’t be able to see me after a little while, and then a little while after that you’ll see me again. 20 I can assure you that you’ll be weeping and mourning but the world will be elated. You’ll be upset but then your upset will turn into happiness. 21 A woman giving birth has pains when the delivery begins, but when she hears that the baby is born, she doesn’t remember those pains any more because she’s so happy that her child was born. 22 So too with all of you: you’ll be upset for a while but then I’ll be with you again and you’ll be so happy and no one will be able to take that happiness away from you.

23 “When that happens, you won’t be asking me for anything. I can assure you that whatever you request from the father in my name and my authority will be given to you. 24 Up until now you haven’t asked him for anything using my authority, but after that time, you’ll be able to make requests and they’ll be answered so that your happiness will be complete.

25 “So far I’ve told you these things in parables, however a time is coming when I’ll no longer be speaking in parables but will tell you things about the father quite plainly. 26 At that time you’ll have my authority to request from the father. I’m not saying that I’ll be asking him on your behalf, 27 no, because he himself loves you all because you have loved me and have believed that I was sent by God. 28 I was sent out by the father and I have come into the world, but I’ll be leaving the world again and returning to the father.”

29 Yeshua’s followers responded, “Ah, now you’re speaking plainly and not using parables. 30 Finally we realise that you know everything already and don’t need to ask anyone else, and so we now believe that you came from God.”

31 “So now you all believe?” Yeshua answered. 32 “The time is coming and is here already when you will all be scattered in various directions and will leave me by myself, but I won’t be alone because the father is always with me. 33 I’ve told you these things so that you can all have peace in me. You will have troubles in this world, but be courageous because I have overcome the world.”

17 After Yeshua had finished speaking, he looked up to the sky and said, “Father, it’s now the time for you to honour your son so that the son can honour you. 2 You already gave me authority over all people so that I could grant eternal life to everyone that you’ve given me. 3 And eternal life means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing me—Yeshua the messiah that you sent. 4 I honoured you here on the earth by completing everything that you gave me to do. 5 So father, now you yourself can honour me with the greatness that I had when I was together with you before the creation of the world.

6 “I revealed your power to the ones that you gave me from this world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed your teaching. 7 Now they understand that everything that you gave to me came from you, 8 because I passed on to them the messages that you gave to me, and they accepted them. Now they believe that I came from you and that it was you who sent me here.

9 “I’m asking about them. It’s not the people of this world that I’m asking about, but about the ones that you gave me because they belong to you. 10 Everything that’s mine is yours, and everything that’s your is mine, and I’ve been honoured by their actions. 11 I’m about to leave this world and come to you, but they will stay here in it. Holy father, use your power to keep protect the ones that you gave me, so that they might be united just like you and I are one. 12 [ref]When I was with them, I protected them with the authority that you gave, and I guarded them so that not one of them perished, except the one who chose destruction so that it will indeed happen as the scriptures foretold. 13 But soon I’ll be coming to you, and I’m speaking these things in the world so that they will have the same happiness as me and be fulfilled in their lives. 14 I’ve passed on your teaching to them, and the world hated them because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t. 15 I’m not asking you to remove them out of this world, but rather to stop evil from overcoming them. 16 They don’t belong to this world just as I don’t. 17 Purify them with the truth—your message is that truth. 18 In the same way that you sent me out into this world, so I also send them out into the world. 19 I’m purifying myself for their sakes so that they also may be made pure by the truth.

20 “But it’s not just on behalf of the ones right here that I’m asking, but also for all the others who will believe that I came from you when they hear the message of these ones, 21 so that they will all become united, just as you, father, are in me and I am in you. I ask that they will also be in us so that the world will be able to believe that it was you who sent me here. 22 And the honour that you’ve given me, I’ve passed on to them so that they can be united just as we are one— 23 me in them and you in me so that they can be perfected as one. Then the world will know that you sent me here and that you love them just like you love me.

24 Father, I want those that you’ve given me to be with me wherever I am so that they’ll be able to see my greatness—the greatness that you gave me because you loved me even before the creation of the world. 25 Righteous father, this world didn’t know you, but I know you and these ones know that you sent me here. 26 I revealed your power and authority to them and will continue to do so, so that the love that you love me with might be in them, and I too might be in them.”

18 After he’d said all this, Yeshua and his followers went out of Yerushalem proper and over the Kidron stream towards a garden that he and his followers entered. 2 And Yudas (the one who would hand him over) also knew the place because Yeshua and his followers often met there. 3 Meanwhile Yudas had met with the soldiers and servants of the chief priests and the Pharisee party, and they all started coming into the garden with lanterns and flaming torches and weapons. 4 Yeshua who already knew what was going to happen to him, came forward and asked them, “Who are you all looking for?”

5 And they answered, “Yeshua—the one from Nazareth.”

Yeshua responded, “I am the one.”

Yudas, the one handing him over, was standing there among them. 6 But when Yeshua had said that he is the one, they backed away and fell to the ground.[fn] 7 So he asked them again, “Who are you all looking for?”

And they answered, “Yeshua—the one from Nazareth.”

8 Yeshua responded, “I already told you all that I am the one. So if it’s me that you’re looking for, let these others leave.” 9 (In this way, the statement was fulfilled that Yeshua had said previously: ‘I didn’t lose any of the ones that you gave me.’)[fn]

10 Then Simon Peter drew the sword that he was carrying and swiped at the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus. 11 [ref]But Yeshua said to Peter, “Put your sword back in its sheath. I need to proceed with the plan that the father has prepared for me—I can’t just avoid the suffering.”

12 So the soldiers and their commander, and the servants of the Jewish leaders arrested Yeshua and tied him up. 13 First they took him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas who was the chief priest that year. 14 [ref](Caiaphas was the one who had suggested that it was better for the people and the nation if one man should die for all of them.)

15 Now Simon Peter and another intern were following Yeshua, and since that other intern was known to the chief priest, he was allowed to enter following Yeshua into the courtyard of the chief priest 16 while Peter waited outside at the door. Then the other intern who was known to the chief priest went back and spoke to the woman at the door and brought Peter in too. 17 But the servant girl who was watching the door challenged Peter, “Aren’t you also one of the followers of that man?”

“No, I’m not,” he responded.

18 Meanwhile the servants and attendants had made a fire and were standing around it warming themselves, and Peter also went and stood there to warm himself.

19 Now the chief priest interrogated Yeshua about his followers and about his teaching. 20 Yeshua answered him, “I’ve spoken openly to the people. I always taught in the meeting halls and in the temple where Jewish people meet. I didn’t speak in secret 21 so why are you asking me? Ask the people who heard what I told them—they’re the ones who know what I said.”

22 When he said that, one of the attendants standing there slapped Yeshua on the face and said, “You think you can answer the chief priest like that?”

23 But Yeshua responded, “If I said anything wrong, tell me my error. But if it was true, why are you hitting me?”

24 So Annas sent him away, still tied up, to Caiaphas the chief priest.

25 Simon Peter was still standing by the fire warming himself when he was asked, “Aren’t you also one of his followers?”

But he denied it, saying, “No, I’m not.”

26 One of the servants of the chief priest who was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with that Yeshua?”

27 But Peter again denied it, and just then a rooster crowed.

28 Then they led Yeshua out from Caiaphas’ place and towards the residence of the governor. It was now the early hours of the morning and as Jews, they didn’t enter the residence of the Roman governor so they wouldn’t become defiled and thus unable to eat the Passover meal. 29 So Governor Pilate came outside to them and asked, “What charge are you all bringing against this man?”

30 “We wouldn’t have brought him to you if he hadn’t committed a serious crime,” they answered.

31 So Pilate said, “You just take him and judge him yourselves according to your own laws.”

But the Jewish leaders responded, “We don’t have permission to execute anyone.” 32 (This happened to fulfil what Yeshua had said[ref] about the way that he was going to die.)

33 So Pilate went back into his governor’s residence and called for Yeshua and asked him, “So you’re the king of the Jews?”

34 “Are you saying this yourself,” Yeshua asked, “or did others say it about me?”

35 Pilate retorted, “Hoy! I’m not a Jew. It was your own people and the chief priests that handed you over to me. What have you done?”

36 “My kingdom isn’t in this world,” Yeshua answered, “because if it was, my supporters would have fought so that I wouldn’t have been handed over to the Jewish leaders. But no, my kingdom isn’t from here.”

37 “So you are a king then?” Pilate responded.

“You’re saying that I’m a king,” said Yeshua, “and indeed I was born to be a king. I came into the world so that I could testify to the truth.”

38 “Yeah. What is truth?” said Pilate.

After he’d said this, Pilate went back outside to the Jews and told them, “I can’t find anything that he’s guilty of. 39 But you all have a custom here that the governor can release one prisoner during the Passover. So would you like me to release the king of the Jews?”

40 But they all yelled back, “No, not this one. Release Barabbas.” (Barabbas was a robber.)

19 So Pilate took Yeshua and had him flogged. 2 Then the soldiers twisted some thorn branches together into a crown and put it on Yeshua’s head, and they dressed him in a royal purple robe. 3 They came up to him and said, “Greetings, you king of the Jews,” and then slapped him.

4 Then Pilate went back outside and said to the Jews, “Look here. I’m bringing him out to you so that you all can know that I didn’t find him guilty of anything.” 5 So they led Yeshua out wearing the thorny crown and the kingly robe, and Pilate said, “Look. Here’s the man.”

6 Now when the chief priests and their supporters saw him, they yelled out, “Execute him on a stake! Execute him on a stake!”

“Well you take him and execute him on a stake,” Pilate answered, “because I haven’t found anything that he’s guilty of.”

7 The Jews responded, “We have a law and he should be executed according to that law because he said he was the son of God.”

8 Now when Pilate heard that, he became more afraid. 9 So he went back inside the residence and asked Yeshua, “Where do you come from?”

But Yeshua didn’t answer him. 10 So Pilate said, “Why don’t you answer me? Don’t you realise that I have the authority to release you and I also have the authority to have you executed on a stake?”

11 “You have no authority over me,” Yeshua answered, “none at all, except what has been granted to you from above. Because of this, the sin of the person who handed me over to you is greater.”

12 After hearing this, Pilate wanted to release him but the Jews yelled out, “If you release that man, you’re no friend of Caesar. Everyone who claims to be a king is no friend of Caesar’s.”

13 So now Pilate, having heard all this, brought Yeshua outside again. Pilate sat down on the judge’s seat at a place called The Stone Pavement (and called Gabbatha in Hebrew). 14 It was now about noon on the day when the Passover meal is prepared, and Pilate said to the Jews, “Look. Here’s your king.”

15 They yelled back, “Take him away. Take him away. Execute him on a stake.”

Pilate asked them, “You want me to have your king executed on a stake?”

“We don’t have any king other than Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

16 So Pilate gave them his permission and handed Yeshua over to them, and they took him away to be executed on a stake.

17 Carrying the pole[fn] himself, Yeshua arrived at the Place of the Skull (called Golgotha in Hebrew) just out of the city 18 where they secured him to a stake along with two others—one stake on each side and with Yeshua on the middle one. 19 Pilate wrote out a title and put it on the stake: Yeshua from Nazareth, the king of the Jews. 20 Many Jews read this title because the place where Yeshua was executed was near the city, and it had been written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. 21 But the Jewish chief priests complained to Pilate, “Don’t write ‘The king of the Jews’, but rather ‘The one who said he was king of the Jews’.”

22 However Pilate answered, “What I’ve written, I’ve written.”

23 After the soldiers had fastened Yeshua to the stake, they took his clothes and placed in four piles, one for each of them. This left his robe, which had been woven from top to bottom in one piece. 24 So they said to each other, “Rather than tearing this, let’s throw a dice to see who will get it.” (This fulfilled what was written in the scriptures[ref] that said: they divided my garments among themselves and threw a dice for my clothes.) So they went ahead and did that.

25 Meanwhile a group of women had stayed standing near Yeshua on the stake: his mother and his aunt, Maria the wife of Clopas, and Maria from Magdala. 26 When Yeshua saw his mother and also the intern that he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Look, he’ll be your son.” 27 And to the intern he said, “Look, she’ll be your mother.” And that intern took her into his own home from then on.

28 Having done this, Yeshua knew that everything had been accomplished, and (in order for the scriptures[ref] to be fulfilled) said, “I’m thirsty.”

29 There was a container lying there full of vinegary wine, so they placed a sponge on a hyssop stalk, soaked it in the wine, and held it up to his mouth. 30 After Yeshua had sucked some wine out, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

31 Now because it was the preparation day[ref] for the coming Rest Day, the Jews didn’t want the bodies to remain on the stakes after dusk (because it was even a special Rest Day.) So they asked Pilate to command for their legs to be broken to hasten their deaths and then they could be taken down sooner. 32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the men on each side of Yeshua, 33 but when they got to him, they saw that he was already dead so they didn’t break his legs. 34 Instead one of the soldiers stabbed his side with a spear and immediately blood and water came out. 35 The one who actually saw this happen[fn] has testified this and his account is accurate so that you readers can also believe it, 36 because these things also happened to fulfil what was written in the scriptures,[ref] that ‘none of his bones will be broken,’ 37 and in another place,[ref] ‘they will look at the one that they pierced.’

38 After all of this, Yosef from Arimathea went to Pilate. (Yosef was a follower of Yeshua, but secretly because he was afraid of what the Jewish leaders might do.) He asked Pilate for permission to remove Yeshua’s body, and it was granted to him so they went and got his body. 39 [ref]Nicodemus (the one who had first visited Yeshua at night) also came, bringing around 30kg of burial spices. 40 So they took Yeshua’s body and wrapped it around with linen strips with the spices as per the Jewish burial customs. 41 There was a garden out at the place where Yeshua had been executed, and in the garden there was a new tomb that hadn’t been used yet. 42 So because it was the preparation day and because the tomb was nearby, they laid his body in there.

20 The following Sunday, Maria from Magdala went out to the tomb very early when it was still dark, and she saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she ran quickly and went to Simon Peter and the other intern that Yeshua loved, and told them, “They’ve taken the master’s body out of the tomb and we don’t know where they’ve put it.”

3 So Peter and the other intern went out to the tomb. 4 They were running together, but the other intern was a bit faster than Peter and so he got to the tomb first. 5 Without going in, he stooped down at the entrance and looked in and saw the linen strips lying there. 6 But Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb and also saw the linen strips lying there. 7 But the piece of cloth that had been on the head wasn’t lying there with the linen strips, but had been folded and placed separately. 8 So now the other intern who had arrived first also went inside and he saw it all and believed that Yeshua had risen. 9 (At that time they weren’t yet aware of the scripture about him coming back to life.) 10 So they went back again to their homes.

11 But Maria had stayed there outside the tomb weeping. But when she stooped down and looked into the tomb, 12 she saw two messengers dressed in white sitting there—one at the head end and one at the feet end of the slab where Yeshua’s body had been lying. 13 They spoke to her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“Because they’ve taken away my master,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”

14 Then she turned back around and saw Yeshua standing there, but she didn’t realise who it was. 15 Yeshua asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Maria assumed he might be the gardener, so she answered, “Mister, if you took the body, tell me where you put it and I’ll get it taken away for you.”

16 Yeshua just answered, “Maria.”

She spun around and said, “My teacher!” (‘Rabboni’ in Hebrew.)

17 “Don’t touch me,” Yeshua said to her, “because I haven’t gone back up to the father yet, but go and tell my brothers that I’m going up to my father and the father of you all, and my god and the god of you all.”

18 So Maria went and told the trainees, “I’ve seen the master,” and she told them what he’d said.

19 On Sunday evening Yeshua’s trainees had met together and had the doors locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, but Yeshua arrived and stood in the middle of the room and said, “Peace to you all.” 20 Then he showed them his hands and his side and they were so happy now that they had seen the master. 21 Yeshua continued, “Peace to you all. Now I am sending you all out just like the father sent me out.” 22 Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the holy spirit. 23 [ref]If you forgive anyone’s sins, then they’ll be forgiven but if you withhold forgiveness, then it will be withheld.”