Open English Translation YHN (JHN) Chapter 11

11 Now there was a man called Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany along with his sisters Martha and Maria.[ref] 2 (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[ref] 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 Efraim 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.