John Chapters

The Word Became a Human

1 | •  ¹In the beginning was the Word,

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

²He was in the beginning with God.

³All things were made through him,

and without him, nothing came to be.

Whatever has come to be, ⁴found life in him;

life, which for the human race was also light,

⁵light that shines in the darkness,

light that darkness has not overcome.

⁶A man came, sent by God,

his name was John.

⁷He came to bear witness,

as a witness to introduce the light,

so that all might believe through him.

⁸He was not the light,

but a witness to introduce the light;

⁹for the light was coming into the world

the true light that enlightens everyone.

¹⁰He was in the world

and through him, the world was made,

the very world that did not know him.

¹¹He came to his own,

yet his own people did not receive him;

¹²but to all who received him,

he empowers to become children of God,

for they believe in his name.

¹³These are born, but not by seed

or carnal desire, nor by the will of man:

They are born of God.

¹⁴And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us;

and we saw his glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father:

Fullness of truth and loving-kindness.

¹⁵John bore witness to him openly saying,

“This is the one who comes after me,

but he is already ahead of me,

for he was before me.”

¹⁶From his fullness we have all received

favor upon favor.

¹⁷For God had given us the law through Moses,

but Truth and Loving-kindness

came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁸No one has ever seen God,

but God-the-only-Son made him known:

The one who is in and with the Father.

FIRST PART: JESUS REVEALS HIMSELF THROUGH SIGNS

John the Baptist Presents Jesus, the Lamb of God

•  ¹⁹This was the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰John recognized the truth and did not deny it. He said, “I am not the Messiah.”

²¹And they asked him, “Then who are you? Elijah?” He answered, “I am not.” They said, “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²²Then they said to him, “Tell us who you are so that we can give some answer to those who sent us. How do you see yourself?” ²³And John said, quoting the prophet Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord!”

²⁴Those who had been sent were Pharisees, ²⁵and they asked John a further question: “Then why are you baptizing if you are not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?” ²⁶John answered, “I baptize you with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know; ²⁷although he comes after me, I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.”

²⁸This happened in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰It is he of whom I said: A man comes after me who is already ahead of me, for he was before me. ³¹I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing to prepare for him so that he might be revealed in Israel.”

³²John also gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit coming down on him like a dove from heaven and resting on him. ³³I myself did not know him, but God, who sent me to baptize, told me, ‘You will see the Spirit coming down and resting on the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴Yes, I have seen! And I declare that this is the Chosen One of God!”

Jesus Meets the First Disciples

•  ³⁵On the following day, John was standing there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and said, “There is the Lamb of God.” ³⁷On hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. ³⁸He turned and saw them following and he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They answered, “Rabbi (which means Master), where are you staying?” ³⁹Jesus said, “Come and see.” So they went and saw where he stayed and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

⁴⁰Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard what John had said and followed Jesus. ⁴¹Early the next morning, he found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Christ), ⁴²and he brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John, but you shall be called Cephas” (which means Rock).

⁴³The next day, Jesus decided to set off for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law and the prophets: he is Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming, he said of him, “Here comes an Israelite, a true one; there is nothing false in him.” ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?” And Jesus said to him, “Before Philip called you, you were under the fig tree and I saw you.”

⁴⁹Nathanael answered, “Master, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!” ⁵⁰But Jesus replied, “You believe because I said, ‘I saw you under the fig tree.’ But you will see greater things than that.

⁵¹Truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

The Wedding at Cana

2 | •  ¹Three days later, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus was also invited to the wedding with his disciples. ³When all the wine provided for the celebration had been served, and they had run out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴Jesus replied, “Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵However, his mother told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Nearby were six stone water jars set there for ritual washing as practiced by the Jews; each jar could hold twenty or thirty gallons. ⁷Jesus told the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them to the brim. ⁸Then Jesus said, “Now draw some out and take it to the steward.” So they did.

⁹The steward tasted the water that had become wine without knowing where it had come, for only the servants who had drawn the water knew. Immediately he called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said, “Everyone serves the best wine first, and when people have drunk enough, he serves that which is ordinary. But you have kept the best wine until the end.”

¹¹This miraculous sign was the first, and Jesus performed it at Cana in Galilee. In this way, he showed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

•  ¹²After this, Jesus went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Jesus Clears the Temple

•  ¹³As the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple court, he found merchants selling oxen, sheep, doves, and moneychangers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple court, together with the oxen and sheep. He knocked over the moneychangers' tables, scattering the coins, ¹⁶and ordered the people selling doves, “Take all this away and stop making a marketplace of my Father’s house!”

¹⁷His disciples recalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your house devours me like fire.

¹⁸The Jews then questioned Jesus, “Where are the miraculous signs which give you the right to do this?” ¹⁹And Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days.” ²⁰The Jews then replied, “The building of this temple has already taken forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”

²¹Actually, Jesus was referring to the temple of his body. ²²Only when he had risen from the dead did his disciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scripture and the words Jesus had spoken.

²³Jesus stayed in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, and many believed in his name when they saw the miraculous signs he performed. ²⁴But Jesus did not trust himself to them because he knew all of them. ²⁵He had no need for evidence about anyone for he himself knew what there was in each one.

Jesus and Nicodemus

3 | •  ¹Among the Pharisees there was a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus. ²He came to Jesus by night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God to teach us, for no one can perform miraculous signs like yours unless God is with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again from above.”

⁴Nicodemus said, “How can there be a rebirth for a grown man? Who could go back to his mother’s womb and be born again?” ⁵Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you: No one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Because of this, don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again from above.’

⁸The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus asked again, “How can this be?” ¹⁰And Jesus answered, “You are a teacher in Israel, and you don’t know these things!

•  ¹¹Truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and we witness to the things we have seen, but you don’t accept our testimony. ¹²If you don’t believe when I speak of earthly things, what then when I speak to you of heavenly things? ¹³No one has ever gone up to heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of Man.

¹⁴As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵so that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶Yes, God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him may not be lost but might have eternal life. ¹⁷God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world; instead, through him, the world is to be saved. ¹⁸Whoever believes in him will not be condemned. He who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹This is how Judgment is made: Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For whoever does wrong hates the light and doesn’t come to the light for fear that his deeds will be seen as evil. ²¹But whoever lives according to the truth comes into the light so that it can be clearly seen that his works have been done in God.”

John the Baptist’s Last Testimony

•  ²²After this, Jesus went into the territory of Judea with his disciples. He stayed there with them baptizing. ²³John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, where water was plentiful; people came to him and were baptized. ²⁴This happened before John was put in prison.

²⁵Now, John’s disciples had been questioned by a Jew about spiritual cleansing, ²⁶so they came to John and said, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan and about whom you spoke favorably, is now baptizing and all are going to him.”

²⁷John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ ²⁹Only the bridegroom has the bride, but the friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens and rejoices to hear the bridegroom’s voice. My joy is now full. ³⁰It is necessary that he increase, but that I decrease.

³¹He who comes from above is above all; he who comes from the earth belongs to the earth, and his words belong to the earth. He who comes from heaven ³²speaks of what he has seen and heard; he bears witness to these things, but no one accepts his testimony. ³³Whoever does receive his testimony acknowledges the truthfulness of God.

³⁴The one sent by God speaks God’s words and gives the Spirit unstintingly. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has entrusted everything into his hands. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son lives with eternal life, but he who will not believe in the Son will never know life and always face God's justice.”

Jesus and the Samaritan woman

4 | •  ¹The Lord knew that the Pharisees were informed about him; people said that Jesus was attracting and baptizing more disciples than John; ²but in fact, it was not Jesus himself who was baptizing, but his disciples. ³So Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee. ⁴He had to cross Samaria.

⁵He came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well is there. Tired from his journey, Jesus sat down by the well; it was about noon. ⁷Now, a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸His disciples had just gone into town to buy some food.

⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan and a woman, for a drink?” (For Jews, in fact, have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift of God! If you knew who is asking you for a drink, you yourself would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.”

¹¹The woman answered, “Sir, you have no bucket and this well is deep; where is your living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well; he drank from it with his sons and cattle?”

¹³Jesus said to her, “Those who drink of this water will be thirsty again; ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I shall give will never be thirsty; for the water that I shall give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵The woman told him, “Give me this water, that I may never be thirsty and never have to come here to draw water.” ¹⁶Jesus said, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.” ¹⁷The woman answered, “I have no husband.” And Jesus replied, “You are right to say, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you said is true.”

¹⁹The woman then said to him, “I see you are a prophet; tell me this: ²⁰Our ancestors came to this mountain to worship God; but you Jews, do you not claim that Jerusalem is the only place to worship God?”

²¹Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you shall worship the Father, but that will not be on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know because salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming and is even now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; for that is the kind of worshippers the Father wants. ²⁴God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.”

²⁵The woman told him, “I know that the Messiah (who is called Christ) is coming. When he comes, he will tell us everything.” ²⁶And Jesus said, “I who am talking to you, I am he.”

²⁷At this point, the disciples returned and were surprised that Jesus was speaking with a woman; however, no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸So the woman left her water jar and ran to the town. There she said to the people, ²⁹“Come and see a man who told me everything I did! Could he not be the Christ?” ³⁰So they left the town and went to meet him.

³¹In the meantime, the disciples urged Jesus, “Master, eat.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you don’t know about.” ³³And the disciples wondered, “Has anyone brought him food?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to carry out his work.

³⁵You say that the harvest will be in four months; now, I say to you, look up and see the fields white and ready for harvesting. ³⁶People who reap the harvest are paid for their work, and the fruit is gathered for eternal life so that the sower and reaper may rejoice together.

³⁷Indeed, the saying holds true: One sows and another reaps. ³⁸I sent you to reap where you didn’t work or suffer; others have worked, and you are now sharing in their labors.”

³⁹In that town, many Samaritans believed in him when they heard the woman who declared, “He told me everything I did.” ⁴⁰So when they came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and Jesus stayed there for two days. ⁴¹After that, many more believed because of his own words, ⁴²and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is the Savior of the world.”

⁴³When the two days were over, Jesus left for Galilee. ⁴⁴Jesus himself said that no prophet is recognized in his own country. ⁴⁵Yet the Galileans welcomed him when he arrived because of all the things he had done in Jerusalem during the Festival and which they had seen. For they, too, had gone to the feast.

Jesus Cures the Son of an Official

•  ⁴⁶Jesus returned to Cana of Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum, there was an official whose son was ill. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and asked him to come and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.

⁴⁸Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe!” ⁴⁹The official said, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” ⁵⁰And Jesus replied, “Go, your son lives!”

The man believed in the word Jesus spoke and went his way. ⁵¹As he approached his house, his servants met him and told him the good news, “Your son has recovered!” ⁵²So he asked them at what hour the child began to recover and they said, “The fever left him yesterday, at about one o’clock in the afternoon.” ⁵³And the father realized that that was when Jesus told him, “Your son lives!” He became a believer, and so did his family.

⁵⁴Jesus performed this second miraculous sign when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

The Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda

5 | •  ¹After this, there was a feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ²Now, by the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem, there is a pool (called Bethesda in Hebrew) surrounded by five galleries. ³In these galleries lay a multitude of sick people: blind, lame and paralyzed.

(⁴All were waiting for the water to move, for at times an angel of the Lord would descend into the pool and stir up the water; and the first person to enter the pool after this movement of the water, would be healed of whatever disease that he had.)

⁵There was a man who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶Jesus saw him and because he knew how long this man had been lying there, he asked, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷And the sick man answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed, so while I am still on my way, someone else steps down before me.”

⁸Jesus then said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk!” ⁹The man was healed at once, and he took up his mat and walked.

Now, that day happened to be the Sabbath. ¹⁰So the Jews said to the man who had just been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and the law doesn’t allow you to carry your mat.” ¹¹He answered them, “The one who healed me said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk!’” ¹²They asked him, “Who is the one who said to you: Take up your mat and walk?” ¹³But the sick man had no idea who it was who had cured him, for Jesus had slipped away among the crowd that filled the place.

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus met him in the temple court and told him, “Now you are well; don’t sin again, lest something worse happen to you.” ¹⁵And the man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶So the Jews persecuted Jesus because he performed healings like that on the Sabbath.

¹⁷Jesus replied, “My Father goes on working and so do I.” ¹⁸And the Jews tried all the harder to kill him, for Jesus not only broke the Sabbath observance but also made himself equal with God, calling God his own Father.

The Work of the Son is to Give Life

•  ¹⁹Jesus said to them, “Truly, I assure you, the Son cannot do anything by himself, but only what he sees the Father do. And whatever he does, the Son also does. ²⁰The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and he will show him even greater things than these so that you will be amazed.

²¹As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, the Son gives life to whom he wills. ²²In the same way, the Father judges no one, for he has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³and he wants all to honor the Son, as they honor the Father. Whoever ignores the Son ignores the Father who sent him.

²⁴Truly, I say to you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and there is no judgment for him because he has passed from death to life.

²⁵Truly, the hour is coming and has indeed come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and, on hearing it, will live. ²⁶For the Father has life in himself and he has given to the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷And he has empowered him as well to carry out Judgment, for he is Son of Man.

²⁸Do not be surprised at this: the hour is coming when all those lying in tombs will hear my voice ²⁹and come out; those who have done good shall rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

•  ³⁰I can do nothing of myself. As I hear, so I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

³¹If I bore witness to myself, my testimony would be worthless. ³²But Another One is bearing witness to me, and I know his testimony is true when he bears witness to me. ³³John also bore witness to the truth when you sent messengers to him, ³⁴but I do not seek such human testimony; I recall this for you, so you may be saved.

³⁵John was a burning and shining lamp and, for a while, you were willing to enjoy his light. ³⁶But I have greater evidence than that of John—the works the Father entrusted me to carry out. The very works I do bear witness: the Father has sent me. ³⁷Thus he who bears witness to me is the Father who sent me. You have never heard his voice and have never seen his likeness; ³⁸therefore, as long as you do not believe his messenger, his word is not in you.

³⁹You search in the Scriptures, thinking that in them you will find life; yet Scripture bears witness to me. ⁴⁰But you refuse to come to me that you may live. ⁴¹I am not seeking human praise; ⁴²but I know that the love of God is not within you, ⁴³for I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me. If another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe as long as you seek praise from one another instead of seeking the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father. Moses himself, in whom you placed your hope, accuses you. ⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. ⁴⁷But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?

7 • ¹⁹Moses gave you the law, didn’t  he? But none of you keep the law. Why, then, do you want to kill me?”

²⁰The people replied, “You have a demon; who wants to kill you?” ²¹Jesus told them, “I performed just one deed, and you are all astounded by it. ²²But remember the circumcision ordered by Moses—actually it was not Moses but the ancestors who began this practice. You circumcise a man, even on the Sabbath, ²³and you would break the law if you refused to do so because of the Sabbath. How is it that you are indignant with me because I healed the whole person on the Sabbath? ²⁴Do not judge by appearances, but according to what is right.”

Supper for Five Thousand

(Mk 6:34; Mt 14:13; Lk 9:10)

6 | •  ¹After this, Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, near Tiberias ²and large crowds followed him because of the miraculous signs they saw when he healed the sick. ³So he went up into the hills and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.

⁵Then, lifting up his eyes, Jesus saw the crowds coming to him and said to Philip, “Where shall we buy bread so that these people may eat?” ⁶He said this to test Philip, for he knew what he would do. ⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred silver coins would not buy enough bread for each of them to have a piece.”

⁸Then one of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Plenty of grass was there, so the people, about five thousand men, sat down. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those reclining. He did the same with the fish and gave them as much as they wanted. ¹²When they had eaten enough, he told his disciples, “Gather up the pieces left over, that nothing may be lost.”

¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with bread, with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴When the people saw the miracle Jesus performed, they said, “This is really the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” ¹⁵Jesus realized that they would come and take him by force to make him king, so he fled to the hills by himself.

¹⁶When evening came, the disciples went down to the shore. ¹⁷After a while, they got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the sea, for it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸But the sea was getting rough because a strong wind was blowing.

¹⁹They had rowed about three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and he was drawing near to the boat. They were frightened, ²⁰but he said to them, “It is I! Don’t be afraid!”

²¹They wanted to take him into the boat, but immediately, the boat was at the shore where they were going.

•  ²²The next day, the people who stayed on the other side realized that only one boat had been there and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples; rather, the disciples had gone away alone. ²³Other boats from Tiberias landed near the place where all these people had eaten the bread. ²⁴When they saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Master, when did you come here?”

²⁶Jesus answered, “Truly, I say to you, you look for me, not because of the signs you have seen, but because you ate bread and were satisfied. ²⁷Work then, not for perishable food, but for the lasting food which gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give it to you, for he is the one on whom the Father has put his mark.”

The Bread of Life;

to Believe in the Son of God

•  ²⁸Then the Jews asked him, “What shall we do? What are the works that God wants us to do?” ²⁹And Jesus answered them, “The work God wants is this: that you believe in the One whom God has sent.”

³⁰They then said, “Show us miraculous signs that we may see and believe you. What sign do you perform? ³¹Our ancestors ate manna in the desert; as Scripture says: They were given bread from heaven to eat.”

³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³The bread God gives is the One who comes from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴And they told him, “Give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty. ³⁶Nevertheless, as I said, you refuse to believe, even when you have seen. ³⁷Yet all those whom the Father gives me will come to me, and I shall not turn away whoever comes to me. ³⁸For I have come from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the One who sent me.

³⁹And the will of him who sent me is that I lose nothing of what he has given me, but instead that I raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰This is the will of the Father, that whoever sees the Son and believes in him shall live eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.”

⁴¹The Jews murmured because Jesus had said, “I am the bread which comes from heaven.” ⁴²And they said, “This man is the son of Joseph, isn’t he? We know his father and mother. How can he say that he has come from heaven?”

⁴³Jesus answered them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵It has been written in the Prophets: They shall all be taught by God. So whoever listens and learns from the Father comes to me.

⁴⁶For no one has seen the Father except the One who comes from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.

The Body of Christ, the Bread of Life

•  ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Though your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, they died. ⁵⁰But here you have the bread from heaven, so you may eat it and not die.

⁵¹I am the living bread from heaven; whoever eats of this bread will live forever. The bread I shall give is my flesh, and I will give it for the life of the world.”

⁵²The Jews were arguing among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus replied, “Truly, I say to you, if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴The one who eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

⁵⁵My flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the Father, who is life, sent me and I have life from the Father, so whoever eats me will have life from me. ⁵⁸This is the bread from heaven, not like that of your ancestors who ate and later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹These things he said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Will you Also Go Away?

•  ⁶⁰After hearing this, many of Jesus’ followers said, “This language is very hard! Who can accept it?”

⁶¹Jesus was aware that his disciples were murmuring about this, and so he said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶²Then how will you react when you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³It is the spirit that gives life, not the flesh. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ⁶⁴But among you, there are some who do not believe.”

From the beginning, Jesus knew who would betray him. ⁶⁵He added, “As I have told you, no one can come to me unless the Father grants it.”

⁶⁶After this, many disciples withdrew and no longer followed him. ⁶⁷Jesus asked the Twelve, “Will you also go away?” ⁶⁸Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹We now believe and know you are God's Holy One.”

⁷⁰Jesus said to them, “I chose you, the Twelve, did I not? Yet one of you is a devil.” ⁷¹Jesus spoke of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. He, one of the Twelve, was to betray him.

Jesus Goes Up to Jerusalem

7 | •  ¹After this, Jesus went around Galilee; he would not go about in Judea because the Jews wanted to kill him. ²Now the Jewish feast of the Tents was at hand. ³So the brothers of Jesus said to him, “Don’t stay here; go instead to Judea and let your disciples see the works you are doing. ⁴Anyone who wants to be known doesn’t work secretly. Since you can do these things, show yourself to the world.”

⁵His brothers spoke like this because they didn’t believe in him. ⁶Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.

⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I bear witness and show that its deeds are evil. ⁸Go up to the feast! I am not going to this feast because my time has not yet come.”

⁹Jesus said these things and remained in Galilee. ¹⁰But after his brothers had gone to the festival, he also went up, not publicly but in secret. ¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival and asked, “Where is he?” ¹²There was a lot of talk about him among the people. Some said, “He is a good man,” but others replied, “No, he is misleading the people.” ¹³For fear of the Jews, no one spoke openly about him.

¹⁴When the festival was half over, Jesus went to the temple and began to teach. ¹⁵The Jews marveled and said, “How is it that he knows Scriptures when he has had no teacher?”

¹⁶And Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine but comes from the One who sent me. ¹⁷Anyone who does the will of God shall know whether my teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own authority.

¹⁸Those who speak on their own authority wish to gain honor for themselves. But the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is truthful, and there is no reason to doubt him.”

Verses 19 -24  have been placed after Chapter 5. See footnote there.

•  ²⁵Some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Is this not the man they want to kill? ²⁶And here he is speaking freely, and they don’t say a word to him? Can it be that the rulers know that this is really the Christ? ²⁷Yet we know where this man comes from; but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from.”

²⁸So Jesus announced in a loud voice in the temple court where he was teaching, “You say that you know me and know where I come from! I have not come of myself; I was sent by the One who is true, and you don’t know him. ²⁹I know him for I come from him, and he sent me.”

³⁰They would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him because his time had not yet come. ³¹Many people in the crowd, however, believed in him and said, “When the Christ comes, will he give more signs than this man?”

³²The Pharisees heard all these rumors among the people; they and the chief priests sent officers of the temple to arrest him. ³³Jesus then said, “I shall be with you a little longer; after that, I shall go to him who sent me. ³⁴You will look for me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.”

³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go, where we shall not find him? Will he go abroad to the Jews dispersed among the Greek nations and teach the Greeks also? ³⁶What does he mean when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”

The Promise of Living Water

•  ³⁷On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood up and proclaimed, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me; ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink, for the Scripture says: Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.”

³⁹Jesus was referring to the Spirit, which those who believe in him were to receive; the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.

Dispute on the Origin of Christ

⁴⁰Many who had been listening to these words began to say, “This is the Prophet.” ⁴¹Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some wondered, “Would the Christ come from Galilee? ⁴²Doesn’t Scripture say that the Christ is a descendant of David and from Bethlehem, the city of David?” ⁴³The crowd was divided over him. ⁴⁴Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵The temple officers went back to the chief priests, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?” ⁴⁶The officers answered, “No one ever spoke like this man.” ⁴⁷The Pharisees then said, “So you, too, have been led astray! ⁴⁸Have any of the rulers or any of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law, is accursed.”

⁵⁰Yet one of them, Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier, spoke out, ⁵¹“Does our law condemn people without first hearing them and knowing the facts?” ⁵²They replied, “Do you, too, come from Galilee? Look it up and see for yourself that no prophet is to come from Galilee.”

⁵³And they all went home.

The Adulteress

8 | •  ¹As for Jesus, he went to the Mount of Olives.

²At daybreak, Jesus appeared in the temple again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them.

³Then the teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They made her stand in front of everyone. ⁴“Master,” they said, “this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. ⁵Now, the law of Moses orders that such women be stoned to death; but you, what do you say?” ⁶They said this to test Jesus to have some charge against him.

Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with his finger. ⁷And as they continued to ask him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who has no sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸And he bent down again, writing on the ground.

⁹As a result of these words, they went away one by one, starting with the elders, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. ¹⁰Then Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹She replied, “No one.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go away and don’t sin again.”

I Am the Light of the World

•  ¹²Jesus spoke to them again, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have light and life.” ¹³The Pharisees replied, “Now you are speaking on your own behalf, your testimony is worthless.”

¹⁴Then Jesus said, “Even though I bear witness to myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I have come from and where I am going. But you do not know where I came from or where I am going.

¹⁵You judge by human standards; as for me, I don’t judge anyone. ¹⁶But if I had to judge, my judgment would be valid, for I am not alone: the Father who sent me is with me. ¹⁷In your law, it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid; ¹⁸so I am bearing witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me.”

¹⁹They asked him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father; if you knew me, you would also know my Father.”

²⁰Jesus said these things while teaching in the temple area, where they received the offerings. No one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

²¹Again, Jesus said to them, “I am going away, and though you look for me, you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²²The Jews wondered, “Why does he say we can’t come where he is going? Will he kill himself?”

²³But Jesus said, “You are from below, and I am from above; you are of this world, and I am not of this world. ²⁴That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. And you shall die in your sins unless you believe I am He.”

²⁵They asked him, “Who are you?” and Jesus said, “Just what I have told you from the beginning. ²⁶I have much to say about you and much to condemn, but the One who sent me is truthful, and I proclaim everything I learned from him to the world.”

²⁷They didn’t understand that Jesus was speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He and do nothing of myself, but I say just what the Father taught me. ²⁹He who sent me is with me and has not left me alone because I always do what pleases him.”

The Children of Truth

•  ³⁰As Jesus spoke like this, many believed in him. ³¹Jesus went on to say to the Jews who believed in him, “You will be my true disciples if you keep my word. ³²Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³They answered him, “We are the descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone. What do you mean by saying: You will be free?”

³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave. ³⁵But the slave doesn’t stay in the house forever; the son stays forever. ³⁶So, if the Son makes you free, you will be really free.

³⁷I know that you are the descendants of Abraham, yet you want to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ³⁸For my part, I speak of what I have seen in my Father’s presence, but you do what you have learned from your father.”

³⁹They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Then Jesus said, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do as Abraham did. ⁴⁰But now you want to kill me, the one who tells you the truth—the truth that I have learned from God. That is not what Abraham did; ⁴¹what you are doing are the works of your father.”

The Jews said to him, “We are not illegitimate children; we have one Father, God.” ⁴²Jesus replied, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came forth from God, and I am here. And I didn’t come by my own decision, but he himself sent me. ⁴³Why do you not understand my teaching? It is because you cannot bear my message.

⁴⁴The father you spring from is the devil, and you will carry out the evil wishes of your father, who has been a murderer from the beginning. He didn’t uphold the truth for there is no truth in him, and now, when he speaks for himself, he lies. He is a liar and the father of lies.

⁴⁵Now I speak the truth, and you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶Who among you can find anything false in me? Then, if I speak the truth, why do you not believe me? ⁴⁷He who is of God hears the words of God; you don’t hear because you are not of God.”

⁴⁸The Jews retorted, “So we are right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon.” ⁴⁹Jesus said, “I am not possessed, and you try to shame me when I give honor to my Father. ⁵⁰I don’t care about my own glory; there is One who cares for me, and he will be the judge.

⁵¹Truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never experience death.” ⁵²The Jews replied, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets as well, but you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never experience death.’ Who do you claim to be? ⁵³Do you claim to be greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets who also died?”

⁵⁴Then Jesus said, “If I were to praise myself, it would count for nothing. But he who gives glory to me is the Father, the very one you claim as your God, ⁵⁵although you don’t know him. I know him, and if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him and I keep his word.

⁵⁶As for Abraham, your ancestor, he looked forward to the day when I would come and rejoiced when he saw it.”

⁵⁷The Jews then said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸And Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” ⁵⁹They then picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple.

Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind

9 | •  ¹As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Master, was he born blind because of a sin of his, or of his parents?”

³Jesus answered, “Neither was it for his own sin nor his parents’ sin. He was born blind so that God’s power might be shown in him. ⁴While it is day, we must do the work of the One who sent me, for the night will come when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶As Jesus said this, he made mud with spittle and clay and rubbed it on the eyes of the blind man. ⁷Then he said, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (This word means sent.) So the blind man went and washed and came back able to see.

⁸His neighbors and all the people who used to see him begging wondered. They said, “Isn’t this the beggar who used to sit here?” ⁹Some said, “He’s the one.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” But the man himself said, “I am he.” ¹⁰Then they asked him, “How is it that your eyes were opened?” ¹¹And he answered, “The man called Jesus made a mud paste, put it on my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I could see.” ¹²They asked, “Where is he?” And the man answered, “I don’t know.”

¹³The people brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴It was a Sabbath day when Jesus made mud paste and opened his eyes. ¹⁵The Pharisees asked him again, “How did you recover your sight?” And he said, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “That man is not from God, for he works on the Sabbath,” but others wondered, “How can a sinner perform such miraculous signs?” They were divided ¹⁷and they questioned the blind man again, “What do you think of this man who opened your eyes?” And he answered, “He is a prophet!”

¹⁸After all this, the Jews refused to believe that the man had been blind and had recovered his sight, so they called his parents ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son? You say that he was born blind; how is it that he now sees?” ²⁰The parents answered, “He really is our son and he was born blind; ²¹but how he now sees, we don’t know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is old enough. Let him speak for himself.”

²²The parents said this because they feared the Jews, who had already agreed that whoever confessed Jesus to be the Christ was to be expelled from the synagogue. ²³Because of that, his parents said, “He is old enough; ask him.”

²⁴So, a second time, the Pharisees called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Tell us the truth; we know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵He replied, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner or not; I only know that I was blind, and now I see.” ²⁶They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷He replied, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?”

²⁸Then they started to insult him. “Become his disciple yourself! We are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.”

³⁰The man replied, “It is amazing that you don’t know where the man comes from, yet he opened my eyes! ³¹We know God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone honors God and does his will, God listens to him. ³²Never, since the world began, has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person who was born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

³⁴They answered him, “You were born a sinner, and now you teach us!” And they expelled him.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had expelled him. He found him and said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶He answered, “Who is he, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷Jesus said, “You have seen him, and he is speaking to you.” ³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world to carry out a judgment: Those who do not see shall see, and those who see shall become blind.” ⁴⁰Some Pharisees stood by and asked him, “So we are blind?” ⁴¹And Jesus answered, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty. But you say, ‘We see’; this is the proof of your sin.”

The Good Shepherd

10 | •  ¹Truly, I say to you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. ²But the shepherd of the sheep enters by the gate. ³The keeper opens the gate to him, and the sheep hear his voice; he calls each of his sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him for they know his voice. ⁵A stranger they will not follow, but rather they will run away from him because they don’t recognize a stranger’s voice.”

⁶Jesus used this comparison, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

⁷So Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep. ⁸All who came were thieves and robbers; the sheep did not hear them. ⁹I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved; he will go in and out freely and find food.

¹⁰The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, life in all its fullness.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. ¹²Not so the hired hand or any other person who is not the shepherd and to whom the sheep do not belong. They abandon the sheep as soon as they see the wolf coming; then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep. ¹³This is because the hired hand works for pay and cares nothing for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me, ¹⁵as the Father knows me and I know the Father. Because of this, I give my life for my sheep.

¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must lead these as well, and they shall listen to my voice. Then, there will be one flock since there is one shepherd.

¹⁷The Father loves me because I lay down my life to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes it from me, but I lay it down freely. It is mine to lay down and to take up again: this mission I received from my Father.”

¹⁹Because of these words, the Jews were again divided. ²⁰Many said, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?” ²¹But others said, “A man possessed doesn’t speak this way. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God

²²The time came for the feast of the Dedication. It was winter, ^23 , and Jesus walked back and forth in Solomon's portico. ²⁴The Jews then gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in doubt? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.” ²⁵Jesus answered, “I have already told you, but you do not believe. ²⁶The works I do in my Father’s name proclaim who I am, but you don’t believe because, as I said, you are not my sheep.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice and I know them; they follow me, ²⁸and I give them eternal life. They shall never perish; no one will ever steal them from me. ²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than all things else. No one is able to snatch it out of the Father’s hand! ³⁰I and the Father are One.”

³¹The Jews then picked up stones to throw at him; ³²so Jesus said, “I have openly done many good works among you which the Father gave me to do. For which of these do you stone me?”

³³The Jews answered, “We are not stoning you for doing a good work, but for insulting God; you are only a man, and you make yourself God.”

³⁴Then Jesus replied, “Is this not written in your law: I said, you are gods? ³⁵Those who received this word of God were called gods, and the Scripture is always true. ³⁶What then should be said of the one anointed and sent into the world by the Father? Am I insulting God when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’?

³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. ³⁸But if I do them, even if you have no faith in me, believe because of the works I do; and know that the Father is in me and I in the Father.”

³⁹Again, they tried to arrest him, but Jesus escaped from their hands. ⁴⁰He went away again to the other side of the Jordan, where John had baptized and there he stayed.

⁴¹Many people came to Jesus and said, “John worked no miracles, but he spoke about you, and everything he said was true.” ⁴²And many in that place became believers.

The Raising of Lazarus

11 | •  ¹There was a sick man named Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary, and her sister Martha. ²This is the same Mary who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was sick.

³The sisters sent this message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.” ⁴On hearing this, Jesus said, “This illness will not end in death; rather, it is for God’s glory, and the Son of God will be glorified through it.”

⁵It is a fact that Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus; ⁶yet, after he heard of Lazarus' illness, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. ⁷Only then did he say to his disciples, “Let us go into Judea again.” ⁸They replied, “Master, recently the Jews wanted to stone you. Are you going there again?”

⁹Jesus asked them, “Are not twelve working hours needed to complete a day? Those who walk in the daytime shall not stumble, for they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, for there is no light in them.”

¹¹After that, Jesus said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him up.” ¹²The disciples replied, “Lord, a sick person who sleeps will recover.” ¹³But Jesus had referred to Lazarus’ death, while they thought that he had meant the repose of sleep. ¹⁴So Jesus said plainly, “Lazarus is dead; ¹⁵and for your sake, I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶Then Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

¹⁷When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸As Bethany is near Jerusalem, about two miles away, ¹⁹many Jews had come to Martha and Mary after the death of their brother to comfort them.

²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him while Mary remained sitting in the house. ²¹Martha told Jesus, “If you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.” ²³Jesus said, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection, at the last day.” ²⁵But Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, shall live. ²⁶Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷Martha answered, “Yes, Lord, I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.”

²⁸After that, Martha went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, “The Master is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹As soon as Mary heard this, she rose and went to him. ³⁰Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.

³¹The Jews, who were consoling Mary in the house, also came. When they saw her get up and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep.

³²When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, who had come with her, he was moved to the depths of his spirit and troubled. ³⁴Then he asked, “Where have you laid him?” They answered, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶The Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “If he could open the eyes of the blind man, could he not have kept this man from dying?”

³⁸Jesus, again deeply moved, drew near to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take the stone away.” Martha told him, “Lord, by now, he will smell, for this is the fourth day.” ⁴⁰Jesus replied, “Have I not told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they removed the stone.

Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you for you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you hear me always, but my prayer was for the sake of these people that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When Jesus had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus told them, “Untie him, and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

•  ⁴⁵Many Jews who had come with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw what he did; ⁴⁶but some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Council.

They said, “What are we to do? For this man keeps on performing many miraculous signs. ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, all the people will believe in him and, as a result of this, the Romans will come and destroy our Holy Place and our nation.”

⁴⁹Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was High Priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰It is better to have one man die for the people than to let the whole nation be destroyed.”

⁵¹In saying this, Caiaphas did not speak for himself, but being High Priest that year, he foretold like a prophet that Jesus would die for the nation ⁵²and not for the nation only but also would die to gather into one the scattered children of God. ⁵³So, from that day on, they were determined to kill him.

⁵⁴Because of this, Jesus no longer freely moved among the Jews. He withdrew to the country near the wilderness and stayed with his disciples in a town called Ephraim.

⁵⁵The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and people from everywhere were coming to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. ⁵⁶They looked for Jesus and talked to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Will he come to the festival?” ⁵⁷Meanwhile, the chief priests and the elders had given orders that anyone who knew where he was should let them know so they could arrest him.

The Supper at Bethany

(Mt 26:6; Mk 14:3)

12 | •  ¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where he had raised Lazarus, the dead man, to life. ²Now they gave a dinner for him, and while Martha waited on them, Lazarus sat at the table with Jesus.

³Then Mary took a pound of costly perfume made from genuine spikenard and anointed Jesus' feet, wiping them with her hair. The whole house was filled with the perfume's fragrance.

⁴Judas Iscariot—the disciple who was to betray Jesus—remarked, ⁵“This perfume could have been sold for three hundred silver coins and the money given to the poor.” ⁶Judas, indeed, had no concern for the poor; he was a thief, and as he held the common purse, he used to help himself with the funds.

⁷But Jesus spoke up, “Leave her alone. Was she not keeping it for the day of my burial? ⁸(The poor you always have with you, but you will not always have me.)”

⁹Many Jews heard that Jesus was there, and they came, not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰So the chief priests thought about killing Lazarus as well, ¹¹for many of the Jews were drifting away because of him and believing in Jesus.

The Messiah Enters Jerusalem

(Mt 21:5; Mk 11:1)

¹²The next day, many people who had come for the festival heard that Jesus was to enter Jerusalem. ¹³So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him. And they cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the king of Israel!”

¹⁴Jesus found a donkey and sat upon it, as Scripture says: ¹⁵Do not fear, city of Zion! See, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey's colt!

¹⁶The disciples were not aware of this at first, but after Jesus was glorified, they realized that this had been written about him and that this was what had happened to him.

¹⁷The people who came with him bore witness and told how he had called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead. ¹⁸It was because of this miraculous sign that Jesus had given that so many people welcomed him. ¹⁹In the meantime, the Pharisees said to one another, “We are getting nowhere; the whole world has gone after him.”

Unless the Grain Dies

•  ²⁰There were some Greeks who had come up to Jerusalem to worship during the feast. ²¹They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip went to Andrew, and the two of them told Jesus.

²³Then Jesus said, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴Truly, I say to you, unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much fruit.

²⁵Those who love their life lose it, and those who despise their life in this world save it for eternal life.

²⁶Whoever wants to serve me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant shall be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

•  ²⁷Now my soul is in distress. Shall I say, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But, to face all this, I have come to this hour. ²⁸Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”

²⁹People standing there heard something and said it was thunder, but others said, “An angel was speaking to him.” ³⁰Then Jesus declared, “This voice did not come for my sake but for yours. ³¹Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out. ³²And I will draw all people to myself when I am lifted up from the earth.” ³³With these words, Jesus referred to the kind of death he was to die.

³⁴The crowd answered him, “We have been told in the law that the Messiah stands forever. How can you say that the Son of Man shall be lifted up? What kind of Son of Man is that?”

³⁵Jesus told them, “The light will be with you a little longer. Walk while you have the light, lest the darkness overtakes you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. ³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light and become children of light.”

After Jesus had said this, he withdrew and kept himself hidden.

The Unbelief of the Jews

•  ³⁷Even though Jesus had done so many miraculous signs among them, they didn’t believe in him. ³⁸Indeed, the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah had to be fulfilled: Lord, who has believed what we proclaimed? To whom have the ways of God the Savior been made known?

³⁹And so they could not believe, because Isaiah also said: ⁴⁰He let their eyes become blind and their hearts hard so that they could neither see nor understand, nor be converted—otherwise, I would have healed them. ⁴¹Isaiah said this when he saw his glory and his words refer to him.

⁴²Many of them, however, believed in Jesus, even among the rulers, but they did not acknowledge him because of the Pharisees, lest they be put out of the Jewish community. ⁴³They preferred the favorable opinion of people rather than God’s approval.

⁴⁴Yet Jesus had said and even cried out, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. ⁴⁵And whoever sees me, sees him who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come into the world as light so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.

⁴⁷If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I am not the one to condemn him; for I have come, not to condemn the world, but to save it. ⁴⁸The one who rejects me and does not receive my words already has a judge: the very words I have spoken will condemn him on the last day.

⁴⁹For I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father, who sent me, has instructed me what to say and how to speak. ⁵⁰I know that his commandment is eternal life and that is why the message I give, I give as the Father instructed me.”

SECOND PART: JESUS COMPLETES HIS WORK

13 | •  ¹It was before the feast of the Passover. Jesus realized that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, and as he had loved those who were his own in the world, he would love them with perfect love.

Jesus Washes his Disciples’ Feet

•  ²They were at supper, and the devil had already put into the mind of Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. ³Jesus knew that the Father had entrusted all things to him, and as he had come from God, he was going to God. ⁴So he got up from the table, removed his garment, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with the towel he wore.

⁶When he came to Simon Peter, Simon asked him, “Why, Lord, do you want to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus said, “What I am doing you cannot understand now, but afterward you will understand it.” ⁸Peter replied, “You shall never wash my feet!”

Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you can have no part with me.” ⁹Then Simon Peter said, “Lord, wash not only my feet but also my hands and my head!”

¹⁰Jesus replied, “Whoever has taken a bath does not need to wash (except the feet), for he is clean all over. You are clean, though not all of you.” ¹¹Jesus knew who was to betray him; because of this, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When Jesus had finished washing their feet, he put on his garment again, went back to the table, and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have given you an example that, as I have done, you also may do.

¹⁶Truly, I say to you, the servant is not greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than he who sent him. ¹⁷Understand this and be blessed if you put it into practice.

¹⁸I am not speaking of you all because I know the ones I have chosen, and the Scripture has to be fulfilled, which says: The one who shares my table will rise up against me. ¹⁹I tell you this now before it happens so that when it does happen, you may know that I am He.

²⁰Truly, I say to you, whoever welcomes the one I send, welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the One who sent me.”

²¹Jesus was distressed in spirit after saying this and said plainly, “Truly, one of you will betray me.” ²²The disciples then looked at one another, wondering whom he meant. ²³One of the disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining near Jesus; ²⁴so Simon Peter signaled him to ask Jesus whom he meant.

²⁵The disciple, who was reclining near Jesus, asked him, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶Jesus answered, “I shall dip a piece of bread in the dish, and he to whom I give it is the one.”

So Jesus dipped the bread in the dish and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. ²⁷As Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus then said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”

²⁸None of the others reclining at the table understood why Jesus had said this to Judas. ²⁹As Judas had the common purse, they may have thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast” or, “Give something to the poor.” ³⁰Judas left as soon as he had eaten the bread. It was night.

³¹When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²God will glorify him, and he will glorify him very soon.

•  ³³My children, I am with you for only a little while; you will look for me, but as I already told the Jews, now I tell you: where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴I give you a new commandment: Love one another! Just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. ³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.”

³⁶Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but afterward you will.” ³⁷Peter said, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I am ready to give my life for you.” ³⁸“To give your life for me?” Jesus asked Peter. “Truly I tell you, the cock will not crow before you have denied me three times.”

I’m Going to the Father

14 | •  ¹“Do not be troubled! Trust in God and trust in me! ²In my Father’s house, there are many rooms; otherwise, I would not have told you that I go to prepare a place for you. ³After I have gone and prepared a place for you, I shall come again and take you to me so that where I am, you also may be. ⁴Yet you know the way where I am going.”

⁵Thomas told him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going; how can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me. ⁷If you know me, you will also know the Father; indeed, you know him and have seen him.”

⁸Philip asked him, “Lord, show us the Father; that is enough.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “What! I have been with you for so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever sees me sees the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

All that I say to you, I do not say of myself. The Father who dwells in me is doing his own work. ¹¹Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; at least believe it on the evidence of these works that I do.

¹²Truly, I say to you, the one who believes in me will do the same works I do. He will even do greater than these, for I am going to the Father. ¹³Everything you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. ¹⁴Indeed, anything you ask, calling upon my name, I will do it.

¹⁵If you love me, you will keep my commandments; ¹⁶and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, ¹⁷the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him; he is with you and will be in you.

¹⁸I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you. ¹⁹A little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I live and you will also live. ²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you.

²¹Whoever keeps my commandments is the one who loves me. If he loves me, he will also be loved by my Father; I too shall love him and show myself clearly to him.”

²²Judas—not Judas Iscariot—asked Jesus, “Lord, how can it be that you will show yourself clearly to us and not to the world?” ²³Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him; and we will come to him and live with him. ²⁴But if anyone does not love me, he will not keep my words; and these words that you hear are not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

²⁵I told you all this while I am still with you. ²⁶From now on the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have told you.

²⁷Peace be with you! My peace I give to you; not as the world gives peace do I give it to you. Do not be troubled! Do not be afraid! ²⁸You heard me say, ‘I am going away, but I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

²⁹I have told you this before it takes place so that you may believe when it does happen. ³⁰There is very little left for me to tell you, for the prince of this world is at hand. He has no power over me, ³¹but the world must know that I love the Father and do what the Father has taught me to do. Come now, let us go.

The Vine and the Branches

15 | •  ¹I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. ²If any of my branches doesn’t bear fruit, he breaks it off, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, that it may bear even more fruit.

³You are already made clean by the word I have spoken to you. ⁴Live in me as I live in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself but has to remain part of the vine, so neither can you if you don’t remain in me.

⁵I am the vine, and you are the branches. As long as you remain in me and I in you, you bear much fruit, but apart from me, you can do nothing. ⁶Whoever does not remain in me is thrown away as they do with branches and they wither. Then they are gathered and thrown into the fire and burned.

⁷If you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask whatever you want, and it will be given to you. ⁸My Father is glorified when you bear much fruit: it is then that you become my disciples.

⁹As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love! ¹⁰You will remain in my love if you keep my commandments, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

¹¹I have told you all this to you so that my own joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. ¹²This is my commandment: Love one another as I have loved you! ¹³There is no greater love than this, to give one’s life for one’s friends; ¹⁴and you are my friends if you do what I command you.

¹⁵I shall not call you servants anymore because servants do not know what their master is about. Instead, I have called you friends since I have made known to you everything I learned from my Father.

¹⁶You did not choose me; it was I who chose you and sent you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. And everything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.

¹⁷This is my command, that you love one another.

The Hostile World

•  ¹⁸If the world hates you, remember that the world hated me before you. ¹⁹This would not be so if you belonged to the world because the world loves its own. But you are not of the world since I have chosen you from the world; because of this, the world hates you.

²⁰Remember what I told you: the servant is not greater than his master; if they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours as well. ²¹All this they will do to you on account of my name because they do not know the One who sent me.

²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³Those who hate me hate my Father.

²⁴If I had not done what no one else has ever done among them, they would have no sin. But after they have seen all this, they hate me and my Father, ²⁵and the words written in their law become true: They hated me for no reason.

The Spirit Will Come

•  ²⁶When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf. ²⁷ You, too, will be my witnesses, for you have been with me from the beginning.

16 | ¹I tell you all this to keep you from stumbling and falling away. ²They will put you out of the synagogue. Still more, the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will claim to be serving God; ³they will do this because they have not known the Father or me. ⁴I tell you all these things now so that you may remember that I told you about them when the time comes.

I did not tell you about this in the beginning because I was with you. ⁵But now I am going to the One who sent me, and none of you asks me where I am going; ⁶instead, you are overcome with grief because of what I have said.

⁷Believe me, it is better for you that I go away because as long as I do not go away the Helper will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you. ⁸And when he comes, he will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and condemnation: ⁹sin because they do not believe in me; ¹⁰ righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me; ¹¹condemnation, because the ruler of this world has been condemned.

¹²I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into the whole truth.

For he will not speak of his own authority but will speak of what he hears, and he will tell you about the things which are to come. ¹⁴He will take what is mine and make it known to you; in doing this, he will glorify me. ¹⁵All that the Father has is mine; for this reason, I told you that the Spirit will take what is mine and make it known to you.

The Promise of a New Presence

•  ¹⁶A little while and you will see me no more; and then a little while and you will see me.”

¹⁷Some of the disciples wondered, “What does he mean by, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and then a little while and you will see me’? And why did he say, ‘I go to the Father’?” ¹⁸And they said to one another, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

¹⁹Jesus knew they wanted to question him, so he told them, “You are puzzled because I told you that in a little while you will see me no more and then a little while later you will see me.

²⁰Truly, I say to you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. ²¹A woman in childbirth is in distress because her time is at hand. But after the child is born, she no longer remembers her suffering because of her great joy: a human being is born into the world.

²²You feel sorrowful now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. ²³When that day comes, you will not ask me anything. Truly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. ²⁴So far, you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and receive, and your joy may be full.

²⁵I have taught you all these things in veiled language, but the time is coming when I shall no longer speak in veiled language but will speak to you plainly about the Father.

²⁶When that day comes, you will ask in my name; and it will not be necessary for me to ask the Father for you, ²⁷for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and believed that I came from the Father. ²⁸As I came from the Father and have come into the world, so I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹The disciples said to him, “Now you are speaking plainly and not in veiled language! ³⁰Now we see that you know all things even before we question you. Because of this, we believe that you came from God.”

³¹Jesus answered them, “You say that you believe? ³²The hour is coming. Indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each one to his home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me.

³³I have told you all this so you may have peace in me. You will have trouble in the world, but courage! I have overcome the world.”

Prayer of Jesus for the New Holy People

17 | •  ¹After saying this, Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come! Give glory to your Son that the Son may give glory to you. ²You have given him power over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to all you entrusted to him. ³For this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God and the One you sent, Jesus Christ.

⁴I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵Now, Father, give me in your presence the same glory I had with you before the world began.

⁶I have made your name known to those you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they kept your word. ⁷And now they know that whatever you entrusted to me is indeed from you. ⁸I have given them the teaching I received from you, and they accepted it. They know in truth that I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.

⁹I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those you have given me, because they are yours, ¹⁰and everything of mine is yours and everything of yours is mine, and have been glorified in them. ¹¹And now I will no longer be in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me in your name, so that they may be one as we also are.

¹²When I was with them, I kept them safe in your name; and not one was lost, except the one who was already lost, and in this the Scripture was fulfilled. ¹³And now I come to you; in the world, I speak these things, so that those whom you gave me might have joy—all my joy within themselves.

¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁵I do not ask you to remove them from the world but to keep them from the evil one. ¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. ¹⁷Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.

¹⁸I have sent them into the world as you sent me into the world; ¹⁹and for their sakes I go to the sacrifice by which I am consecrated, so that they too may be consecrated in truth.

²⁰I pray not only for these but also for those who, through their word, will believe in me. ²¹May they all be one as you, Father are in me and I am in you. May they be one in us so that the world may believe you have sent me.

²²I have given them the glory you have given me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³I in them and you in me. Thus, they shall reach perfection in unity, and the world shall know that you have sent me, and I have loved them just as you loved me.

²⁴Father, since you gave them to me, I want them to be with me where I am and see the glory you gave me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me. ²⁶As I revealed your name to them, so will I continue to reveal it so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I also may be in them.”

The Arrest of Jesus

18 | ¹When Jesus had finished speaking, he went with his disciples to the other side of the Kidron Valley. There was a garden there, which Jesus entered with his disciples.

²Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place since Jesus had often met there with his disciples. ³So Judas took soldiers, and some servants from the chief priests and Pharisees, and they went to the garden with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Jesus knew all that would happen to him; he stepped forward and asked, “Who are you looking for?” ⁵They answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” Jesus said, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, stood there with them.

⁶When Jesus said, “I am he,” they moved backward and fell to the ground. ⁷He then asked again, “Who are you looking for?” and they answered, “Jesus the Nazarene.” ⁸Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these others go.” ⁹So what Jesus had said came true: “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”

¹⁰Simon Peter had a sword; he drew it and struck Malchus, the High Priest’s servant, cutting off his right ear. ¹¹But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath! Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?”

¹²The guards and the soldiers, with their commander, seized Jesus and bound him; ¹³and they took him first to Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the High Priest that year, ¹⁴and it was Caiaphas who had told the Jews, “It is better that one man should die for the people.”

¹⁵Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the High Priest, they let him enter the courtyard of the High Priest along with Jesus, ¹⁶but Peter had to stay outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the High Priest, went out and spoke to the maidservant at the gate and brought Peter in. ¹⁷Then, this maidservant on duty at the door said to Peter, “So you also are one of his disciples?” But he answered, “I am not.”

¹⁸Now the servants and the guards had made a charcoal fire and were standing and warming themselves because it was cold. Peter was also with them warming himself.

¹⁹The High Priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ²⁰Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world; I have always taught in places where the Jews meet together, either at the assemblies in synagogues or in the temple. I did not teach secretly. ²¹Why, then, do you question me? Ask those who heard me, they know what I said.”

²²At this reply, one of the guards standing there gave Jesus a blow on the face, saying, “Is that the way to answer the High Priest?” ²³Jesus told him, “If I have said something wrong, point it out. But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?”

²⁴Then Annas sent him, bound, to Caiaphas, the High Priest.

²⁵Now Simon Peter stood there warming himself. They told him, “Surely you also are one of his disciples.” He denied it and answered, “I am not!” ²⁶One of the High Priest’s servants, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you with him in the garden?” ²⁷Again, Peter denied it, and at once, the cock crowed.

Jesus Before Pilate

•  ²⁸Then they led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the headquarters of the Roman governor. It was now morning. The Jews didn’t go inside, lest they be made unclean by entering the house of a pagan and therefore not allowed to eat the Passover meal. ²⁹So Pilate came outside and asked, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰They answered, “If he were not a criminal, we would not be handing him over to you.” ³¹Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your own law.” But they replied, “We ourselves are not allowed to put anyone to death.”

³²According to what Jesus himself had foretold, it was clear what kind of death he would die.

³³Pilate then entered the court again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” ³⁴Jesus replied, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or have others told you about me?”

³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” ³⁶Jesus answered, “My kingship does not come from this world. If I were a king like those of this world, my servants would have fought to save me from being handed over to the Jews. But my kingship is not of this world.”

³⁷Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” And Jesus answered, “Just as you say, I am a king. For this, I was born, and for this, I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is on the side of truth hears my voice.” ³⁸Pilate said, “What is truth?”

Pilate then went out to the Jews again and said, “I find no crime in this man. ³⁹Now, according to custom, I must release a prisoner to you at the Passover. With your agreement, I will release to you the King of the Jews.” ⁴⁰But they insisted and cried out, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now, Barabbas was a robber.

19 | ¹Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and scourged. ²The soldiers twisted thorns into a crown and put it on his head. They threw a cloak of royal purple around his shoulders; ³and they began coming up to him and saluting him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and they struck him on the face.

⁴Pilate went outside yet another time and said to the Jews, “Look, I am bringing him out, and I want you to know that I find no crime in him.” ⁵Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cloak, and Pilate pointed at him, saying, “Behold the man!”

⁶On seeing him, the chief priests and the guards cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said, “Take him yourselves and have him crucified, for I find no case against him.” ⁷The Jews then said, “We have a law, and according to the law, this man must die because he made himself Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard this, he became more afraid. ⁹And coming back into the court, he asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰Then Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have the power to release you, just as I have the power to crucify you?” ¹¹Jesus replied, “You would have no power over me unless it had been given to you from above; therefore, the one who handed me over to you is more guilty.”

¹²From that moment, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who makes himself a king is defying Caesar.”

¹³When Pilate heard this, he had Jesus brought outside to the place called the Stone Floor—in Hebrew Gabbatha—and sat down in the judgment seat. ¹⁴It was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon. Pilate said to the Jews, “Behold your king!” ¹⁵But they cried out, “Away! Take him away! Crucify him!” Pilate replied, “Shall I crucify your king?” And the chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar!”

¹⁶Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

Jesus Is Crucified

They took Jesus and led him away. ¹⁷Bearing his cross, Jesus went out of the city to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew Golgotha. ¹⁸There he was crucified, and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read: Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews. ²⁰Many Jewish people saw this title because the place where Jesus was crucified was very close to the city, and the title was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. ²¹The chief priests said to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews’ but, ‘This man claimed to be King of the Jews.’” ²²Pilate answered them, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each of them. But as the tunic was woven in one piece from top to bottom, ²⁴they said, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots to decide who will get it.” This fulfilled the words of Scripture: They divided my clothing among them; they cast lots for my garment. This was what the soldiers did.

Jesus’ Last Words

•  ²⁵Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary, who was the wife of Cleophas, and Mary of Magdala. ²⁶When Jesus saw the mother and the disciple whom he loved, he said to the mother, “Woman, this is your son.” ²⁷Then he told the disciple, “This is your mother.” From that moment, the disciple took her to his own home.

•  ²⁸Jesus knew all was now finished and, to fulfill what was written in Scripture, he said, I am thirsty. ²⁹A jar full of bitter wine stood there, so they raised it to his lips by putting a sponge soaked in the wine on a twig of hyssop. ³⁰Jesus took the wine and said, “It is accomplished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up the spirit.

The Pierced Christ

•  ³¹As it was Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross during the Sabbath, for this Sabbath was a very solemn day. They asked Pilate to have the legs of the condemned men broken so that the bodies might be taken away.

³²The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other man, who had been crucified with Jesus. ³³When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs. ³⁴One of the soldiers, however, pierced his side with a lance, and immediately there came out blood and water.

³⁵The one who saw that has testified to it, and his testimony is true; he knows he speaks the truth, so you might also believe him. ³⁶All this happened to fulfill the words of Scripture: Not one of his bones shall be broken. ³⁷Another text says: They shall look on him whom they have pierced.

•  ³⁸After this, Joseph of Arimathea approached Pilate, for he was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly, for fear of the Jews. And he asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate agreed, so he came and took away the body.

³⁹Nicodemus, the man who first visited Jesus by night, also came and brought a jar of myrrh mixed with aloes, about seventy-five pounds. ⁴⁰They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, following the burial customs of the Jews.

⁴¹There was a garden where Jesus had been crucified and a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. ⁴²Therefore, because the sepulcher was nearby and the Jewish day of preparation was coming to a close, they placed the body of Jesus there.

The Lord Is Risen

20 | •  ¹Now, on the first day after the Sabbath, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning while it was still dark, and she saw that the stone blocking the tomb had been moved away. ²She ran to Peter, and the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have laid him.”

³Peter then set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. ⁴They ran together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying flat, but he did not enter.

⁶Then Simon Peter came, following him and entered the tomb; he, too, saw the linen cloths lying flat. ⁷The napkin, which had been around his head, was not lying flat like the other linen cloths but lay rolled up in its place. ⁸Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in; he saw and believed. ⁹Scripture clearly said that Jesus must rise from the dead, but they had not yet understood that.

¹⁰The disciples went back to their homes.

•  ¹¹Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept, she bent down to look inside. ¹²She saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She answered, “Because they have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they have put him.”

¹⁴As she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there but did not recognize him. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and answered him, “Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and take him away.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him, “Rabboni!”—which means Master. ¹⁷Jesus told her, “Do not touch me because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them: I am ascending to my Father, who is your Father, to my God, who is your God.”

¹⁸So Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord, and this is what he said to me.”

•  ¹⁹On the evening of that day, the first day after the Sabbath, the doors were locked where the disciples were because of their fear of the Jews. But Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰Then he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples, seeing the Lord, were full of joy.

²¹Again, Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” ²²After saying this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit! ²³Those whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven; those whose sins you retain, they are retained.”

²⁴Thomas, the Twin, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he replied, “Until I have seen in his hands the print of the nails and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.”

²⁶Eight days later, the disciples were again inside the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe!”

²⁸Thomas said, “You are my Lord and my God.” ²⁹Jesus replied, “You believe because you have seen me? Happy are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Conclusion

³⁰Jesus gave many other signs in the presence of his disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. ³¹These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Believe, and you will have life through his name!

Appendix: The Appearance of Jesus by the Lake

21 | •  ¹After this, Jesus revealed himself to the disciples by the Lake of Tiberias. He appeared to them this way: ²Simon Peter, Thomas who was called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples were together; ³and Simon Peter said to them, “I’m going fishing.” They replied, “We will come with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night, they caught nothing.

⁴When the sun came up, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus. ⁵Jesus called out, “Friends, have you something to accompany the bread?” They answered, “Nothing.” ⁶Then he said to them, “Throw the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find something.” When they lowered the net, they could not pull it in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” At these words, “It’s the Lord!” Simon Peter put on his clothes, for he was stripped for work and jumped into the water. ⁸The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish; they were not far from land, about a hundred meters.

⁹When they landed, they saw a charcoal fire with fish on it and some bread. ¹⁰Jesus told them, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.” ¹¹So Simon Peter climbed into the boat and pulled the net to shore. It was full of big fish—one hundred and fifty-three—but the net was not torn despite this.

¹²Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” for they knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and he did the same with the fish.

¹⁴This was the third time Jesus revealed himself to his disciples after rising from the dead.

¹⁵After they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these do?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” And Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶A second time, Jesus said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” And Peter answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Look after my sheep.” ¹⁷And a third time, he said to him, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was saddened because Jesus asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” and he said, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”

Jesus then said, “Feed my sheep! ¹⁸Truly, I say to you, when you were young, you put on your belt and walked where you liked. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will put a belt around you and lead you where you do not wish to go.”

¹⁹Jesus said this to make known the kind of death by which Peter was to glorify God. And he added, “Follow me!”

²⁰Peter looked back and saw that the disciple Jesus loved was following as well, the one who had reclined close to Jesus at the supper and had asked him, “Lord, who is to betray you?” ²¹On seeing him, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?” ²²Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain until I come, is that any concern of yours? Follow me!”

²³Because of this, the rumor spread in the community that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to Peter, “He will not die,” but, “Suppose I want him to remain until I come back, what concern is that of yours?”

²⁴It is this disciple who testifies about the things and has written these things down, and we know that his testimony is true. ²⁵But Jesus did many other things; if all were written down, I think the world could not contain the books that should be written.