John 5
- 1
- Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.
- 2
- Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda [1] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
- 3
- Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [2]
- 4
- 5
- One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
- 6
- When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
- 7
- "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
- 8
- Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
- 9
- At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
- 10
- and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
- 11
- But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, `Pick up your mat and walk.'"
- 12
- So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
- 13
- The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
- 14
- Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
- 15
- The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
- 16
- So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.
- 17
- Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
- 18
- For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
- 19
- Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
- 20
- For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
- 21
- For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
- 22
- Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
- 23
- that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
- 24
- "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
- 25
- I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
- 26
- For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
- 27
- And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
- 28
- "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
- 29
- and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
- 30
- By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
- 31
- "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.
- 32
- There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.
- 33
- "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.
- 34
- Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.
- 35
- John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
- 36
- "I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.
- 37
- And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
- 38
- nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.
- 39
- You diligently study [3] the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,
- 40
- yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
- 41
- "I do not accept praise from men,
- 42
- but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.
- 43
- I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.
- 44
- How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God [4] ?
- 45
- "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.
- 46
- If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.
- 47
- But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"