Montgomery - John - 9

9:1  Now as he was passing along he saw a man, blind from birth.

9:2  "Rabbi," his disciples asked him, "who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

9:3  "Neither he nor his parents sinned." replied Jesus; "it happened that the works of God might be made manifest in him.

9:4  "I must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no man can work.

9:5  "While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world."

9:6  When he had thus spoken he spat on the ground, and made clay with the spittle, and smeared the clay on the man’s eyes.

9:7  Then he said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (a word which means "sent"). So the man went and washed his eyes, and came back seeing.

9:8  Upon this the neighbors and those who used to know him by sight as a beggar, began asking, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"

9:9  Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he looks like him." "I am the man," he said.

9:10  So they asked him, "How then were your eyes opened?"

9:11  He answered. "The man who is called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash’;so I went and washed and received my sight."

9:12  "Where is he?" they asked. "I do not know," answered the man.

9:13  Then they brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees.

9:14  Now it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes;

9:15  so the Pharisees again began to ask him questions about how he had regained his sight; and he said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed them, and now I see."

9:16  Then some of the Pharisees began to say, "This man in not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?"

9:17  So there was a difference of opinion among them. Accordingly they said to the blind man, "What have you to say about him, now that he has opened your eyes?" "He is a prophet," he answered.

9:18  The Jews, however, did not believe about him that he was blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man whose sight had been restored,

9:19  and questioned them. "Is this your son," they said, "who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"

9:20  Then in reply his parents said. "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind;

9:21  "but how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who has opened his eyes. Ask him, himself. He is of age. He will speak for himself."

9:22  This his parents said because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if any one should confess that he was the Christ, he should be expelled from the synagogue.

9:23  It was because this that his parents said. "He is of age. Ask him, himself."

9:24  So the Jews a second time summoned the man who had been blind, and said to him.

9:25  "Give glory to God! we know that this man is a sinner." Upon this the blind man answered. "I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that once I was blind, and know I can see."

9:26  "What was it he did to you?" they asked him; "How did he open your eyes?"

9:27  He answered. "I have told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you wish to hear it again? Can it be that you, too, wish to become his disciples?"

9:28  Then they stormed at him. "You are his disciple. We are Moses’ disciples.

9:29  "We know that God spoke to Moses. But this fellow! We do not know where he comes from."

9:30  "This is truly astonishing," said the man in reply, "that you do not know where he is from, and yet he has opened my eyes.

9:31  "We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if any one is God- fearing and does his will, to such he listens.

9:32  "Since the beginning of the world such a thing as opening the eyes of one who was born blind was never heard of.

9:33  "If this man had not come of God he could have done nothing."

9:34  They answered, "You were wholly born in sins, and do you teach us?" Then they cast him out.

9:35  Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of man?"

9:36  "Who is he, Sir," he replied, "that I may believe on him."

9:37  "You have already seen him," Jesus answered, "and it is he who now speaks to you."

9:38  "I do believe, Sir," said the man, and he prostrated himself at his feet. And Jesus said,

9:39  "For judgment am I come into the world, to make the sightless see, and to make the seeing blind."

9:40  Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, "We are not blind, are we?"

9:41  "If you were blind," Jesus answered them, "you would have no sin. But now you are declaring, ‘We see’;so your sin remains.