BWE - John

Chapter 1

1:1  The Word already was, way back before anything began to be. The Word and God were together. The Word was God.

1:2  Before anything began to be, the Word was there with God.

1:3  God made everything by the Word. Nothing has been made without him.

1:4  Life was in the Word. That life was Light for people.

1:5  The Light shone where it was dark and the darkness did not stop the Light from shining.

1:6  God sent a man named John.

1:7  He came to talk about the Light, so that all people might believe in the Light by what he said.

1:8  He himself was not that Light, but he was sent to talk about the Light.

1:9  The true Light which gives light to every person who comes into the world.

1:10  He, the Word, was in the world. Yes, he even made the world. And yet the world did not know him.

1:11  He came into the world that was his own, but his own people did not receive him.

1:12  But there were people who did believe in his name. They did receive him. He gave all those who received him and believed him the right to become children of God.

1:13  They were born into God’s family by God. That is, they were not born into his family in the way a person is born into this world. It was not by any person’s will.

1:14  The Word became man and he lived among us. We saw with our own eyes that he is great. He is great the way God the Father made his only Son great. We saw that he is full of loving kindness and truth.

1:15  John talked about him. He called out saying, ‘Here is the man I told you about. I said that the one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he lived before I lived.’

1:16  He was full of loving kindness, and we have all received so much kindness from him.

1:17  Moses gave the law, but Jesus Christ gave this loving kindness and truth.

1:18  No one has ever seen God. But his only Son is very near to his Father’s heart. He has told us plainly about God.

1:19  The leaders of the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem. They asked John, ‘Who are you?’ John told them.

1:20  He did not hide the truth, but he told people plainly. He said, ‘I am not the Christ.’

1:21  So they asked him, ‘Well then, are you Elijah?’ He answered, ‘No, I am not.’ They asked, ‘Are you the Prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’

1:22  Then those priests said, ‘Who are you? We want to give an answer to the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’

1:23  John said, ‘I am a voice calling in the desert, “Make the road straight for the Lord.” This is what was said by Isaiah, the prophet of God long ago.’

1:24  It was the Pharisees who had sent these people to John.

1:25  So they asked him, ‘If you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why then are you baptizing?’

1:26  John answered, ‘I baptize people in water. But there is a man standing among you whom you do not know.

1:27  He is the one coming after me who is greater than I am. I am not even good enough to untie his shoe strings.’

1:28  The place where John was baptizing was Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River.

1:29  The next day John saw Jesus coming to him. ‘Look,’ said John. ‘See God’s special Lamb! He takes away the wrong ways of the world.

1:30  Here is the man I told you about. I said that the one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he lived before I lived.

1:31  I myself did not know who he was. But I came and baptized people in water so that the people of Israel would know who he was.’

1:32  John also said, ‘I saw the Spirit coming from the sky. He came down on him like a dove. It stayed on him.

1:33  I myself did not know who he was. But he who sent me to baptize people in water told me. He said, “You will see the Spirit coming from the sky on a man. That man will baptize people in the Holy Spirit.”

1:34  I saw the Spirit coming on him, and I have told you. This man is the Son of God.’

1:35  The next day, John was standing with two of his followers.

1:36  Jesus walked by. When John saw him, he said, ‘Look, see God’s Lamb!’

1:37  The two followers heard what John said, so they went after Jesus.

1:38  Jesus turned. He saw them coming after him. He said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said, ‘Teacher, where do you live?’

1:39  Jesus said, ‘Come and see.’ They went and saw the place where Jesus was staying. The time was about four o’clock in the afternoon. They stayed with Jesus the rest of the day.

1:40  Andrew was one of those two followers of John who heard John speak and went after Jesus. He was Simon Peter’s brother.

1:41  The first thing Andrew did then was to find his brother Simon. He said, ‘We have found the Messiah!’ (Messiah means the Christ, the messenger of God.)

1:42  Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon, the son of John. Your name will be Cephas.’ (Cephas means Peter, a rock or stone.)

1:43  The next day Jesus said, ‘I will go to Galilee.’ He found Philip and said to him, ‘Come with me.’

1:44  Philip was from the town of Bethsaida. Andrew and Peter were also from that town.

1:45  Philip went to find Nathanael. He said ‘We have found the man about whom Moses wrote in the books of the law. The prophets also wrote about him. He is Jesus, from Nazareth. He is the son of Joseph.’

1:46  Nathanael said, ‘From Nazareth? Can any good thing come from there?’ Philip said, ‘Come and see for yourself.’

1:47  Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him. He said, ‘Here is a man who is truly of Israel. He does not fool people.’

1:48  Nathanael asked, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you when you were under the fig tree. That was before Philip called you.’

1:49  Nathanael said, ‘Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.’

1:50  Jesus answered, ‘I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. Is that why you believe in me now? You will see more wonderful things than that!

1:51  I tell you the truth,’ said Jesus. ‘You will see heaven open. You will see God’s angels going up and down to the Son of Man.’

Chapter 2

2:1  Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in the country of Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there.

2:2  Jesus and his disciples were also asked to the wedding.

2:3  The people needed more wine. Then Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no wine.’

2:4  Jesus said, ‘Woman, why are you telling me about it? It is not yet the time for me to do something.’

2:5  His mother said to the servants, ‘Do all that he tells you to do.’

2:6  Six very large water pots made of stone were standing there. The pots were there because the Jews had a certain law about washing themselves.

2:7  Jesus said, ‘Fill the pots with water.’ So they filled them to the very top.

2:8  Jesus said, ‘Now take some out. Carry it to the one in charge of the feast.’ They did what he said.

2:9  The man in charge of the feast tasted the water that was now turned into wine. He did not know where it came from, but the servants who drew the water knew. When the man had tasted it, he called the man who was being married.

2:10  He said, ‘Other people give the good wine at the beginning of the feast. When people have had all they want, then they give the wine which is not so good. But you have kept the good wine until now.’

2:11  This was the first big work that Jesus did. It was in Cana in Galilee. He showed that he was great. And his disciples believed in him.

2:12  After this he went to the town called Capernaum. His mother, his brothers, and his disciples also went with him. They stayed there for a few days.

2:13  The time for the Passover Feast of the Jews was near. So Jesus went to Jerusalem.

2:14  In the temple he found people buying and selling things. They were selling cows, sheep, and doves. Others were sitting at tables changing money for the people.

2:15  Jesus tied some pieces of cord together to make a whip. Then he drove out all the people who were buying and selling in the temple. And he drove out the sheep and the cows. He threw down the tables of the money changers and their money.

2:16  He said to the people who sold doves, ‘Take these things out of here. Do not make my Father’s house into a market place.’

2:17  His disciples remembered that God’s word says, ‘My love for your house is like a fire burning in me.’

2:18  The leaders of the Jews said to Jesus, ‘Who gave you the right to do this? What big work will prove it to us?’

2:19  Jesus answered them, ‘Break down this temple and in three days I will raise it up.’

2:20  The Jewish leaders said, ‘It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you say you will raise it in three days?’

2:21  But Jesus was talking about the temple which was his body.

2:22  After Jesus died and had been raised from death, the disciples remembered that he had said this to them. Then they believed what the holy writings say. They also believed what Jesus had said to them.

2:23  Many people believed in Jesus’ name when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast. They believed in him because they saw the big works he did.

2:24  But Jesus would not trust himself to them.

2:25  He knew what all people are like. He did not need anyone to tell him about any person, because he knew what was in a person’s heart.

Chapter 3

3:1  There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a ruler and leader of the Jews.

3:2  One night Nicodemus came to Jesus. He said, ‘Master, we know you are a teacher sent by God. We know this because no person could do the big works you are doing if God did not help him.’

3:3  Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth. No person can see God’s kingdom if he is not born again.’

3:4  Nicodemus said, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? Can he go inside of his mother again and be born?’

3:5  Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth. This new birth is by water and by the Spirit. No person can enter God’s kingdom if he has not been born that way.

3:6  That which is born of a person is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7  You must not be surprised when I say, “You must be born again.”

3:8  The wind blows where it wants to blow. You can hear the sound of it. But you do not know where it comes from, and you do not know where it goes. It is the same way with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’

3:9  Nicodemus asked Jesus, ‘How can such things be?

3:10  Jesus answered, ‘Are you a teacher of the people of Israel and you do not know this?

3:11  I tell you the truth. We know what we are talking about. We talk about the things we have seen. But you will not believe what we tell you.

3:12  You do not believe what I have told you about things on earth. So how will you believe if I tell you about things in heaven?

3:13  No one has ever gone up to heaven–only the One who came down from heaven. That One is the Son of Man who is in heaven.

3:14  Moses lifted up a snake on a piece of wood in the desert. So the Son of Man must be lifted up.

3:15  Then everyone who believes in him will not die, but will live for ever.

3:16  ‘God loved the world so very, very much that he gave his only Son. Because he did that, everyone who believes in him will not lose his life, but will live for ever.

3:17  God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world. He sent him to save the world.

3:18  ‘Everyone who believes in the Son will not be judged. But everyone who does not believe in him is judged already, because he does not believe in the name of God’s only Son.

3:19  Light came into the world. But people wanted to be in the dark because they did wrong things. They did not want the light. That is why they are judged.

3:20  Everyone who does wrong things hates light. He does not come to the light because he is afraid people will see what he does and will say it is bad.

3:21  But everyone who does what is right comes to the light. He wants people to see that God helps him to do what is right.’

3:22  After this, Jesus and his disciples came into the country of Judea. Jesus stayed there with them and baptized people.

3:23  John was also baptizing people in the river at Aenon, near the town of Salim. There was much water. People came to him and were baptized.

3:24  This was before John was put in prison.

3:25  John’s disciples and the leaders of the Jews were talking about how to be clean, the way God wants us to be clean.

3:26  They came to John and said, ‘Teacher, there was a man with you on the other side of the Jordan River. You were telling people about him. Now he himself is baptizing and all the people are going to him.’

3:27  John answered, ‘A man cannot get anything unless God in heaven gives it to him.

3:28  You yourselves heard what I said. I am not the Christ but I have been sent ahead of the Christ.

3:29  The wife belongs to the man who has married her. The man’s best friend may stand and listen. And when he hears what that man says, he is very glad for him. So what I hear makes me very glad in the same way.

3:30  He must become more and more great, but I must become less and less great.

3:31  ‘The one who comes from heaven is greater than all other people. The one who is of the earth talks about things on earth. So the one who comes from heaven is greater than all.

3:32  He tells what he has seen and heard, but no one wants to believe what he says.

3:33  If a person believes what the one from heaven says, then he also says God is true.

3:34  The one God sent speaks the words of God. God does not give him the Spirit little by little, but he gives the Spirit in full.

3:35  The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his hand.

3:36  He who believes in the Son will live for ever. He who does not believe in the Son will not live. God will be very angry with him for ever.’

Chapter 4

4:1  The Pharisees heard that Jesus was getting people to follow him and was baptizing them. (Jesus’ disciples baptized them, not he himself.) He now had more followers than John.

4:2  The Pharisees heard that Jesus was getting people to follow him and was baptizing them. (Jesus’ disciples baptized them, not he himself.) He now had more followers than John.

4:3  The Lord knew that they had heard about it. So he left Judea and went back to Galilee again.

4:4  He had to pass through the country of Samaria.

4:5  He came to a town in Samaria called Sychar. It was near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.

4:6  Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was very tired from walking on the road. So he sat down by the well. It was about midday.

4:7  A woman from Samaria came to the well to draw water. Jesus said, ‘Please give me a drink of water.’

4:8  His disciples had gone into the town to buy some food.

4:9  The woman said to Jesus, ‘Why do you ask me for a drink of water? You are a Jew and I am from Samaria.’ (The Jews are not friends with the people of Samaria.)

4:10  Jesus answered her, ‘You do not know what God gives people. And you do not know who is asking you for a drink. If you knew him, then it is you who would have asked for a drink of water. He would give you living water.’

4:11  The woman said, ‘Sir, you have nothing to draw with. The well is deep. Where do you get that living water?

4:12  Are you greater than our father Jacob who gave us this well? He drank water from this well, also his children and cattle.’

4:13  Jesus answered her, ‘Anyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.

4:14  But anyone who drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty. The water I give him will become a well inside of him that will never be dry. It will give him life for ever.’

4:15  The woman said, ‘Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty again. I will not need to come here to draw water.’

4:16  Jesus said, ‘Go, call your husband, then come here.’

4:17  She said, ‘I have no husband.’ Jesus said, ‘You say, “I have no husband.” That is true.

4:18  You have had five husbands, but the man you are living with now is not your husband. You have told the truth.’

4:19  The woman said, ‘Sir, this shows me you are a prophet of God.

4:20  Our fathers came to this mountain to worship God. But you people say Jerusalem is the place people must go to worship him.’

4:21  Jesus said, ‘Woman, believe what I say. The time is coming when you will not come to this mountain or to Jerusalem to worship my Father.

4:22  You worship one whom you do not know. But we know whom we worship. The Saviour will come of the Jews.

4:23  But the time is coming, yes, the time is here already, when those who worship God will worship him in spirit and in a true way. My Father is looking for that kind of people to worship him.

4:24  God is Spirit. Those who worship him must do so in spirit and in a true way.’

4:25  The woman said to Jesus, ‘I know that Messiah is coming. His name is Christ. When he comes he will tell us everything.’

4:26  Jesus said to her, ‘I who am talking to you am he.’

4:27  When Jesus had said this, his disciples came back. They were surprised to hear him talking to a woman. But not one of them asked, ‘What do you want?’ or, ‘Why are you talking to her?’

4:28  The woman left her water-pot and went back to the town.

4:29  She said to the people, ‘Come, I will show you a man who has told me everything I have done. Can this be the Christ?’

4:30  The people left the town and went to him.

4:31  While they were on the way coming to Jesus, the disciples asked him, ‘Teacher, will you please eat.’

4:32  Jesus said to them, ‘I have food that you do not know about.’

4:33  So the disciples asked one another, ‘Has anyone brought him food to eat?’

4:34  Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to obey the one who sent me and to finish his work.

4:35  Do you not say, “In four months it will be harvest time”? Listen, I say. Look up and see the fields. The harvest is ready to cut now.

4:36  The one who gathers the harvest receives a reward for it. He gathers a harvest that will live for ever. Then the one who sows and the one who gathers will both be happy.

4:37  This saying is true here: “One sows and another gathers.”

4:38  I sent you to gather what you did not help to plant. Other people have worked hard and you have been helped through their work.’

4:39  Many of the people of the town believed in Jesus because of what the woman told them. She said, ‘He told me everything I have done.’

4:40  When the people from Samaria came, they begged him to stay with them. So he stayed with them for two days.

4:41  Many more people believed in Jesus because of his own word.

4:42  They said to the woman, ‘Now we believe, not because of what you told us, but because of what he himself has told us. We know it is true. This is the Saviour of the world.’

4:43  Two days after this, Jesus left Samaria and went to Galilee.

4:44  Jesus himself said, ‘No prophet is honoured by the people in his own country.’

4:45  When he came to Galilee, the people of that country were glad to see him. They had seen all the things he did when he was at the feast in Jerusalem. They had been at the feast also.

4:46  So Jesus came back to the town of Cana in Galilee. That was the place where he had changed water into wine. One of the king’s officers was there. His son was sick in the town of Capernaum.

4:47  He heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, and he went to Jesus and said, ‘I beg you, come and heal my son. He is dying.’

4:48  Jesus said to him, ‘If you do not see some signs and big works, then you will not believe.’

4:49  The officer said, ‘Sir, I beg you. Come right away before my son dies.’

4:50  Jesus said, ‘Go home. Your son will not die.’ The man believed what Jesus said and went home.

4:51  On the way, his servants met him. They said, ‘Your son is living.’

4:52  He asked, ‘What time did he begin to get well?’ They said, ‘Yesterday at one hour after midday the fever left him.’

4:53  The father knew that was the time when Jesus said to him ‘Your son will not die.’ So he and all his family believed in Jesus.

4:54  This was the second big work that Jesus did after he came back from Judea to Galilee.

Chapter 5

5:1  After that, the Jews had a feast and Jesus went to Jerusalem.

5:2  In Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a wide water hole. The Jews called this water hole Bethesda. It had five places with roofs for people to stand under.

5:3  Many sick people were lying on these places. Some of them were blind. Some were lame. Some were very thin and stiff so that they could not move by themselves. All of them were waiting for the water to move.

5:4  An angel came down into the water at a certain time and made it move. The first person who stepped into the water when it moved was healed of any sickness that he had.

5:5  A man was there who had been sick for thirty eight years.

5:6  Jesus saw the man lying there. He knew that he had been sick for a long time. He said to him, ‘Do you want to be healed?’

5:7  The sick man said to him, ‘Sir, I have no man to put me into the water when it moves. While I am trying to get in, some other person comes and gets in before me.’

5:8  Jesus said, ‘Get up. Take up your bed and walk!’

5:9  The man was healed right away. He took up his bed and walked. This happened on the Sabbath day.

5:10  So the leaders of the Jews talked to the man who was healed. They said, ‘It is the Sabbath day. It is not right for you to carry your bed.’

5:11  But he answered them, ‘The man who healed me said to me, “Take up your bed and walk.”’

5:12  They asked him, ‘Who is the man who told you to take up your bed and walk?’

5:13  The man who was healed said, ‘I do not know who he is.’ Many people were at the place and Jesus had gone away.

5:14  After that, Jesus saw the man in the temple. He said to him, ‘See, you are healed. Do no more wrong things. If you do, something worse may happen to you.’

5:15  The man went away and told the leaders of the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

5:16  The Jewish leaders made trouble for Jesus because he did this on the Sabbath day.

5:17  But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working and I am working also.’

5:18  This was why the leaders of the Jews tried much more to kill Jesus. He had broken the law of the Sabbath day. And also he called God his Father. In that way, he was making himself equal with God.

5:19  Jesus said to them, ‘l tell you the truth. The Son cannot do anything alone. He sees what his Father is doing and he does the same.

5:20  My Father loves his Son. He shows him all that he himself is doing. He will show his Son bigger works than these so that you may be surprised.

5:21  My Father raises people who were dead, and gives them life. So his Son gives life to anyone he wants to.

5:22  My Father judges no one, but he has made his Son to be the judge of everything.

5:23  He did this so that all people would respect the Son, just as they respect his Father. My Father has sent his Son. Anyone who does not respect his Son does not respect the Father.

5:24  ‘I tell you the truth. The person who hears what I say and believes in him that sent me will live for ever. He will not be judged. He has already passed from death to life.

5:25  ‘I tell you the truth. The time is coming. Yes, the time is here when the dead people will hear the voice of the Son of God. Those who hear his voice will live.

5:26  My Father has life in himself. And so he has made his Son to have life in himself.

5:27  He has given his Son power also to judge because he is the Son of Man.

5:28  Do not be surprised at what I say. The time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice.

5:29  They will come out of the graves. Those who have done what is good will come out to live. But those who have done what is wrong will come out to be punished.

5:30  ‘I have no right to do anything myself. I judge the way I am told to judge. The way I judge people is right. I do not do what I myself want to do, but I do what my Father wants me to do. He sent me.

5:31  ‘If I talk about myself, then what I say is not true.

5:32  But someone else also speaks about me. I know what he says about me is true.

5:33  You sent someone to John and he has told you the truth about me.

5:34  I do not need to listen to what a person says about me. But I tell you this so that you may be saved.

5:35  John was a light burning and shining. For a while you were happy to be in his light.

5:36  But I have something greater than John to talk for me. It is the works that I do. My Father has given me works to finish. The works that I do tell that he sent me.

5:37  And my Father who sent me has himself talked about me. You have never heard him speak and you do not know what he is like.

5:38  The word he talks is not in your hearts, because you do not believe the one he sent to you.

5:39  ‘You read holy writings carefully. You think that there you will find out how to live for ever. In the same writings you will read about me.

5:40  And yet you will not come to me for that life.

5:41  I do not want people to call me great.

5:42  But I know that you do not love God in your hearts.

5:43  I have come in my Father’s name, but you will not receive me. If another person comes in his own name, then you will receive him.

5:44  How can you believe? You are always calling each other great, but you do not want the only God to make you great.

5:45  Do not think that I will carry a complaint against you to my Father. Moses has already carried the complaint against you. He is the very one you trust.

5:46  If you really believed Moses, you would believe me too, because he wrote about me.

5:47  But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’

Chapter 6

6:1  Then Jesus crossed over the sea of Galilee. (Another name for this sea was Tiberias.)

6:2  Many people followed him because they saw the big works he had done in healing the sick people.

6:3  Jesus went up on a hill and sat down with his disciples.

6:4  The time for the Passover Feast of the Jews was near.

6:5  When Jesus looked up, he saw many people coming to him. He said to Philip, ‘Where shall we buy food for these people to eat?’

6:6  Jesus knew what he himself would do, but he said this to see what Philip would do.

6:7  Philip answered him, ‘It would take nearly a year’s wages to buy enough food for them, even if each one gets only a little.’

6:8  One of Jesus’ disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, talked to Jesus.

6:9  He said, ‘A boy here has five loaves of bread and two small fish. But what can that little bit of food do for so many people?’

6:10  Jesus said, ‘Tell the people to sit down.’ Much grass was there. The number of men who sat down was about five thousand.

6:11  Then Jesus took the bread and thanked God for it. He gave it to the disciples and they divided it among those who were sitting. He did the same thing with the fish. The people had all they wanted.

6:12  When they had eaten enough, he said to his disciples, ‘Gather up all the pieces that are left so that nothing will be lost.’

6:13  They gathered all the pieces of the five loaves. Twelve baskets full were left over after all the people had eaten enough.

6:14  When those men saw the big work that Jesus did, they said, ‘Truly, this is the Prophet that is to come into the world.’

6:15  The people wanted to take Jesus by force to make him a king. When he saw this, he left again and went on the hill by himself.

6:16  In the evening his disciples went down to the lake.

6:17  They got in a boat and crossed over the sea toward the town of Capernaum. It was dark, but Jesus had not come back to them.

6:18  A strong wind was blowing. It made the water very rough.

6:19  They rowed the boat into the middle of the lake. Then they saw Jesus walking on the water. He came close to the boat. They were afraid.

6:20  But Jesus said to them, ‘It is I. Do not fear.’

6:21  Then they were glad to take him into the boat. Then at once the boat reached the land to which they were going.

6:22  The people who stayed back on the land had seen one boat only. They had seen the disciples get in it and go away without Jesus.

6:23  But there were some other boats from Tiberias. It was near the place where they had eaten bread, after the Lord had thanked God for it.

6:24  The next day the people saw that Jesus and his disciples were not there. Then they went to Capernaum in boats to look for Jesus.

6:25  When they found Jesus on the other side of the lake, they said, ‘Teacher, when did you get here?’

6:26  Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth. You do not want me because you saw the big works I did, but you want me because you ate all the bread you wanted.

6:27  Do not work for the food that spoils, but work for the food that will never spoil, the food that will give you life for ever. The Son of Man will give you that food. God my Father has chosen him to do that.’

6:28  They asked him, ‘What works does God ask us to do?’

6:29  Jesus answered them, ‘The work that God asks you to do is to believe in the one whom he has sent.’

6:30  They said, ‘What big work will you do? We want to see it and believe you. What work are you are going to do?

6:31  Our fathers ate bread in the wilderness. The holy writings say, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth. It was not Moses who gave you that bread from heaven. But my Father gives you true bread from heaven.

6:32  Our fathers ate bread in the wilderness. The holy writings say, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”’ Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth. It was not Moses who gave you that bread from heaven. But my Father gives you true bread from heaven.

6:33  He who comes down from heaven is the bread that God gives. He is the one who gives life to the world.’

6:34  They said to him, ‘Lord, give us this bread always!’

6:35  Jesus said, ‘I am the bread that gives life. Anyone who comes to me will never be hungry. Anyone who believes in me will never be thirsty.

6:36  But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you will not believe in me.

6:37  All those whom my Father gives me, they will come to me. I will never turn anyone away who comes to me.

6:38  I did not come down from heaven to do what I myself want to do. I came to do what the one who sent me wants me to do.

6:39  My Father sent me. He wants me to lose nothing that he has given me. And he wants me to raise it up on the last day.

6:40  My Father wants everyone who sees his Son and believes in him to live for ever. I will raise him up on the last day.’

6:41  The leaders of the Jews did not like Jesus to say, ‘I am the bread that has come down from heaven.’

6:42  They said, ‘Is he not Joseph’s son, Jesus? We know his father and mother. How can he say, “I have come down from heaven”?’

6:43  Jesus answered them, ‘There is no need for you to talk against me to each other.

6:44  No one can come to me if my Father does not draw him. He sent me. I myself will raise up the one who comes to me. I will bring him back to life on the last day.

6:45  The prophets wrote, “God will teach all people.” So then, every person who listens to his words and learns what he says, he will come to me.

6:46  ‘But no person has seen my Father. The only one who has seen him is the one who comes from God. He has seen my Father.

6:47  I tell you the truth. The person who believes in me will live for ever.

6:48  I am the bread that gives life.

6:49  Your fathers ate bread in the desert long ago, but they died.

6:50  Here is bread that comes down from heaven. The person who eats this bread will never die.

6:51  I am the bread that gives life. I came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live for ever. I will give bread so that the world may live. I am that bread.’

6:52  The leaders of the Jews began to quarrel with each other about what Jesus said. They said, ‘How can he give us himself to eat?’

6:53  Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth. If you do not eat the Son of Man and do not drink his blood, you will not have life.

6:54  Anyone who eats me and drinks my blood will live for ever. I will raise him up at the last day.

6:55  I am real food, and my blood is real drink.

6:56  Anyone who eats me and drinks my blood is in me and I in him.

6:57  My Father is living. He sent me. I have my life from him. In the same way, the person who eats of me will live because of me.

6:58  This bread which came down from heaven is not like the bread that your fathers ate. They ate bread but they died. Anyone who eats this bread from heaven will live for ever.’

6:59  Jesus was in the meeting house in Capernaum when he was teaching people these things.

6:60  Many of his disciples heard it. They said, ‘This is a hard teaching. Who can listen to it?’

6:61  But Jesus knew that his disciples did not like what he said. He asked, ‘Is this hard for you?

6:62  What would you do if you saw the Son of Man go up to the place where he came from?

6:63  It is the Spirit that gives life. The flesh does not help. The words I say to you are Spirit and life.

6:64  But even so, some of you do not believe me.’ Jesus knew right from the beginning which ones of them would not believe. He knew who was going to give him over to people who hated him.

6:65  Then Jesus said, ‘That is why I said to you, “No one can come to me unless my Father lets him come.”’

6:66  After that, many of the followers of Jesus left him and stopped travelling around with him.

6:67  Jesus said to the twelve disciples, ‘Will you also leave me?’

6:68  Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? It is you who has told us how we may live for ever.

6:69  We believe now, and we know it is true. You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’

6:70  Jesus said to them, ‘Did I not choose you twelve? And one of you is a devil!’

6:71  Jesus was talking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Judas was the one who was going to give him over to people who hated him. Judas was one of these twelve disciples.

Chapter 7

7:1  After this, Jesus travelled around in Galilee. He would not travel around in Judea because the leaders of the Jews wanted to kill him.

7:2  Every year the Jews had a feast to remember the time when their fathers lived in tents in the desert. The time was near for that feast.

7:3  Jesus’ brothers said to him, ‘Go away from here to Judea. Let your disciples also see the work you are doing.

7:4  When a person wants people to know about him, he does not hide what he is doing. If you are doing these big things, let the world see you.’

7:5  Even his brothers did not believe in Jesus.

7:6  Jesus said to them, ‘It is not yet the time for me to go. But you may go any time you want to.

7:7  The people of the world cannot hate you. But they hate me because I say what they do is wrong.

7:8  Go to the feast yourselves. I am not going to the feast until it is the right time for me to go.’

7:9  He said this to them and stayed in Galilee.

7:10  After his brothers went to the feast, Jesus went also. He did not go with the other people, but he went by himself.

7:11  The leaders of the Jews at the feast tried to find him. They said, ‘Where is he?’

7:12  People were talking among themselves about Jesus. Some said, ‘He is a good man.’ Others said, ‘No. He is leading people to do wrong things.’

7:13  But they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, so no one talked about him out in the open.

7:14  When the feast was half finished, Jesus went to the temple and taught the people.

7:15  The Jews were very much surprised. ‘How can this man know books? He never went to school.’

7:16  Jesus answered the people, ‘I am not teaching you my teaching. It is the teaching of the one who sent me.

7:17  If any man wants to do what God wants him to do, he will know the teaching. He will know if it is God’s teaching or if I am speaking from my own mind.

7:18  The person who speaks from his own mind only wants to be great himself. But the person whom God has sent wants to show that God is great. That person is true. He is not a bad man.

7:19  Did not Moses give you the law? Not one of you is keeping the law. Why are you trying to kill me?’

7:20  The people answered Jesus, ‘A bad spirit is in you! Who is trying to kill you?’

7:21  Jesus answered them, ‘I have done one thing. You are all surprised about it.

7:22  Moses gave you the law of circumcision. You obey the law, not because it came from Moses, but because it came from the fathers long ago. You circumcise a baby boy on the Sabbath day.

7:23  You do it on the Sabbath day so that you will not break the law of Moses. If you do that, then why are you angry with me because I healed a man on the Sabbath day?

7:24  Do not judge by what you see, but judge in the right way.’

7:25  Some people from Jerusalem said, ‘Is not this the person they are trying to kill?

7:26  See, he does not fear to speak and yet they say nothing to him! Do the rulers really know that this man is the Christ?

7:27  But we know where this man comes from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.’

7:28  Jesus was teaching in the temple. He spoke loudly saying, ‘You know me and you know where I come from. I have not come in my own power. The one who sent me is true. He is the one you do not know.

7:29  I know him because I came from him. He sent me.’

7:30  Then the people wanted to catch him. But no one put a hand on him. It was not yet the time for that.

7:31  Many of the people believed in Jesus. They said, ‘When Christ comes, will he do greater works than this man has done?’

7:32  The Pharisees heard what the people said about him. The chief priests and the Pharisees sent soldiers to catch him.

7:33  Jesus said, ‘I will stay with you a short time longer. Then I will go back to him who sent me.

7:34  You will look for me, but you will not find me. You will not be able to go to the place where I will be.’

7:35  The Jews said to one another, ‘Where will he go that we cannot find him? Will he go to our people who are living in other countries? Will he teach them?

7:36  What does he mean by this: “You will look for me and will not find me. You will not be able to go to the place where I will be”?’

7:37  The last day of the feast was a big day. On that day Jesus stood up and shouted, ‘If anyone is thirsty, he may come to me and drink.

7:38  If anyone believes in me, the holy writings say, “Rivers of water that give life will flow out of his heart.”’

7:39  This is what Jesus meant: those who believe in him would receive the Spirit. At that time no one had received the Holy Spirit because Jesus had not yet been lifted up to heaven

7:40  When some of the people heard this they said, ‘Truly, this is the Prophet.’

7:41  Other people said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘The Christ will not come from Galilee. Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

7:42  Do not the holy writings say that Christ will be of David’s family? Will he not come from Bethlehem where David lived?’

7:43  The people did not all say the same thing about him.

7:44  Some of them wanted to catch Jesus, but no one put hands on him.

7:45  The soldiers came back to the chief priests and the Pharisees. They asked the soldiers, ‘Why did you not bring him?’

7:46  The soldiers replied, ‘No person has ever talked like he does!’

7:47  The Pharisees said, ‘Has he fooled you also?

7:48  None of the rulers and none of the Pharisees have believed on him, have they?

7:49  These poor people do not know the law. They will die!’

7:50  Nicodemus, the man who came to Jesus by night, was one of them.

7:51  He said, ‘Is it right to judge any man by our law before we hear him and learn what he has done?’

7:52  They answered him, ‘Are you from Galilee also? Study what is written. You will see that no prophet is to come from Galilee.’

7:53  Then every one of them went home.

Chapter 8

8:1  Then Jesus went to the hill called the Mount of Olives.

8:2  Early the next morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him. He sat down and taught them.

8:3  The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman to Jesus. They had caught her having sex with a man who was not her husband. They made the woman stand in front of them.

8:4  They said, ‘Teacher, this woman has committed adultery. She was caught doing it.

8:5  The law of Moses tells us that the people who do that should be killed with stones. What do you say?’

8:6  They said this to see what Jesus would do, because they wanted to find something wrong with him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

8:7  They kept on asking him. He stood up and said to them, ‘The one among you who has never done any wrong thing may throw the first stone at her.’

8:8  And Jesus bent down again and wrote on the ground.

8:9  When the people heard what he said, they went out, one by one. The oldest one went out first. Jesus was left alone with the woman in front of him.

8:10  Jesus looked up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are the people? Has no one judged you?’

8:11  She said, ‘No one, Sir.’ Jesus said, ‘I also do not judge you. Go, and do no wrong thing again.’

8:12  Then Jesus talked to the people in the temple. He said, ‘I am the Light of the world. The one who comes with me will never walk in the dark, but he will have light that gives life.’

8:13  The Pharisees said, ‘You are talking about yourself. What you say is not true.’

8:14  Jesus said to them, ‘Even if I do talk about myself, what I say is true. I know where I come from and I know where I am going. But you do not know where I came from, or where I am going.

8:15  You judge in the way people judge matters. I do not judge any person.

8:16  But even if I do judge, I judge right. I am not alone. My Father who sent me is with me.

8:17  Even in your law it says that when two people say the same thing, it is true.

8:18  I talk about myself, and my Father who sent me talks about me.’

8:19  They asked him, ‘Where is your Father?’ He said, ‘You do not know me and you do not know my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’

8:20  When Jesus said these words he was teaching in the temple. He was in the place where the money is kept. No one caught him because it was not yet his time.

8:21  Jesus talked to them again. He said, ‘I am going away. You will try to find me and will die doing wrong things. You cannot come where I am going.’

8:22  Then the Jews said, ‘Will he kill himself? He says, “You cannot come where I am going.”’

8:23  Jesus said to them, ‘You are from below. I am from above. You belong to this world. I do not belong to this world.

8:24  That is why I said, “You will die doing wrong things.” If you do not believe that I am who I said I am, then you will die doing wrong things.’

8:25  They said to him, ‘Who are you?’ Jesus answered, ‘I am what I told you from the beginning.

8:26  I have many things to say to you and to judge you in many things. But he who sent me is true. I tell the world what he has told me.’

8:27  The people did not understand that Jesus was talking to them about his Father.

8:28  So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he. You will know that I do nothing by my own power, but I talk the way my Father taught me.

8:29  He who sent me is with me always. I always do what he wants me to do.’

8:30  Many people believed in Jesus while he was talking this way.

8:31  Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, ‘If you obey my word, you are truly my disciples.

8:32  And you will understand the truth and the truth will make you free.’

8:33  They said to him, ‘We are Abraham’s children. We have always been free. Why do you say to us, “You will be free”?’

8:34  Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you the truth. People who do wrong things are not free. They become a slave of the wrong things they do.

8:35  A slave does not belong to the family for ever. But a son belongs for ever.

8:36  So if the Son makes you free, you will be truly free.

8:37  I know that you come from Abraham. But you want to kill me because you do not like what I tell you.

8:38  I tell you about the things that I have seen where my Father is, and you do what you have seen your father do.’

8:39  They answered him, ‘Abraham is our father.’ Jesus said, ‘If you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did.

8:40  But you want to kill me because I told you the truth which I learned from God. Abraham did not do that.

8:41  You are doing your father’s work.’ Then they said to him, ‘We were not born of an unmarried woman. God is the Father of us all.’

8:42  Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father you would love me, because I have come from God. I did not come by my own power. God sent me.

8:43  Why do you not understand what I say? I will tell you why. It is because you do not want to understand it.

8:44  ‘The bad spirit, the devil, is your real father. You gladly do the wrong things he wants you to do. From the beginning he killed people. He has nothing to do with what is true. His way is to tell lies. He himself is a liar and all lying comes from him.

8:45  You do not believe me because I tell you what is true.

8:46  Which one of you can prove that what I have done is bad? I tell you what is true. Why then do you not believe me?

8:47  The person who comes from God listens to what God says. You do not come from God. That is why you do not listen to me.’

8:48  The leaders of the Jews answered him, ‘We say what is true. We say that you come from Samaria. And we say that a bad spirit is in you.’

8:49  Jesus said, ‘I have no bad spirit in me. I respect my Father but you do not respect me.

8:50  I do not want to make myself great. There is one who makes me great. He judges the matter.

8:51  I tell you the truth. If anyone obeys my word, he will never die.’

8:52  The leaders of the Jews said to him, ‘Now we know it is true that a bad spirit is in you. Abraham died. So did the prophets. And yet you say, “If anyone obeys my word, he will never die.”

8:53  Are you greater than our father Abraham and the prophets of God who died long ago? Who do you make yourself out to be?’

8:54  Jesus answered, ‘If I make myself great, then I am not great. But my Father makes me great. You say he is your God.

8:55  But you do not know God. I know him. If I say, “I do not know him,” I am a liar, just as you people are. But I know him and I obey his word.

8:56  Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my coming. He did see it and he was very glad.’

8:57  The Jewish leaders said to him, ‘You are not fifty years old yet. How could Abraham see you?’

8:58  Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth. I already was before Abraham was born.’

8:59  Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus got out of their way. He left the temple and they did not know where he went.

Chapter 9

9:1  On his way out of the temple Jesus saw a man who had been born blind.

9:2  His disciples asked Jesus, ‘Master, was this man born blind because of the wrong things he did, or was it the wrong things his parents did?’

9:3  Jesus answered, ‘It was not that he or his parents did any wrong thing. But it was so that people would see what God will do in him.

9:4  There is one who has sent me. I must do his work while it is still daylight. Night is coming. Then it will be too dark to work.

9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.’

9:6  When Jesus had said this, he spat on the ground. Then he put some of the wet dirt on the man’s eyes.

9:7  And he said, ‘Go. Wash your eyes in that water hole called Siloam.’ (Siloam means Sent.) The man went and washed his eyes. After that, he was able to see.

9:8  His neighbours and other people had seen him when he was blind. They said, ‘Is not this the same man who used to sit here and beg?’

9:9  Some people said, ‘Yes, this is the same man.’ Others said, ‘He is like that man.’ But the man himself said, ‘I am that man.’

9:10  They asked him, ‘How is it that you can see now?’

9:11  He answered them, ‘That man whose name is Jesus made some mud. He rubbed it on my eyes and told me to go and wash them in the water hole Siloam. And when I had washed my eyes, I could see.’

9:12  ‘Where is the man?’ they asked. He said, ‘I do not know.’

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

9:14  The day Jesus made the mud and healed the man was the Sabbath day.

9:15  Then the Pharisees also asked the man, ‘How is it that you can see now?’ He answered them, ‘The man put mud on my eyes. I washed my eyes and now I can see.’

9:16  Then some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God. He does not obey the Sabbath day law.’ The others said, ‘But how can a bad man do such a big work?’ So the Pharisees did not agree together in what they thought about Jesus.

9:17  Then they asked the man who had been born blind, ‘What do you say about the man who healed you?’ He answered, ‘I say he is a prophet from God.’

9:18  But the leaders of the Jews did not really believe what they heard about the man. They did not believe that first he had been blind and now was able to see. So they called the parents of the man who could now see.

9:19  ‘Tell us,’ they said. ‘Is this your son who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?’

9:20  The parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son. And we know that he was born blind.

9:21  But we do not know how it is that he can now see. We do not know who healed him. Ask him. He is old enough to talk for himself.’

9:22  The parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. They knew that the leaders of the Jews had already agreed that if anyone said Jesus is the Christ, they would be put out of the meeting place.

9:23  That is why the parents said, ‘He is old enough to talk for himself. Ask him.’

9:24  Then again they called the man who had been blind. They said to him, ‘You must praise God for this. We know that the man who healed you is a bad man.’

9:25  He answered them, ‘I do not know if he is a bad man or not. But one thing I do know. I know that first I was blind, but now I can see.’

9:26  Then they said to him again, ‘What did he do to you? How did he heal you?’

9:27  He answered them, ‘I told you already. You did not listen. Why do you want me to tell you again? Do you also want to be his disciples?’

9:28  This made them angry. They said, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.

9:29  We know that God talked to Moses. But this man, we do not know where he comes from.’

9:30  The man who had been blind said, ‘This surprises me! He healed me and yet you do not know where he comes from!

9:31  We know that God does not listen to bad people. But God listens to the person who shows him respect and who obeys him.

9:32  Before this, no one has ever healed a man who was born blind. Such a thing has not been heard of since the world was made.

9:33  If this man did not come from God, he could not do anything like this.’

9:34  They answered, ‘You have been a bad man ever since you were born! Now are you trying to teach us?’ And with that they put him out of the meeting place.

9:35  Jesus heard that the people had put him out. When he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of God?’

9:36  He answered, ‘Sir, who is the Son of God? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’

9:37  Jesus said, ‘You have already seen him. The person who is talking to you now, he is the Son of God.’

9:38  The man said, ‘Sir, I do believe.’ He kneeled down in front of Jesus and worshipped him.

9:39  Jesus said, ‘I came into the world so that people may be judged. I came so that those who are blind may see. And I came so that those who see may become blind.’

9:40  Some of the Pharisees were with Jesus and heard him say this. They asked him, ‘You mean to say that we are blind also?’

9:41  Jesus answered them, ‘If you agreed that you were blind, you would not be bad people. But you say, “We can see.” So then you are still bad people.’

Chapter 10

10:1  Then Jesus went on to say, ‘I tell you the truth. A person must get to the sheep through the door. Anyone who climbs over the wall to get in is a bad man and steals things. He has come to steal the sheep.

10:2  But the man who comes in through the door, he is the one who takes care of the sheep.

10:3  The guard will open the door for him. The sheep will listen to him. He calls his own sheep by their names and leads them out.

10:4  When all his own sheep are out of the house, he goes ahead of them. The sheep come behind him because they know his voice.

10:5  They will not go after a stranger. They will run away from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’

10:6  Jesus told this story to the Pharisees, but they did not understand what he was trying to tell them.

10:7  So Jesus told them again. He said, ‘I tell you the truth. I am the door of the sheep house.

10:8  All those who came before me are bad people and steal things. They came to steal the sheep. But the sheep did not listen to them.

10:9  I am the door. Anyone who comes in through me will be saved. He will go in and out as he wants to, and will have food to eat.

10:10  The thief comes only to steal the sheep and to kill them and spoil them. I have come so that people may live and that they may enjoy life to the full.

10:11  ‘I am the good shepherd. I am the one who really cares for the sheep. The good shepherd is willing to die to save his sheep.

10:12  Some people work for pay. The one who does that is not the one who really cares. The sheep do not belong to him. When he sees a bad animal coming, he will leave the sheep and run away. He will let the animal take the sheep and make the sheep run away.

10:13  He does that because he is only working for pay and does not care what happens to the sheep.

10:14  ‘I am the good shepherd, the one who really cares for the sheep. I know my sheep and my sheep know me.

10:15  So my Father knows me and I know him. I am willing to die to save the sheep.

10:16  ‘I have some other sheep which are not with these sheep. I must bring them also. They will listen to my voice. Then all the sheep will be together and there will be one person who cares for all of them.

10:17  My Father loves me because I am willing to die. But when I die, I will live again.

10:18  No one kills me. I die only because I choose to die. I have power to die and I have power to live again. This is what my Father has told me to do.’

10:19  The Jews did not all say the same thing because of what Jesus said.

10:20  Many of them said, ‘A bad spirit is in him. He is crazy. Why do you listen to him?’

10:21  But others said, ‘A person who has a bad spirit in him does not say the things this man says. Can a bad spirit make blind people see?’

10:22  At that time there was a feast in Jerusalem at the temple. It was the cold time of the year.

10:23  Jesus was walking in that part of the temple called Solomon’s resting place.

10:24  The Jews came around Jesus and said, ‘How long will you keep us wondering about this matter? If you are really the Christ, then tell us plainly.’

10:25  Then Jesus said, ‘I have already told you and you did not believe it. My Father has given me the power to do big works. These works tell you who I am.

10:26  And yet you do not believe because you are not my sheep. I told you this before.

10:27  My sheep listen to me. I know them. They come to me.

10:28  I give them life that lasts for ever. They will never die. No one will take them out of my hand.

10:29  My Father gave the sheep to me. He is greater than anyone else. No one is able to take them out of my Father’s hand.

10:30  My Father and I are one.’

10:31  Then the leaders of the Jews picked up stones again to kill him.

10:32  So Jesus said to them, ‘I have done many good things that come from my Father. For which one of those are you going to kill me?’

10:33  Then the Jewish leaders answered him, ‘We do not kill you for doing any good thing. But you do not respect God. You are only a man, and yet you say you are God.’

10:34  Jesus answered them, ‘In your own books it is written that God said, “You are gods.”

10:35  Nothing can change the words in the holy writings. It is written that God spoke to men and that he called them gods. So he called some men gods. Then why do you say I do not respect God when I say that I am the Son of God? I am the one God chose and sent into the world.

10:36  Nothing can change the words in the holy writings. It is written that God spoke to men and that he called them gods. So he called some men gods. Then why do you say I do not respect God when I say that I am the Son of God? I am the one God chose and sent into the world.

10:37  If I am not doing my Father’s work, then do not believe me.

10:38  But if I am doing my Father’s work, believe the work that I do, even though you do not believe me. Then you will know and you will believe that my Father is in me and I am in him.’

10:39  Because of what he said, they tried to catch Jesus again. But he got away from them.

10:40  He went away again to the other side of the Jordan River. He went to the place where John was when he first baptized people. Jesus stayed there for a while.

10:41  Many people came to him there. They said, ‘John himself did not do any big work. But everything that John said about this man is true.’

10:42  Many people believed on Jesus there.

Chapter 11

11:1  A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived at Bethany, the home of Mary and her sister Martha.

11:2  Mary was the same woman that put oil on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.

11:3  So the sisters sent someone to tell Jesus. They said, ‘Lord, the one whom you love is sick.’

11:4  Jesus heard the message. He said, ‘The man is sick, but he will not die from it. But this will show people that God is great, and his Son also.’

11:5  Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

11:6  When he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two days more.

11:7  After that, he said to his disciples, ‘Let us go back again to Judea.’

11:8  They said, ‘Master, it is not long since the Jews wanted to kill you with stones. Are you going back there again?’

11:9  Jesus answered them, ‘Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a person walks in the daylight, then he will not fall. He can see by the light that is in the world.

11:10  But if a person walks at night, he will fall because there is no light for him to see.’

11:11  After he said this, he said also, ‘Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going to wake him up.’

11:12  His disciples said, ‘Lord, if he is sleeping then he will get well again.’

11:13  But Jesus meant that Lazarus had died. The disciples thought that Lazarus was sleeping to have a rest.

11:14  Then Jesus told them plainly. He said, ‘Lazarus is dead.

11:15  For your sake I am glad that I was not there. You will really believe in me. But come, let us go to him.’

11:16  Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to the other disciples, ‘Let us all go and die with Jesus.’

11:17  When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had been buried four days.

11:18  Bethany was only about two miles from Jerusalem.

11:19  Many Jews had come out to see Martha and Mary. They came to comfort them because their brother had died.

11:20  As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary just stayed in the house.

11:21  Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

11:22  But even yet, I know that God will give you anything that you ask for.’

11:23  Jesus said, ‘Your brother will rise again.’

11:24  Martha said, ‘I know that he will rise when the dead people are raised up on the last day.’

11:25  Jesus said, ‘I am the one who will raise people up and give them life. The person who believes in me will live, even though he has died.

11:26  Anyone who is living and who believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

11:27  She said, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ. I believe that you are the Son of God who was to come into the world.’

11:28  When she had said this, she went back to call her sister. She said quietly, ‘Mary, the Master has come. He is calling you.’

11:29  When Mary heard that, she got up quickly and came to him.

11:30  Jesus was not in the town yet. He was at the same place where Martha had met him.

11:31  The Jews who were in the house to comfort Mary saw her get up quickly and go out. They went after her. They said, ‘She is going to the grave to cry.’

11:32  Mary reached the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she kneeled down before him and said, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.’

11:33  Jesus saw her crying. He saw the Jews who came with her crying also. Then his heart was troubled very much.

11:34  ‘Where have you buried him?’ he said. ‘Come, Lord, and see,’ they said.

11:35  Then Jesus cried.

11:36  ‘Look,’ the Jews said. ‘He truly loved him very much!’

11:37  Then some of them said, ‘This man made the blind see. Could he not have saved Lazarus from dying?’

11:38  Jesus’ heart was troubled very much again. Then he came to the grave. It was a hole in the side of a large rock. A stone covered the hole.

11:39  Jesus said, ‘Take the stone away.’ Martha, the sister of the dead man, said, ‘Lord, he will smell bad by this time. He has been dead four days already.’

11:40  Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not tell you that if you believed God you would see that he is great?’

11:41  So they pushed the stone away from the grave. Jesus looked up and said, ‘Father, I thank you because you have heard me.

11:42  I know that you always hear me. But I have said this so that the people who are standing here might believe that you have sent me.’

11:43  When he had said this, he shouted, ‘Lazarus, come out!’

11:44  Out came the dead man! The cloth that they had buried him in was tied around his hands and feet. Another small cloth was tied around his face. Jesus said to the people, ‘Take off the cloths and free him!’

11:45  When they saw the things Jesus did, many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed on Him.

11:46  But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

11:47  So the chief priests and the Pharisees met together. They said, ‘What are we going to do? This man is doing many big works.

11:48  If we do not stop him, everybody will believe on him. Then the Roman rulers will come and break down our holy town and our nation.’

11:49  One of them, Caiaphas, was high priest that year. He said to them, ‘You know nothing.

11:50  You do not understand. It is better for us if one person dies for the people. Then the whole nation will not be broken down.’

11:51  He himself did not understand what he was saying. But he was the high priest that year. God spoke through him to say that Jesus should die for those people.

11:52  Jesus would die, not only for those people, but he would gather together all of God’s people who are out in different places.

11:53  So from that day on they planned to kill Jesus.

11:54  That is why Jesus did not go among the Jews in the open. But he went to another part of the country, to a town called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.

11:55  The time for the Passover Feast of the Jews was near. Many people from all around the country went to Jerusalem. They had to make themselves clean according to the law before the Passover Feast.

11:56  They were looking around for Jesus. As they were standing in the temple they talked to one another. They said, ‘What do you think? Do you think that he will come to the feast?’

11:57  Both the chief priest and the Pharisees had told the people, ‘If any man knows where he is, tell us. We want to catch him.’

Chapter 12

12:1  Six days before the Passover Feast Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus lived. This was the Lazarus that Jesus had raised from death.

12:2  The people made supper for Jesus. Martha helped give food for the people, and Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Jesus.

12:3  Mary had a jar of oil. It smelled very nice and cost much money. She put some of it on Jesus’ feet. Then she wiped his feet with her hair. The smell of oil went all through the house.

12:4  Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, was there. He was one of the disciples, the one who was going to give Jesus over to the people who hated him.

12:5  He said, ‘This oil is worth a year’s wages! Why did we not sell it and give the money to poor people?’

12:6  Judas did not say this because he cared for poor people. But he used to steal. He carried the disciples’ money bag and he used to take money out of the bag for himself.

12:7  Then Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She has kept this oil for the time when they will bury me.

12:8  You will have poor people with you always. But you will not always have me with you.’

12:9  Many of the Jews knew that Jesus was at Bethany. So they came because Jesus was there. But they also came to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from death.

12:10  The chief priests planned to kill Lazarus also.

12:11  Many of the Jews left the priests and believed in Jesus, because of Lazarus.

12:12  The next day Jesus went to Jerusalem. Many people who were at the feast heard that he was coming.

12:13  So they took branches of palm trees and went to meet him. They shouted, ‘Praise God! God bless the King of Israel! He is coming in the name of the Lord!’

12:14  Then Jesus found a young donkey and rode on it. He did as the holy writings say,

12:15  ‘Do not fear, people of Jerusalem. Your King is coming. He will be riding on a young donkey.’

12:16  His disciples did not understand this at first. But when God had made Jesus great, then they remembered what the holy writings said about him. They remembered that people had done these things to him.

12:17  Many people were with Jesus when he called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from death. They had talked about what he did.

12:18  That is why many people went out to meet Jesus. They had heard about the big work he did.

12:19  The Pharisees said to each other, ‘See, you cannot stop this thing. People everywhere are going after him.’

12:20  Some of the people who came to worship God at the feast were Greek people.

12:21  They came to Philip who was from Bethsaida in Galilee. They said, ‘Sir, we want to see Jesus.’

12:22  Philip came to Andrew and told him. Then they both went and told Jesus.

12:23  Jesus said, ‘The time has come when the Son of Man will be made great.

12:24  I tell you the truth. If a seed of grain is not put in the ground to die, it will be only a seed. But if it dies, it will bear many seeds.

12:25  Anyone who tries to keep his life will lose it. Anyone who gives up his life in this world will live for ever in the next world.

12:26  If anyone wants to do my work, he must go where I go. Then he and I will be together. My Father will honour everyone who works for me.

12:27  ‘Now my heart is very sad. Shall I say, “Father, save me from this time of trouble”? No, I have come to this time just so that I might go through it.

12:28  Father, do what will make your name great.’ Then a voice from the sky said, ‘I have already done that and I will do it again.’

12:29  Some people were standing near. When they heard the voice, they said, ‘It is thundering.’ Other people said, ‘An angel talked to him.’

12:30  Jesus answered them, ‘This voice did not come for my sake, but it came for your sake.

12:31  It is time now for the world to be judged. The ruler of this world will be put out.

12:32  And as for me, if they lift me up from the earth, I will draw all people to me.’

12:33  He said this to show how he would die.

12:34  The people answered him, ‘Our law book tells us that Christ will stay here for ever. Why do you say, “The Son of Man will be raised up from the earth”? Tell us who this Son of Man is.’

12:35  Then Jesus said to them, ‘You have light for a short time longer. Walk while you have the light so that you will not need to walk in the dark. The person who walks in the dark cannot see where he is going.

12:36  Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may be a people who have the light in you.’ When Jesus had said this, he left them. They did not know where he was.

12:37  Even though they had seen Jesus doing many big works, they did not believe in him.

12:38  What the prophet Isaiah said came true. He said, ‘Lord, who has believed what we told them? Who has believed even though they have seen the power of God’s hand?’

12:39  So they could not believe. Isaiah said also, ‘God has made them blind. Their hearts have no feeling. They cannot see. They do not understand with their heart. They will not turn to God. If they did turn, he would heal them.’

12:40  So they could not believe. Isaiah said also, ‘God has made them blind. Their hearts have no feeling. They cannot see. They do not understand with their heart. They will not turn to God. If they did turn, he would heal them.’

12:41  Isaiah said this about the Christ when he saw how great he was.

12:42  Some of the chief rulers believed in Jesus, but they did not tell anyone that they believed in him. They were afraid the Pharisees would put them out of the meeting place.

12:43  They wanted the praise of men more than the praise of God.

12:44  Jesus called out, ‘Anyone who believes in me does not believe just in me, but in the one who sent me.

12:45  Anyone who sees me sees the one who sent me.

12:46  I am a light and have come into the world. Anyone who believes in me will not be in the dark.

12:47  If anyone hears what I say and does not believe it, I do not judge him. I did not come to judge the world. I came to save the world.

12:48  The one who will not believe in me and will not listen to what I say will be judged anyway. The same things that I have said will judge him on the last day.

12:49  ‘I have not said this from my own mind, but my Father who sent me told me what to say. He told me what to tell you.

12:50  I know that what he told me to say has power to give life for ever. So I say everything my Father has told me to say.’

Chapter 13

13:1  Before the Passover Feast had started, Jesus saw that the time had come for him to leave this world. The time had come for him to go back to his Father. He loved his own people who were in the world. And he loved them the same way right to the end.

13:2  He and his disciples were eating together. The devil had already put it into Judas’ heart to give Jesus over to people who hated him. (Judas was the son of Simon Iscariot.)

13:3  Jesus knew that his Father had put everything into his hands. He knew he had come from God. He knew he was going back to God.

13:4  Jesus stood up where he had been eating. He took off his outer clothing. And he took a towel and tied it around him.

13:5  Then he poured water into a pan and began to wash the disciples’ feet. He wiped their feet with the towel he had tied around him.

13:6  He came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’

13:7  Jesus answered him, ‘You do not understand now what I am doing, but you will understand it later.’

13:8  Peter said to him, ‘You will never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, then you do not belong to me.’

13:9  Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, wash my feet, and my hands, and my head also!’

13:10  Jesus said, ‘A person who has bathed himself needs to wash his feet only. He is all clean. You are clean, but not all of you.’

13:11  Jesus knew who was going to give him over to people who hated him. That is why he said, ‘You are not all clean.’

13:12  After Jesus had finished washing their feet, he took his gown and sat down again. ‘Do you understand what I have done to you?’ he asked.

13:13  ‘You call me Master and Lord. What you say is right. I am your Master and Lord.

13:14  I am your Lord and Master and have washed your feet. If I do that, then you should wash one another’s feet.

13:15  I have shown you what to do. Now you do as I have done.

13:16  I tell you the truth. The servant is not better than his master. The one who is sent is not better than the one who sent him.

13:17  Do you understand what I have told you? If you do, you will have much happiness for doing it.

13:18  I am not talking about all of you but I know the people I have chosen. So God’s word comes true. The holy writings say, “He who is eating my bread has turned against me.”

13:19  ‘I am telling you this now before it happens. So when it happens you will believe who I am.

13:20  I tell you the truth. The person who receives the one I send, receives me. He that receives me, receives the one who sent me.’

13:21  When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his heart. He said, ‘I tell you the truth. One of you will give me over to people who hate me.’

13:22  The disciples looked at one another. They did not know which one of them Jesus was talking about.

13:23  The disciple Jesus loved was at his right side.

13:24  Simon Peter nodded to that disciple. He said, ‘Tell us who he is talking about.’

13:25  He who was at Jesus’ right side said to Jesus, ‘Lord, who is it?’

13:26  Jesus answered, ‘I will put a piece of bread in the dish. Then I will give it to that one.’ He put in the bread, then he took it and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

13:27  Right after Jesus had given the bread, Satan came into Judas. Then Jesus said to him, ‘What you are going to do, do right away.’

13:28  No one at the table knew why Jesus said, ‘Do it right away.’

13:29  Judas had the money bag. Some thought that Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the feast,’ or that he wanted Judas to give something to the poor people.

13:30  Judas went out right after he had taken the bread. It was night.

13:31  When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is very great. And he has made God’s name great.

13:32  If he has made God’s name great, God also will make him great by his own power. He will do it right away.

13:33  My children, I am with you for a short time longer. You will look for me. What I said to the Jews I say to you now: “You cannot come to the place where I am going.”

13:34  I give you a new law. That law is, “Love each other.” As I have loved you, so you also love each other.

13:35  This is how all people will know that you are my disciples.’

13:36  Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, where are you going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You cannot go with me where I am going now. Later on you will go with me.’

13:37  Peter said to him, ‘Lord, why can I not go with you now? I am willing to die for you.’

13:38  Jesus answered him, ‘Will you die for me? I tell you the truth. Before the cock calls, you will say three times that you do not know me.’

Chapter 14

14:1  Jesus said, ‘Do not let anything trouble your heart. You believe in God and you must believe in me also.

14:2  In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to make a place ready for you.

14:3  If I go to make a place ready for you, I will come again. I will come to take you so that you may be with me.

14:4  You know where I am going, and you know the way.

14:5  Thomas said to Jesus, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’

14:6  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way. I am the truth. I give life. No one can come to my Father unless I take him there.

14:7  If you knew me, you would have known my Father also. But from now on you do know him because you have seen him.’

14:8  Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, then we will be happy.’

14:9  Jesus said to him, ‘Philip, you mean to say that I have been with you all this time and yet you do not know me? The person who has seen me has seen my Father also. Why do you say, “Show us your Father”?

14:10  Do you not believe that I am in my Father and my Father is in me? The things that I say, I speak not from my own mind. But my Father lives in me and he does the work.

14:11  I tell you that I am in my Father and my Father is in me. But you do not believe me. So then let the work that I do prove it to you.

14:12  ‘I tell you the truth. The person who believes in me will do the big work that I do. And he will do even bigger work because I go to my Father.

14:13  I will do anything you ask of my Father in my name. In that way the Son will make my Father’s name great.

14:14  If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.’

14:15  ‘If you love me, you will obey me.

14:16  I will ask my Father. He will give you another one to help you and to be with you always.

14:17  He will send you the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive the true Spirit because it does not see or know him. You know him because he is with you and will be in you.

14:18  ‘I will not leave you without someone to help you. And I myself will come back to you.

14:19  In a short time the world will not see me again, but you will see me again. Because I live, you will live also.

14:20  At that time you will know that I am in my Father. You are in me, and I am in you.

14:21  ‘He who knows the things I tell him to do and does them, really loves me. My Father will love him and I also will love him. I will show him who I am.’

14:22  Judas (not Iscariot) said to Jesus, ‘Lord, how are you going to make yourself real to us, and not to the rest of the world?’

14:23  Jesus said to him, ‘If a person loves me, he will obey me. My Father also will love him. And we will come to him and will live with him.

14:24  The person who does not love me does not obey me. The word which you hear is not my word. It is my Father’s word. He is the one who sent me.

14:25  ‘I have told you these things while I am still with you.

14:26  But the Holy Spirit is the one who will help you. My Father will send him in my name. He will teach you everything that I have said to you. His Helper will remind you of all that I said.

14:27  Peace is what I leave for you. I give you my own peace. People of the world also say, “Peace” to you. I do not say it as they say it. Do not let anything trouble your hearts. Do not fear.

14:28  You heard me say, “I am going away and then I will come back to you.” If you really loved me, then you would have been very glad that I am going to my Father. My Father is greater than I am.

14:29  ‘I have told you this before it happens. Then when it does happen, you will believe.

14:30  After this I will not talk much with you. The ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me.

14:31  I will do what my Father tells me to do so that the people of the world may know that I love my Father. ‘Get up now! We must go.’

Chapter 15

15:1  I am the real fruit tree. My Father is the One who takes care of the tree.

15:2  He takes away from me every branch that does not bear fruit. And he cleans every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

15:3  What I said to you has made you clean already.

15:4  But you must be in me and I will be in you. The branch cannot bear fruit by itself. It must be joined to the tree. And you cannot do any good thing if you are not joined to me.

15:5  I am the fruit tree and you are the branches. I will be in the person who is in me. That person will have a fruitful life. But you can do nothing without me.

15:6  If any person is not in me, he is cut off like a branch and dies. People gather the dry branches and throw them into the fire to be burned.

15:7  If you are in me and obey me, you may ask me for anything you want and I will give it to you.

15:8  If you do much good and become my disciples, you will make my Father’s name great.

15:9  ‘I have loved you just as my Father has loved you. So let me love you always.

15:10  If you obey me, I will love you always. That is what I have done. I have obeyed my Father. And he will love me always.

15:11  ‘I have told you these things so that you may be glad in the same way I am glad. Then you will be very glad always.

15:12  ‘I am telling you to love each other as I have loved you.

15:13  The strongest love anyone can have is this. He will die to save his friends.

15:14  You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do.

15:15  I do not call you servants anymore, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends because you know everything that my Father has told me.

15:16  You did not choose me, but I chose you. I gave you a big work to do. That work is to go out and do good things and to make the good things that you do remain strong. If you do that, my Father will do anything you ask in my name.

15:17  ‘Here is the law I gave you. Love each other.’

15:18  ‘If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before it hated you.

15:19  If you belonged to this world, the world would love you. But you do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

15:20  Remember what I told you. I said, “The servant is not better than his master.” If the people in the world have troubled me, they will also trouble you. If they obey me, they will also obey you.

15:21  They will do all these things to you because you are true to me. They do not know the one who sent me.

15:22  ‘I came and spoke to them. If I had not done that, then what they did would not have been a wrong thing. But now they have no excuse for doing it.

15:23  The person who hates me hates my Father also.

15:24  No other person has ever done the work that I have done. If they had, then what they did would not be a wrong thing. But now they have seen me and hated me and my Father also.

15:25  This has happened in order to make the words of their law book come true. It says, “They hated me for no reason.”

15:26  ‘I will send the true Spirit to comfort you. He will come from my Father. When he comes, then he will talk about me.

15:27  You also will talk about me because you have been with me from the time I began my work.’

Chapter 16

16:1  I have told you these things so that you will not turn back.

16:2  The people will put you out of the meeting place. Yes, the time is coming when someone will kill you and think he is working for God.

16:3  They will do these things because they do not know my Father nor me.

16:4  I have told you all these things now. Then when that time comes, you will remember that I told you about them. ‘I did not tell you these things in the beginning because I myself was with you.

16:5  But now I am going back to him who sent me here. Yet not one of you is asking me, “Where are you going?”

16:6  Your hearts are very sad because I have told you these things.

16:7  Anyway, I am telling you the truth. It is better for you if I go away. If I do not go away, the one who is to help you will not come to you. But if I go away, I will send him to you.

16:8  ‘When the Helper comes, he will prove this to the people of the world that they are wrong. They are wrong about what they call bad and about what they call good. He will show them how to be right with God. He will show them about God’s judgement.

16:9  He will prove it is a bad thing that they do not believe in me.

16:10  He will show what really is right, because I am going to my Father and you will not see me any more.

16:11  He will show them how to judge right, because the ruler of this world himself will be judged.

16:12  ‘I have many other things to tell you, but you cannot understand them now.

16:13  When the truth-giving Spirit comes, he will show you everything that is true. He will not speak his own message, but he will tell you the things that he has been told to tell you. He will tell you what is going to happen.

16:14  He will make my name great. He will take what is mine and tell it to you.

16:15  Everything that belongs to my Father belongs to me also. That is why I said, “He will take what is mine and tell it to you.”

16:16  ‘Very soon now, you will not see me. A little while after that, you will see me again, because I go to my Father.’

16:17  Some of the disciples talked among themselves and said, ‘He says, “Very soon now, you will not see me. A little while after that, you will see me.” And he says, “Because I go to my Father.” What does he mean by “a little while”?

16:18  We do not know what he means.’

16:19  Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him this question. So he said to them, ‘Are you asking each other what I mean by saying, “Very soon you will not see me. Then in a little while after that you will see me”?

16:20  I tell you the truth. You people will cry and be very sad, but the people in the world will be very glad. At first you will be sad, but after that you will not be sad. You will be glad.

16:21  ‘Any woman is sad just before her baby is born. She has much pain because the time has come for the baby to be born. But as soon as the baby is born, she forgets the pain she had. She is very glad because a person has been born into the world.

16:22  So you also are very sad now. But I will see you again. Then you will be very glad. And no one can take your joy from you.

16:23  When that time comes, you will not ask me for anything. I tell you the truth. My Father will do for you anything you ask in my name.

16:24  You have not asked for anything in my name yet. Ask my Father and he will give it to you. That is what will make you very glad always.

16:25  ‘I have told you these things by a story. The time will come when I will not talk by stories. I will tell you about my Father plainly.

16:26  When that day comes, you will ask in my name. I do not say that I will ask my Father for you.

16:27  My Father himself loves you. He loves you because you have loved me. And he loves you because you have believed that God sent me.

16:28  My Father sent me into the world. And now I will leave the world and go back to my Father.’

16:29  The disciples said to him, ‘Yes, now you are telling us plainly. You are not telling us with words we do not understand.

16:30  We know now that you know everything. No one needs to ask you questions. This makes us believe that God sent you.’

16:31  Jesus answered them, ‘Do you really believe now?

16:32  Listen, the time is coming. No, the time is here when you will run away. Every man will go to his own home. You will leave me on my own. And yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me.

16:33  I have told you these things so that you may have peace. I give you peace. The world will trouble you much. But be glad. I have power over the world.’

Chapter 17

17:1  When Jesus had said these things, he looked up to heaven and said, ‘Father, the time has come now. Make your Son’s name great, so that your Son may make your name great.

17:2  You have given your Son power over all people. So all those you have given him will live for ever.

17:3  You are the only true God. If they know you, and Jesus Christ whom you sent, they will live for ever.

17:4  I made your name great on earth. I have done the work you gave me to do.

17:5  So now, Father, let my name be great with you. Make my name as great as it was when I was with you before the world was made.

17:6  ‘I have shown these men who you really are. They are men whom you gave me from the world. They belonged to you and you gave them to me. They have obeyed you.

17:7  Now they really know that everything you gave me comes from you.

17:8  I have told them the things that you told me to tell them. And they have believed my words. They know it is true that I was with you before I came. They have believed that you sent me.

17:9  It is these men I am asking you for. I am not asking you for the people of the world. But I am asking for those you gave me, because they belong to you.

17:10  All those I have are yours. And all you have are mine. And they make my name great.

17:11  ‘I am not in the world any longer. But they are in the world. And I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me. Then they will be one, just as you and I are one.

17:12  While I was with them, I took care of them in your name, which you gave me. I have taken care of them. Only one of them is lost. That is the one who was born to be lost. What your book says came true.

17:13  Now I am coming to you. ‘I say these things while I am in the world so that they may be very glad, as I am.

17:14  I have told them what you said. The world has hated them because they do not belong to the world. So also, I do not belong to the world.

17:15  I do not ask you to take them out of the world. But I ask you to take care of them, so that the evil one of this world will not harm them.

17:16  They do not belong to the world, even as I do not belong to the world.

17:17  Make them clean by the true word and keep them for yourself. Your word is true.

17:18  I have sent them into the world as you sent me into the world.

17:19  I have made myself clean and kept myself for them, so that they may be clean and be kept for you also by the truth.

17:20  ‘I do not ask this for these people only; I ask it also for the people who will believe in me when they hear what these people say.

17:21  I do this so that the people will all be one. That is the same way with us. You, my Father, belong to me and I belong to you. I ask that they also may be joined to us. Then the world will believe that you have sent me.

17:22  I have made them great the way you have made me great. That makes us one, as we are one.

17:23  I belong to them and you belong to me, so that they all may be really one together. Then the world will know that you have sent me and that you have loved them just as you have loved me.

17:24  ‘Father, I want the people that you have given me to be with me. Then they will see that you made me great, because you loved me before you made the world.

17:25  Father, you are the one who is right. The world has not known you. But I have known you. These people know that you have sent me.

17:26  I have told them who you are. I will tell them again and again. Then they will love each other as much as you have loved me. And I will live in them.’

Chapter 18

18:1  When Jesus had finished saying this, he and his disciples went through the valley called Kidron. There was a garden with trees. He and his disciples went into the garden.

18:2  Jesus had gone to this place often with his disciples, so Judas knew where the place was. He was the one who gave Jesus over to the people who hated him.

18:3  The chief priests and the Pharisees sent soldiers and guards with Judas. They had lamps, and torches, and things to fight with.

18:4  Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him. So he went out and said to them, ‘Who are you looking for?’

18:5  They answered, ‘Jesus from Nazareth.’ Jesus said to them, ‘I am he.’ Judas, who had given Jesus over to them, was standing with them.

18:6  When Jesus said to them, ‘I am he,’ they all drew back suddenly and fell down.

18:7  So Jesus asked them again, ‘Who are you looking for?’ And they said, ‘Jesus from Nazareth.’

18:8  Then Jesus answered, ‘I have already told you that I am he. If you are looking for me, let these men go.’

18:9  So his words came true. He had said, ‘I did not lose one of those you gave me.’

18:10  Simon Peter had a long knife or sword. He took it out and hit the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

18:11  Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back in its place. Must I not drink the cup that my Father has given me?’

18:12  Then the soldiers, and the captain, and the guards caught Jesus and tied him up.

18:13  First they took him to Annas. He was the father of Caiaphas’ wife. Caiaphas was the high priest that year.

18:14  This was the same Caiaphas that had talked to the leaders of the Jews. He had said, ‘It is better for one man to die for the people.’

18:15  Simon Peter and one other disciple went after Jesus. The other disciple knew the high priest, so he went right in with Jesus through the gate of the high priest’s large house.

18:16  But Peter stood by the gate outside. The other disciple who knew the high priest talked to the servant at the door and brought in Peter.

18:17  The servant at the door said to Peter, ‘Are you one of this man’s disciples too?’ Peter said, ‘No, I am not!’

18:18  It was cold there. The servants and the officers had made a small fire. They stood by it and warmed themselves. Peter stood by the fire also and warmed himself.

18:19  The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples, and about his teaching.

18:20  Jesus answered him, ‘I have talked so that anyone who wanted to could hear me. I have always taught in the meeting houses and in the temple. That is where the Jews always go. I have not said anything in a secret way.

18:21  Why do you ask me? The people heard me talk. Ask them what I told them. They know what I said.’

18:22  When he had said this, one of the officers who stood there hit Jesus. He said, ‘Is that the way you answer the high priest?’

18:23  Jesus answered him, ‘If I have said anything bad, tell me plainly what wrong thing I have said. If I have told the truth, why do you hit me?’

18:24  Jesus was still tied up. Annas sent him over to Caiaphas the high priest.

18:25  Simon Peter stayed by the fire and stood warming himself. So the people said to him, ‘Are you not one of his disciples also?’ He said, ‘No, I am not!’

18:26  A servant was there. He was of the same family as the one whose ear Peter had cut off. He said, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’

18:27  Again Peter said, ‘No!’ And just then a cock called out.

18:28  Then the Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas to the court house. It was early in the day. They themselves did not go into the court house. They did not want to become unclean. They wanted to eat the Passover Feast.

18:29  Pilate went out to the Jewish leaders and said, ‘What complaint do you bring against this man?’

18:30  They said to him, ‘If he were not a very bad man, then we would not have brought him to you.’

18:31  Pilate said, ‘Take him and judge him by your own law.’ The leaders of the Jews said, ‘But we are not allowed to kill anyone.’

18:32  So this is the way the words of Jesus came true. He had said how he was going to die.

18:33  Then Pilate went back into the court house again. He called for Jesus and asked him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’

18:34  Jesus answered, ‘Do you ask me because you yourself think I am, or do you ask me because others said I am?’

18:35  Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests have brought you here to me. Tell me, what have you done?’

18:36  Jesus answered him, ‘I am not a king in this world. If I were, my people would fight so that I would not be given to the Jews. But I am not a king in this world.’

18:37  So Pilate said, ‘So you really are a king then? ‘Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. The reason that I was born was that I should tell what is true. That is why I came into the world. Everyone who likes what is true listens to what I say.’

18:38  Pilate said, ‘What is truth?’ When he had said this, he went out to the Jews again. He told them, ‘I find nothing wrong in this man.

18:39  But at the Passover Feast you always want me to let one prisoner go free for you. Do you want me to let the King of the Jews go free?’

18:40  Then they all shouted again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’ Barabbas was a man who had stolen things.

Chapter 19

19:1  Pilate took Jesus and had him beaten.

19:2  The soldiers made a big ring of thorns like a crown and put it on Jesus’ head. They put a red gown on him.

19:3  They said, ‘Greetings, King of the Jews!’ They beat him with their hands.

19:4  Then Pilate went out to the people again and said to them, ‘See, I bring the man before you. This is to show you that I find nothing wrong in him.’

19:5  Then Jesus came out. He had the crown of thorns on his head and had the red gown on him. Pilate said, ‘Here is the man!’

19:6  When the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus, they shouted, ‘Nail him to a cross! Nail him to a cross!’ Pilate said to them, ‘You take him and nail him to a cross. I find nothing wrong in him.’

19:7  The leaders of the Jews answered him, ‘We have a law. That law says he should die, because he calls himself the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard what they said, he was very much afraid.

19:8  The leaders of the Jews answered him, ‘We have a law. That law says he should die, because he calls himself the Son of God.’ When Pilate heard what they said, he was very much afraid.

19:9  He went into the court house again and said to Jesus, ‘Where do you come from?’ But Jesus did not answer him.

19:10  Then Pilate said, ‘Do you not answer me? Do you not know that I have power to nail you to a cross, or to let you go free?’

19:11  Jesus said, ‘You would have no power over me if God did not give you power. So then, the man who gave me up to you has done something worse than you.’

19:12  After that Pilate tried to let Jesus go free. But the Jews shouted, ‘If you let this man free, you are not Caesar’s friend! Anyone who makes himself a king is fighting against Caesar!’

19:13  When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out. Then Pilate sat on the bench where the judge sits. The place was called the Street of Stone. The Jews called it Gabbatha.

19:14  It was about the middle of the day before the Passover Feast. Pilate said to the Jews, ‘See, here is your King!’

19:15  But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Nail him to a cross!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I nail your King to a cross?’ The chief priests answered, ‘Caesar is the only king we have.’

19:16  Then Pilate gave them Jesus to be nailed to a cross.

19:17  They took Jesus and led him away. Jesus went out carrying his own cross. They went to a place which the Jews called Golgotha. That means ‘the place of the skull bone’.

19:18  There they nailed Jesus to the cross. Two other people were also nailed to crosses. One was put on each side of Jesus. Jesus was put in the centre.

19:19  Pilate wrote a sign and put it on the cross. He wrote, ‘Jesus from Nazareth, the King of the Jews.’

19:20  Many of the Jews read this sign. The place where Jesus was nailed to a cross was near the city. The sign was written in the Jewish, Greek, and Latin languages.

19:21  Then the chief priests among the Jews said to Pilate, ‘Do not write, “The King of the Jews,” but write, “This man said he is King of the Jews.”’

19:22  Pilate answered, ‘What I have written I have written!’

19:23  When the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, they took his clothes. They divided them into four parts and gave each soldier one part. Then they took his coat. It was not sewn together but the cloth was all made in one piece from the top to the bottom.

19:24  So the soldiers said to one another, ‘We will not tear this. But let us gamble for it.’ What the holy writings say came true. They say, ‘They divided my clothes among them. They gambled for my coat.’ That is what the soldiers did.

19:25  Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

19:26  Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near. He said to his mother, ‘Woman, see your son!’

19:27  And he said to the disciple, ‘See your mother!’ From that time on, that disciple took her to live in his own home.

19:28  Jesus now knew that everything had happened that the holy writings said. He said, ‘I am thirsty.’

19:29  A bowl of bad wine was there. They took something called a sponge and made it wet with the wine. Then they put it on a stick and put it to Jesus’ mouth.

19:30  Jesus took the wine. Then he said, ‘It is finished.’ And he bowed his head and died.

19:31  It was the day before the Sabbath day. The Jewish leaders did not want the bodies to stay on the cross on the Sabbath day because it was a big day. So they begged Pilate to break the legs of those who had been nailed to crosses. Then they could be taken away.

19:32  The soldiers came and broke the legs of the one nailed to the cross on one side of Jesus. Then they broke the legs of the one on the other side of him.

19:33  When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was dead already. So they did not break his legs.

19:34  One of the soldiers stuck a spear into the side of Jesus’ body. Right away, blood and water came out.

19:35  The man who saw it told what he saw, so that you may believe. What he said is true and he knows that it is true.

19:36  What the holy writings say came true. They say, ‘Not one of his bones shall be broken.’

19:37  They also say, ‘They shall look at the one into whom they stuck the spear.’

19:38  A man named Joseph, from the town of Arimathea, was a disciple of Jesus. But he did not say so because he was afraid of the leaders of the Jews. After all this had happened, he went to Pilate. He asked him to let him take Jesus’ body away. Pilate let him. So he came and took his body.

19:39  Nicodemus also came. He was the one who had come to Jesus at night. He brought with him a heavy bag of sweet-smelling spices called myrrh and aloes. It was mixed together.

19:40  They wrapped linen cloth around the body of Jesus and put the myrrh and aloes in with the cloth. That is how Jews bury a person.

19:41  There was a garden at the place where Jesus was nailed to the cross. In the garden was a new grave cut in the rock. No one had ever been laid in it.

19:42  They laid Jesus’ body there because it was the day before the Sabbath day, and the grave was near.

Chapter 20

20:1  Mary Magdalene came to the grave on the first day of the week. It was early in the morning and not very light. She saw that the stone had been taken away from the grave.

20:2  So she ran and met Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. She said to them, ‘They have taken the Lord out of the grave! We do not know where they have laid him!’

20:3  Then Peter and that other disciple also went to the grave.

20:4  Both of them ran. The other disciple ran faster than Peter and got to the grave first.

20:5  He bent down and looked in. He saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go inside.

20:6  Then Simon Peter came up behind him. He went into the grave and saw the linen cloths lying there.

20:7  He also saw the small cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. It was not with the other cloths, but it was folded together by itself in another place.

20:8  Then the other disciple, who got there first, also went in. He saw and believed.

20:9  Until this time they did not understand the holy writings where it says, ‘He must rise from death.’

20:10  Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

20:11  But Mary stood outside the grave crying. As she cried, she bent down and looked into the grave.

20:12  She saw two angels with white clothes on. They were sitting where Jesus’ body had been. One sat at the head and one at the foot.

20:13  They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord and I do not know where they have laid him.’

20:14  When she had said this, she turned around. She saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

20:15  Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?’ She thought he was the man who took care of the garden. So she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him. I will take him away.’

20:16  Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned around again and said, ‘Master!’

20:17  Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold me, because I have not yet gone up to my Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am going up to my Father. He is your Father also. I am going up to my God. He is your God also.’

20:18  Mary Magdalene went to the disciples. She said, ‘I have seen the Lord!’ And she told them what he had said to her.

20:19  It was the first day of the week. In the evening the disciples were in a house together. The doors were shut because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood there with them. He said to them, ‘Peace to you!’

20:20  When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

20:21  Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace to you! My Father sent me: now I am sending you in the same way.’

20:22  When he had said this, he breathed on them and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit.

20:23  Whoever you make free from the wrong things they have done will be free. Whoever you do not make free from the wrong things they have done will not be free.’

20:24  Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, was called the Twin. He was not with them when Jesus came.

20:25  The other disciples told him about it. They said, ‘We have seen the Lord!’ Thomas said, ‘I will not believe unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands. I will not believe unless I put my finger on the mark and feel his side with my hand.’

20:26  Then eight days later his disciples were in the house again. This time Thomas was with them. The doors were shut. Then Jesus came and stood there with them. He said to them, ‘Peace to you!’

20:27  Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here. Look at my hands. Feel my side with your hand. Do not doubt anymore, but believe.’

20:28  Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

20:29  Jesus said to him, ‘You yourself have seen me. Is that why you now believe? God will bless people who believe though they have not seen me.’

20:30  Jesus did many other big works when he was with the disciples. They are not written in this book.

20:31  But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. And when you believe in his name, then he will give you power to live.

Chapter 21

21:1  The next time the disciples saw Jesus was at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how Jesus showed himself to them.

21:2  Some of the disciples were in one place. They were Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of Jesus.

21:3  Simon Peter said to the others, ‘I am going fishing.’ The others said, ‘We are going with you also.’ They went out in a boat right away. That night they caught nothing.

21:4  Early in the morning, Jesus was standing there by the sea. The disciples did not know it was Jesus.

21:5  He said to them, ‘My children, did you catch any fish?’ They answered, ‘No.’

21:6  He said to them, ‘Throw out your net on the right side of the boat, then you will catch some.’ They threw out their net and caught many fish, so that they were not able to bring in the net.

21:7  That disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!’ As soon as Simon Peter heard it was the Lord, he put on his coat and his belt. He had taken off some clothes to work. Then he jumped into the water.

21:8  The other disciples came in a small boat. They were pulling the net. It was full of fish. They were not far from the land, only about a hundred yards.

21:9  When they came to the land, they saw a small fire. Fish and some bread lay on the fire.

21:10  Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.’

21:11  Simon Peter went to the boat. He pulled the net to land. It was full of big fish. There were a hundred and fifty three fish. But even with so many fish the net did not break.

21:12  Jesus said to them, ‘Come and eat.’ The disciples were all afraid to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ They knew it was the Lord.

21:13  Jesus came. He took bread and gave it to them. Then he took fish and gave it to them.

21:14  This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had risen from death.

21:15  After they had eaten, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said, ‘Yes, Lord. You know that I like you. I am your friend.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’

21:16  He asked him the second time, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love me?’ Peter said, ‘Yes, Lord. You know that I like you. I am your friend.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Take care of my sheep.’

21:17  Then he asked Peter the third time, ‘Simon son of John, do you like me?’ Peter was sad because of the way Jesus asked him the third time. So he answered him, ‘Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you as a close friend’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my sheep.

21:18  I tell you the truth. When you were young, you put on your own belt. You went where you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will put out your hands. Others will put your belt on for you. They will take you where you do not want to go.’

21:19  Jesus said this to show how Peter would die and make God’s name great. When he had finished saying this, he said to him, ‘Come and follow me!’

21:20  Peter turned around. The disciple whom Jesus loved was coming with Jesus also. He was the one who was at Jesus’ right side at the supper table. He had said to Jesus, ‘Lord, who will give you over to people who hate you?’

21:21  When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, what about this man?’

21:22  Jesus said to him, ‘If I want him to wait till I come, what is that to you? I want you to come and follow me.’

21:23  So the report went around among the brothers that that disciple would not die. Jesus had not said to him, ‘You will not die.’ But he had said, ‘If I want him to wait till I come, what is that to you?’

21:24  The same disciple said these things and wrote them. We know what he said is true.

21:25  Jesus did many other things also. If every one were written down, I think that the world would be too small to hold all the books that would need to be written. Yes, it is so!