John 5

New International Version

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

New International Version