1 ON THE THIRD DAY there was a wedding at Cana-in-Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples were guests also. 3 The wine gave out, so Jesus's mother said to him, 4 'They have no wine left.' He answered, 'Your concern, 5 mother, is not mine. My hour has not yet come.' His mother said to the servants, 'Do whatever he tells e you.' 6 There were six stone water-jars standing near, of the kind used for Jewish rites of purification; each held from twenty to thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, 'Fill the jars with water', and they filled them to the brim. 8 'Now draw some off', he ordered, 'and take it to the steward of the feast'; and they did so. 9 The steward tasted the water now turned into wine, not knowing its source; though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He hailed the bridegroom 10 and said, 'Everyone serves the best wine first, and waits until the guests have drunk freely before serving the poorer sort; but you have kept the best wine till now.'
11 This deed at Cana-in-Galilee is the first of the signs by which Jesus revealed his glory and led his disciples to believe in him.
12 AFTER THIS he went down to Capernaum in company with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, but they did not stay there long. 13 As it was near the time of the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 There he found in the temple the dealers in cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and the money-changers seated at their tables. 15 Jesus made a whip of cords and drove them out of the temple, sheep, cattle, and all. He upset the tables of the money-changers, scattering their coins. 16 Then he turned on the dealers in pigeons: 'Take them out,' he said; 'you must not turn my Father's house into a market.' 17 His disciples recalled the words of Scripture, 'Zeal for thy house shall destroy me.' 18 The Jews challenged Jesus: 'What sign', they asked, 'can you show as authority for your action?' 19 'Destroy this temple,' Jesus replied, 'and in three days I will raise it again.' 20 They said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple. Are you going to raise it again in three days?' 21 But the temple he was speaking of was his body. 22 After his resurrection his disciples recalled what he had said, and they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.
23 WHILE HE WAS in Jerusalem for Passover many gave their allegiance to him when they saw the signs that he performed. 24 But Jesus for his part would not trust himself to them. He knew men so well, all of them, 25 that he needed no evidence from others about a man, for he himself could tell what was in a man.
1 THERE WAS ONE of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Council, 2 who came to Jesus by night. 'Rabbi,' he said, 'we know that you are a teacher sent by God; no one could perform these signs of yours unless God were with him.' 3 Jesus answered, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless a man has been bom over again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' 4 'But how is it possible', said Nicodemus, 'for a man to be bom when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?' 5 Jesus answered, 'In truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and spirit. 6 Flesh can give birth only to flesh; it is spirit that gives birth to spirit. 7 You ought not to be astonished, then, when I tell you that you must be born over again. 8 The wind [a] blows where it wills; you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from, or where it is going. So with everyone who is born from spirit.' [a] - [a.A single Greek word with both meanings.]
9 Nicodemus replied, 'How is this possible?' 10 'What!' said Jesus. 'Is this famous teacher of Israel ignorant of such things? 11 In very truth I tell you, we speak of what we know, and testify to what we have seen, and yet you all reject our testimony. 12 If you disbelieve me when I talk to you about things on earth, how are you to believe if I should talk about the things of heaven?
13 'No one ever went up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man whose home is in heaven. 14 This Son of Man must be lifted up as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, 15 so that everyone who has faith in him may in him possess eternal life.
16 'God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, that everyone who has faith in him may not die but have eternal life. 17 It was not to judge the world that God sent his Son into the world, but that through him the world might be saved.
18 'The man who puts his faith in him does not come under judgement; but the unbeliever has already been judged in that he has not given his allegiance to God's only Son. 19 Here lies the test: the light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. 20 Bad men all hate the light and avoid it, for fear their practices should be shown up. 21 The honest man comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that God is in all he does.'
22 AFTER THIS, Jesus went into Judaea with his disciples, stayed there with them, and baptized. 23 John too was baptizing at Aenon, near to Salim, because water was plentiful in that region; and people were constantly coming for baptism. 24 This was before John's imprisonment.
25 Some of John's disciples had fallen into a dispute with Jews about purification; 26 so they came to him and said, 'Rabbi, there was a man with you on the other side of the Jordan, to whom you bore your witness. Here he is, baptizing, and crowds are flocking to him.' 27 John's answer was: 'A man can have only what God gives him. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, "I am not the Messiah; I have been sent as his forerunner." 29 It is the bridegroom to whom the bride belongs. The bridegroom's friend, who stands by and listens to him, is overjoyed at hearing the bridegroom's voice. This joy, this perfect joy, is now mine. 30 As he grows greater, I must grow less.'
31 He who comes from above is above all others; he who is from the earth belongs to the earth and uses earthly speech. 32 He who comes from heaven bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his witness. 33 To accept his witness is to attest that God speaks true; 34 for he whom God sent utters the words of God, so measureless is God's gift of the Spirit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has entrusted him with all authority. 36 He who puts his faith in the Son has hold of eternal life, but he who disobeys the Son shall not see that life; God's wrath rests upon him.
1 A REPORT NOW REACHED the Pharisees: 'Jesus is winning and baptizing more disciples than John'; 2 although, in fact, it was only the disciples who were baptizing and not Jesus himself. 3 When Jesus learned this, he left Judaea and set out once more for Galilee. 4 He had to pass through Samaria, 5 and on his way came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph 6 and the spring called Jacob's well. It was about noon, and Jesus, tired after his journey, sat down by the well. 7 (8) The disciples had gone away to the town to buy food.
8 (7) Meanwhile a Samaritan woman came to draw water. 9 Jesus said to her, 'Give me a drink.' The Samaritan woman said, 'What! You, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a Samaritan woman?' (Jews and Samaritans, it should be noted, do not use vessels in common.) 10 Jesus answered her, 'If only you knew what God gives, and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.' 11 'Sir,' the woman said, 'you have no bucket and this well is deep. How can you give me "living water"? 12 Are you a greater man than Jacob our ancestor, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, he and his sons, and his cattle too?' 13 Jesus said, 'Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water that I shall give him will never suffer thirst any more. The water that I shall give him will be an inner spring always welling up for eternal life.' 15 'Sir,' said the woman, 'give me that water, and then I shall not be thirsty, nor have to come all this way to draw.'
16 Jesus replied, 'Go home, call your husband and come back.' 17 She answered, 'I have no husband.' 'You are right', said Jesus, 'in saying that you have no husband, 18 for, although you have had five husbands, the man with whom you are now living is not your husband; you told me the truth there.' 19 'Sir,' she replied, 'I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the temple where God should be worshipped is in Jerusalem.' 21 'Believe me,' said Jesus, 'the time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship without knowing what you worship, while we worship what we know. It is from the Jews that salvation comes. 23 But the time approaches, indeed it is already here, when those who are real worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Such are the worshippers whom the Father wants. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.' 25 The woman answered, 'I know that Messiah' (that is Christ) 'is coming. When he comes he will tell us everything.' 26 Jesus said, 'I am he, I who am speaking to you now.'
27 At that moment his disciples returned, and were astonished to find him talking with a woman; but none of them said, 'What do you want?' or, 'Why are you talking with her?' 28 The woman put down her water-jar and went away to the town, where she said to the people, 29 'Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?' 30 They came out of the town and made their way towards him.
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, 'Rabbi, have something to eat.' 32 But he said, 'I have food to eat of which you know nothing.' 33 At this the disciples said to one another, 'Can someone have brought him food?' 34 But Jesus said, 'It is meat and drink for me to do the will of him who sent me until I have finished his work.
35 'Do you not say, "Four months more and then comes harvest"? But look, I tell you, look round on the fields; they are already white, ripe for harvest. 36 The reaper is drawing his pay and gathering a crop for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 That is how the saying comes true: "One sows, and another reaps." 38 I sent you to reap a crop for which you have not toiled. Others toiled and you have come in for the harvest of their toil.'
39 Many Samaritans of that town came to believe in him because of the woman's testimony: 'He told me 40 everything I ever did.' So when these Samaritans had come to him they pressed him to stay with them; and 41 he stayed there two days. Many more became believers because of what they heard from his own lips. 42 They told the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard him ourselves; and we know that this is in truth the Saviour of the world.'
43 WHEN THE TWO DAYS were over he set out for Galilee; 44 for Jesus himself declared that a prophet is without honour in his own country. 45 On his arrival in Galilee the Galileans gave him a welcome, because they had seen all that he did at the festival in Jerusalem; they had been at the festival themselves.
46 Once again he visited Cana-in-Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. An officer in the royal service was there, whose son was lying ill at Capernaum. 47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judaea into Galilee, he came to him and begged him to go down and cure his son, who was at the point of death. 48 Jesus said to him, 'Will none of you ever believe without seeing signs and portents?' 49 The officer pleaded with him, 'Sir, come down before my boy dies.' 50 Then Jesus said, 'Return home; your son will live.' The man believed what Jesus said and started for home. 51 When he was on his way down his servants met him with the news, 'Your boy is going to live.' 52 So he asked them what time it was when he got better. They said, 'Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.' 53 The father noted that this was the exact time when Jesus had said to him, 'Your son will live', and he and all his household became believers.
54 This was now the second sign which Jesus performed after coming down from Judaea into Galilee.
1 LATER ON JESUS WENT UP to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now at the Sheep-Pool in Jerusalem there is a place with five colonnades. Its name in the language of the Jews is Bethesda. 3 In these colonnades there lay a crowd of sick people, blind, lame, and paralysed.
[Some manuscripts add: waiting for the disturbance of the water;]
4 [some further insert: for from time to time an angel came down into the pool and stirred up the water. The first to plunge in after this disturbance recovered from whatever disease had afflicted him.]
5 Among them was a man who had been crippled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and was aware that he had been ill a long time, he asked him, 'Do you want to recover?' 7 'Sir,' he replied, 'I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed, but while I am moving, someone else is in the pool before me.' 8 Jesus answered, 'Rise to your feet, take up your bed and walk.' 9 The man recovered instantly, took up his stretcher, and began to walk.
10 That day was a Sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, 'It is the Sabbath. You are not allowed to carry your bed on the Sabbath.' 11 He answered, 'The man who cured me said, "Take up your bed and walk." ' 12 They asked him, 'Who is the man who told you to take up your bed and walk?' 13 But the cripple who had been cured did not know; for the place was crowded and Jesus had slipped away. 14 A little later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, 'Now that you are well again, leave your sinful ways, or you may suffer something worse.' 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.
16 It was works of this kind done on the Sabbath that stirred the Jews to persecute Jesus. 17 He defended himself by saying, 'My Father has never yet ceased his is work, and I am working too.' 18 This made the Jews still more determined to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath, but, by calling God his own Father, he claimed equality with God.
19 To this charge Jesus replied, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he does only what he sees the Father doing: what the Father does, the Son does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all his works, and will show greater yet, to fill you with wonder. 21 As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to men, as he determines. 22 And again, the Father does not judge anyone, but has given full jurisdiction to the Son; 23 it is his will that all should pay the same honour to the Son as to the Father. To deny honour to the Son is to deny it to the Father who sent him.
24 'In very truth, anyone who gives heed to what I say and puts his trust in him who sent me has hold of eternal life, and does not come up for judgement, but has already passed from death to life. 25 In truth, in very truth I tell you, a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and all who hear shall come to life. 26 For as the Father has life-giving power in himself, so has the Son, by the Father's gift.
27 'As Son of Man, he has also been given the right to pass judgement. 28 Do not wonder at this, because the time is coming when all who are in the grave shall hear his voice and move forth: 29 those who have done right will rise to life; those who have done wrong will rise to hear their doom. 30 I cannot act by myself; I judge as I am bidden, and my verdict is just, because my aim is not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
31 'If I testify on my own behalf, that testimony does not hold good. 32 There is another who bears witness for me, and I know that his testimony holds. 33 Your messengers have been to John; you have his testimony to the truth. 34 Not that I rely on human testimony, but I remind you of it for your own salvation. 35 John was a lamp, burning brightly, and for a time you were ready to exult in his light. 36 But I rely on a testimony higher than John's. There is enough to testify that the Father has sent me, in the works my Father gave me to do and to finish - the very works I have in hand. 37 This testimony to me was given by the Father who sent me, although you never heard his voice, or saw his form. 38 But his word has found no home in you, for you do not believe the one whom he sent. 39 You study the scriptures diligently, supposing that in having them you have eternal life; yet, although their testimony points to me, 40 you refuse to come to me for that life.
41 'I do not look to men for honour, 42 But with you it is different, as I know well, for you have no love for God in you. 43 I have come accredited by my Father, and you have no welcome for me; if another comes self-accredited you will welcome him. 44 How can you have faith so long as you receive honour from one another, and care nothing for the honour that comes from him who alone is God? 45 Do not imagine that I shall be your accuser at God's tribunal. Your accuser is Moses, the very Moses on whom you have set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses you would believe what I tell you, for it was about me that he wrote. 47 But if you do not believe what he wrote, how are you to believe what I say?'
1 SOME TIME LATER Jesus withdrew to the farther shore of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias), 2 and a large crowd of people followed who had seen the signs he performed in healing the sick. 3 Then Jesus went up the hill-side and sat down with his disciples. 4 It was near the time of Passover, the great Jewish festival. 5 Raising his eyes and seeing a large crowd coming towards him, Jesus said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread to feed these people?' 6 This he said to test him; Jesus himself knew what he meant to do. 7 Philip replied, 'Twenty pounds would not buy enough bread for every one of them to have a little.' 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him, 9 'There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fishes; but what is that among so many?' 10 Jesus said, 'Make the people sit down.' There was plenty of grass there, so the men sat down, about five thousand of them. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to the people as they sat there. He did the same with the fishes, and they had as much as they wanted. 12 When everyone had had enough, he said to his disciples, 'Collect the pieces left over, so that nothing may be lost.' 13 This they did, and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left uneaten of the five barley loaves.
14 When the people saw the sign Jesus had performed, the word went round, 'Surely this must be the prophet that was to come into the world.' 15 Jesus, aware that they meant to come and seize him to proclaim him king, withdrew again to the hills by himself.
16 At nightfall his disciples went down to the sea, got into their boat, 17 and pushed off to cross the water to Capernaum. Darkness had already fallen, and Jesus is had not yet joined them. 18 By now a strong wind was blowing and the sea grew rough. 19 When they had rowed three or four miles they saw Jesus walking on the sea and approaching the boat. They were terrified, 20 but he called out, 'It is I; do not be afraid.' 21 Then they were ready to take him aboard, and immediately the boat reached the land they were making for.
22 NEXT MORNING the crowd was standing on the opposite shore. They had seen only one boat there, and Jesus, they knew, had not embarked with his disciples, who had gone away without him. 23 Boats from Tiberias, however, came ashore near the place where the people had eaten the bread over which the Lord gave thanks. 24 When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were any longer there, they themselves went aboard these boats and made fur Capernaum in search of Jesus. 25 They found him on the other side. 'Rabbi,' they said, 'when did you come here?' 26 Jesus replied, 'In very truth I know that you have come looking for me because your hunger was satisfied with the loaves you ate, not because you saw signs. 27 You must work, not for this perishable food, but for the food that lasts, the food of eternal life.
'This food the Son of Man will give you, for he it is upon whom the Father has set the seal of his authority.' 28 'Then what must we do', they asked him, 'if we are to work as God would have us work?' 29 Jesus replied, 'This is the work that God requires: believe in the one whom he has sent.'
30 They said, 'What sign can you give us to see, so that we may believe you? What is the work you do? 31 Our ancestors had manna to eat in the desert, as Scripture says, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat."' 32 Jesus answered, 'I tell you this: the truth is, not that Moses gave you the bread from heaven, but that my Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33 The bread that God gives comes down from heaven and brings life to the world.' 34 They said to him, 'Sir, give us this bread now and always.' 35 Jesus said to them, 'I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me shall never be hungry, and whoever believes in me shall never be thirsty. 36 But you, as I said, do not believe although you have seen. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and the man who comes to me I will never turn away. 38 I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 It is his will that I should not lose even one of all that he has given me, but raise them all up on the last day. 40 For it is my Father's will that everyone who looks upon the Son and puts his faith in him shall possess eternal life; and I will raise him up on the last day.'
41 At this the Jews began to murmur disapprovingly because he said, 'I am the bread which came down from heaven.' 42 They said, 'Surely this is Jesus son of Joseph; we know his father and mother. How can he now say, "I have come down from heaven"?' 43 Jesus answered, 'Stop murmuring among yourselves. 44 No man can come to me unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets: "And they shall all be taught by God." Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me.
46 'I do not mean that anyone has seen the Father. He who has come from God has seen the Father, and he alone. 47 In truth, in very truth I tell you, the believer possesses eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert and they are dead. 50 I am speaking of the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat, and never die. 51 I am that living bread which has come down from heaven: if anyone eats this bread he shall live for ever. Moreover, the bread which I will give is my own flesh; I give it for the life of the world.'
52 This led to a fierce dispute among the Jews. 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' they said. 53 Jesus replied, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you can have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood possesses eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 My flesh is real food; my blood is real drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood dwells continually in me and I dwell in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me shall live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven; and it is not like the bread which our fathers ate: they are dead, but whoever eats this bread shall live for ever,'
59 THIS WAS SPOKEN in synagogue when Jesus was teaching in Capernaum. 60 Many of his disciples on hearing it exclaimed, 'This is more than we can stomach! Why listen to such words?' 61 Jesus was aware that his disciples were murmuring about it and asked them, 'Does this shock you? 62 What if you see the Son of Man ascending to the place where he was before? 63 The spirit alone gives life; the flesh is of no avail; the words which I have spoken to you are both spirit and life. 64 And yet there are some of you who have no faith.' For Jesus knew all along who were without faith and who was to betray him. 65 So he said, 'This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.'
66 From that time on, many of his disciples withdrew and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the Twelve, 'Do you also want to leave me?' 68 Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? Your words are words of eternal life. 69 We have faith, and we know that you are the Holy One of God.' 70 Jesus answered, 'Have I not chosen you, all twelve? 71 Yet one of you is a devil.' He meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. He it was who would betray him, and he was one of the Twelve.