3 ¹ THERE WAS ONE of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish Council, 3 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 ³ Jesus answered, 'In truth, in very truth I tell you, unless a man has been born over again he cannot see the kingdom of God.' 3 ⁴ 'But how is it possible', said Nicodemus, 'for a man to be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?' 3 ⁵ Jesus answered, 'In truth I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born from water and spirit. 3 ⁶ Flesh can give birth only to flesh; it is spirit that gives birth to spirit. 3 ⁷ You ought not to be astonished, then, when I tell you that you must be born over again. 3 ⁸ The wind wind and spirit are translations of the same Greek word, which has both meanings. 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.'
3 ⁹ Nicodemus replied, 'How is this possible?' 3 ¹⁰ 'What!' said Jesus. 'Is this famous teacher of Israel ignorant of such things? 3 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. 3 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?
3 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. Some witnesses omit: whose home is in heaven. 3 ¹⁴ This Son of Man must be lifted up as the serpent was lifted up by Moses in the wilderness, 3 ¹⁵ so that everyone who has faith in him may in him possess eternal life.

3 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. 3 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.
3 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. 3 ¹⁹ Here lies the test: the light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness to light because their deeds were evil. 3 ²⁰ Bad men all hate the light and avoid it, for fear their practices should be shown up. 3 ²¹ The honest man comes to the light so that it may be clearly seen that God is in all he does.'