John 3

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.

²He came to [Jesus] at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that [You are] a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform [the] signs You are doing if God were not with him.”

³Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.

⁴“How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and [the] Spirit.

⁶Flesh is born of flesh, [but] spirit is born of the Spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I said,‘ You must be born again.’

⁸The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes {from} [or] where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰“You are Israel’s teacher, said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things?

¹¹Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I have told you {about} earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you {about} heavenly things?

¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the [One who] descended from heaven — the Son of Man.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

¹⁵that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave [His] one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

¹⁷For God {did} not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.

¹⁸Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

¹⁹And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and {does} not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

²¹But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that [what] he has done has been accomplished in God.”

²²After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, [where] He spent some time with them and baptized.

²³Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because [the] water was plentiful there, and [people] kept coming to be baptized.

²⁴(For John {had} not yet been thrown into prison.)

²⁵Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples [and] [a certain] Jew over [the issue of] ceremonial washing.

²⁶So [John’s disciples] came to [him] and said, “Look, Rabbi, the [One who] was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about — He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.”

²⁷John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.

²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said,‘ I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’

²⁹The bride belongs to [the] bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, [and] is overjoyed [to hear] the bridegroom’s voice. That joy [is] mine, [and] it is now complete.

³⁰He must increase; I [must] decrease.

³¹The [One who] comes from above is above all. The [one who] is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks [as one] from the earth. The [One who] comes from heaven is above all.

³²He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.

³³Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful.

³⁴For the [One] whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for [God] gives the Spirit without limit.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands.

³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”