John 5

¹Some time later there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool with five covered colonnades, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda.

³On these [ walkways ] lay a great number of the sick, [the] blind, [the] lame, [and the] paralyzed.

⁵One man there had been [an] invalid [for] thirty-eight years.

⁶When Jesus saw him lying [there] and realized that he had spent a long time [in this condition], 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 on my way, someone else goes in before me.”

⁸Then Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.

⁹Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and began to walk. Now this happened on the Sabbath day,

¹⁰so the Jews said to the [man] who had been healed, “This is [the] Sabbath! It is unlawful for you to carry your mat.”

¹¹But he answered, “The [man who] made me well told me,‘ Pick up your mat and walk.

¹²“Who is [this] man who told you to pick [it] up and walk?” they asked.

¹³But the [man who] was healed {did} not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away [while the] crowd was there.

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus found [the man] at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.

¹⁵[And] the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

¹⁶Now because [Jesus] was doing these things on [the] Sabbath, the Jews began to persecute [Him].

¹⁷But Jesus answered them, “To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.

¹⁸Because of this, 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.

¹⁹So Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, unless He sees the Father doing [it]. For whatever [the Father] does, the Son also does.

²⁰The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. And to your amazement, He will show Him even greater works than these.

²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives [them] life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.

²²Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son,

²³so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and {will} not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.

²⁵Truly, truly, I tell you, [the] hour is coming and has now [come] when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

²⁶For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

²⁷And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is [the] Son of Man.

²⁸{Do} not be amazed at this, for [the] hour is coming when all who [are] in [their] graves will hear His voice

²⁹and come out — those who have done good to [the] resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to [the] resurrection of judgment.

³⁰I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My [own] will, but the will of [Him who] sent Me.

³¹If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.

³²There is another who testifies about Me, and I know that [His] testimony about Me is valid.

³³You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.

³⁴[Even though] I {do} not accept human testimony, I say these things so that you may be saved.

³⁵[John] was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you were willing for a season to bask in his light.

³⁶But I have testimony more substantial than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works I am doing — testify about Me that the Father has sent Me.

³⁷And [the] Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form,

³⁸[nor] [does] His word abide in you, because you {do} not believe the [One] He sent.

³⁹You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the [very words that] testify about Me,

⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.

⁴¹I do not accept glory from men,

⁴²but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.

⁴³I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; [but] if someone else comes in [his] own name, you will receive him.

⁴⁴How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that [comes] from the only God?

⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.

⁴⁶If you had believed Moses, you would believe Me, because he wrote about Me.

⁴⁷But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”