| | 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. | |
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| | 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?" | |
