The Gospel According to John

The “Berkeley Version”

Part I – Chapters 1-10

Chapter One

        In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  ²He Himself was in the beginning with God.  ³Through Him everything came into being and without Him nothing that exists came into being.  ⁴In Him was Life, and the Life was the Light of men.  ⁵The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not appropriate it.

        ⁶There came a man named John, sent from God ⁷for a witness to testify regarding the Light, so that everyone might believe through him.  ⁸He was not himself the Light; but he should testify regarding the Light.

        ⁹The true Light, that illumines every person, was coming into the world.  ¹⁰He was in the world and the world came into being through Him, yet the world did not know Him.  ¹¹He came to His own and His own did not accept Him.  ¹²But to those who did accept Him, He granted ability to become God’s children, that is, to those who believe in His name; ¹³who owe their birth neither to human blood, nor to physical urge, nor to human design, but to God.

        ¹⁴And the Word became flesh and tented among us, and we viewed His glory—such glory as an only son receives from his father—abounding in grace and truth.

        ¹⁵John testified about Him and cried out, “This was the One of whom I said, ‘My successor takes precedence over me because He existed before me.’”  ¹⁶For from His abundance all of us have received one grace after another; ¹⁷for while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.  ¹⁸No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who abides at the Father’s bosom, He has made Him known.

        ¹⁹And this is John’s testimony when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to inquire of him, “Who are you?”  ²⁰He admitted without denial and frankly admitted, “I am not the Christ!”  ²¹They asked him, “Then who are you?  Elijah?”  He said, “No, I am not!”  “Are you the prophet?”  He answered, “No!”  ²²Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may have an answer for those who sent us!  What have you to say about yourself?”

        ²³He said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the desert:  Prepare the way of the Lord, just as Isaiah the prophet said.”  ²⁴Now the messengers were from the Pharisees ²⁵and they asked him, “Then why do you baptize, if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”  ^26-27John answered them, “I baptize with water.  My successor stands among you, whom you do not recognize, the strings of whose sandals I am not fit to untie.”

        ²⁸These things occurred at Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing.

        ²⁹Next day he saw Jesus approaching him and said, “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  ³⁰He is the One of whom I said, ‘The man who succeeds me takes precedence over me because He was previous to me.’  ³¹I did not recognize Him; but I have come to baptize with water so that He may be made known to Israel.”

        ³²John testified further, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and remain on Him, ³³and while I did not know Him, He who sent me to baptize with water told me Himself, ‘On whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, He is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’  ³⁴And I did see it and I testify that He is the Son of God.”

        ³⁵Again the following day John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶when he looked at Jesus who was walking along, and he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”  ³⁷Hearing him say this, the two disciples followed Jesus.  ³⁸Then Jesus turned and, noticing that they followed Him, said to them, “What are you looking for?”  They said to Him, “Rabbi—translated Teacher—, where do you stay?”  ³⁹He told them, “Come and see!”  They went and saw where He was staying and visited with Him that day—it was then about four in the afternoon.

        ⁴⁰Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who listened to John and who followed Him.  ⁴¹He first looked for his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah—translated Christ—,” ⁴²and led him to Jesus.  Looking at him, Jesus said, “You are Simon, the son of John; you will be called Cephas,”—translated, Peter.

        ⁴³Jesus planned to go out to Galilee next day, and found Philip, to whom He said, “Follow Me!”  ⁴⁴Now Philip came from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.  ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets did too:  Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”  ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Philip replied, “Come and see!”

        ⁴⁷Jesus noticed Nathanael approaching Him and said of him, “There truly is an Israelite without deceit in him!”  ⁴⁸Nathanael asked Him, “How do you know me?”  To which Jesus replied, “I saw you under the fig tree before ever Philip called you!”  ⁴⁹Nathanael rejoined, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel!”  ⁵⁰Jesus further replied to him, “Do you believe because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree?  You will see greater things than that.”  ⁵¹He then said to him, “Truly I assure you all, you shall see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

 

Chapter Two

        A couple of days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee at which Jesus’ mother was present, ²and Jesus as well as His disciples was invited to the wedding.  ³As the wine gave out, Jesus’ mother addressed Him, “They are out of wine!”  ⁴Jesus said to her, “Woman, what is that to Me and to you?  My time is not here yet!”  ⁵His mother told the waiters, “Do whatever He tells you!”

        ⁶Now there were six stone water-jars standing there for the Jewish rites of purifying, that would hold from twenty to thirty gallons.  ⁷Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water!”  So they filled them to the brim.  ⁸Again He told them, “Now take a dip and carry it to the table manager!”  They carried it ⁹and when the table manager tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from,—though the waiters who had drawn the water knew—he called the bridegroom ¹⁰and told him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and the poorer when they have drunk more than enough; but you have retained the good wine until now.”

        ¹¹Jesus wrought this earliest of His signs in Cana of Galilee, thereby displaying His greatness.  And His disciples believed in Him.

        ¹²Following this, He and His mother and brothers and His disciples went down to Capernaum and stayed there for a few days.

        ¹³The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  ¹⁴There He found seated in the temple the dealers in cattle, sheep, and pigeons; also the money-changers; ¹⁵so, making a whip out of ropes, He drove them all out of the temple, both sheep and cattle, poured out the brokers’ coins and overturned the tables.  ¹⁶And to the pigeon-dealers He said, “Take these outside; do not make My Father’s house a sales shop.”

        ¹⁷His disciples recollected that it is written, Passion for Thy house shall consume me.

        ¹⁸The Jews came back at Him, “What sign will you show us for your doing these things?”  ¹⁹To which Jesus replied, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will erect it.”  ²⁰Then the Jews remarked, “This temple has been in process of building for forth-six years, and will you erect it in three days?”  ²¹But He was speaking about His bodily temple; ²²so, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples recollected that He had said this;—they believed the Scripture and the message which Jesus spoke.

        ²³While He was at Jerusalem during the Passover Feast, many who observed the signs which He wrought, believed in His name.  ²⁴But Jesus would not entrust Himself to them, because He understood them all; ²⁵and because He did not need anyone’s evidence about people, for He knew what was in the human heart.

 

Chapter Three

        Among the Pharisees there was a man named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, ²who visited Jesus by night and told Him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can work the signs you work unless God is with him.”

        ³Jesus answered him, “Truly I assure you, unless a person is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.”  ⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter his mother’s womb as second time to be born?”  ⁵Jesus replied, “Truly I assure you, unless one’s birth is due to water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

        ⁷“Do not feel surprised because I tell you, ‘You need to be born from above.’  ⁸The wind blows where it pleases and, though you hear the sound of it, you neither know whence it comes nor whither it goes.  It is the same with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”  ⁹In response, Nicodemus asked Him, “How is that possible?”  ¹⁰To which Jesus replied, “You are a teacher of Israel and ignorant of this?  ¹¹I truly assure you that we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen; but you do not accept our evidence.  ¹²If you do not believe in earthly matters I mention to you, how can you believe the heavenly things I might tell you?

        ¹³“No one has gone up to heaven except He who came down from heaven, the Son of Man whose home is heaven.  ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that whoever believes in Him may not perish but have life eternal.  ¹⁶For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  ¹⁷For God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world but to have the world saved though Him.

        ¹⁸“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is already condemned, because he has disbelieved the only begotten Son of God.  ¹⁹And this is the sentence, that the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness more than the Light; because their deeds were wicked.  ²⁰For everyone who practices evil, hates the light and keeps away from the light; else his activities would be exposed; ²¹while one who practices the truth, wants light on it, so that it will be perfectly clear that he is working in cooperation with God.”

        ²²After this, Jesus and His disciples came into the Judean district, where He tarried with them and baptized, ²³while John, too, was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, for there was plenty of water there and people came on to be baptized.  ²⁴For as yet John had not been thrown into prison.

        ²⁵A dispute then arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew about purification, ²⁶so they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, for whom you gave testimony, notice, he baptizes, and they all flock to him.”

        ²⁷John replied, “No man is able to lay claim to anything unless it has been given him from heaven.  ²⁸You personally bear me out that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but that I am sent ahead of Him.  ²⁹The one who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands near and listens to him, is very happy over the bridegroom’s voice; so this joy of mine is complete.  ³⁰He must grow stronger and I must wane.”

                 (It is not certain whether the following paragraph is attributable to John the Evangelist or to Jesus)

        ³¹He who comes from above is above everyone, while one who originates from the earth is earth-minded and speaks from an earth-standpoint.  He who comes from heaven is higher than they all; ³²He testifies to what He has seen and heard; yet nobody accepts His testimony.  ³³Whoever does accept His testimony definitely certifies that God is true; ³⁴for He whom God has sent speaks the words of God who grants the Spirit in unlimited measure.  ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has committed everything into His hands.  ³⁶He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who disobeys the Son shall not see life; but God’s indignation remains upon him.

 

Chapter Four

        When the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard, “Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than does John,”—²although Jesus Himself did not baptize but His disciples did—³He left Judea and went away again into Galilee.  ⁴As he found it necessary to pass through Samaria ⁵He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob had presented to his son Joseph.  ⁶And Jacob’s well was there.  So Jesus, wearied by His travel, dropped down just as He was by the well.

        It was about noon, ⁷when a Samaritan woman came to draw water, to whom Jesus said, “Let Me have a drink!”  ⁸For His disciples had gone off into the town to buy food.  ⁹The Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is this that you, a Jew, should ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”  For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.

        ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew God’s gift and who really asked you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have requested of Him and He would give you living water.”  ¹¹The woman said to Him, “Sir, you have no rope-bucket and the well is deep; where do you get that ‘living water’?  ¹²You surely are not superior to our father Jacob who gave us the well, and he and his sons and his cattle drank from it?”  ¹³Jesus answered her, “Whoever drinks from this water shall again be thirsty; ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I shall give him shall not thirst eternally, but the water I shall give him shall become a water-well within him that bubbles up for eternal life.”

        ¹⁵The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I neither get thirsty nor have to come all the way for drawing water.”  ¹⁶He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come back here!”  ¹⁷To which the woman replied, “I do not have a husband.”  “You say correctly,” Jesus told her, “’I have no husband,’ ¹⁸for you have had five husbands and the one you are now living with is not your husband; this you told in truth.”  ¹⁹The woman said to Him, “I perceive, Sir, that you are a prophet.  ²⁰Our fathers worship on this mountain, and you say that Jerusalem is the proper place to worship.”

        ²¹Jesus told her, “Believe me, woman, the time has come when you shall worship the Father neither merely in this mountain nor merely in Jerusalem.  ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for the salvation comes from among the Jews.  ²³But the hour comes—and is now—when genuine worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is looking for such as His worshipers.  ²⁴God is a Spirit and His worshipers must worship (Him) in spirit and truth.”

        ²⁵The woman said to Him, “I know that the Messiah, called Christ, is coming, and when He arrives, He will make everything plain to us.”  ²⁶Jesus told her, “I, talking to you, am He.”

        ²⁷At this juncture His disciples came and felt surprised that He was talking with a woman; however, no one asked, “What are you inquiring?” or, “Why are you talking to her?”  ²⁸Then the woman left her pitcher and, going off to town, told the men, ²⁹“Come, see a man who told me everything I have done!  Is not He the Christ?”  ³⁰They came out of town and approached Him.  ³¹Meanwhile the disciples urged Him, “Rabbi, eat!”  ³²But He assured them, “I have nourishment of which you have no idea!”  ³³So the disciples talked together, “Surely, no one has brought him anything to eat?”  ³⁴Jesus told them, “My nourishment is that I do the will of My Sender and completely do His work.  ³⁵Do you not say, ‘Still four months and the harvest is here’?  Look, I tell you, raise your eyes and observe the fields, how they are white for harvest.  ³⁶Already the reaper receives his wage and gathers the crop for life eternal, so that the sower and reaper may be jointly glad.  ³⁷For the saying, ‘One sows and another reaps,’ is verified here; ³⁸I sent you to reap a crop on which you have not worked; others toiled and you step in to benefit from their work.”

        ³⁹Numerous Samaritans from that town believed in Him on account of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I did.”  ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans met Him, they invited Him to stay with them, and He remained there two days.  ⁴¹A good many more believed on account of His personal message, ⁴²and said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of your story; for we have personally listened, and we know that He truly is the (Christ, the) Savior of the world.”

        ⁴³At the end of the two days He left for Galilee, ⁴⁴for Jesus Himself affirmed:  “A prophet enjoys no honor in his native town.”  ⁴⁵So, on His arrival in Galilee, the Galileans, who had seen everything He had done at the Feast in Jerusalem, welcomed Him; for they, too, had attended the Feast.

        ⁴⁶Jesus went once more to Cana in Galilee, where He had made the water wine, and there a courtier, whose son lay ill in Capernaum ⁴⁷and who had learned that Jesus had come to Galilee from Judea, came to Him and begged Him to come down and heal his son, who was at the point of death.  ⁴⁸Jesus told him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe at all.”  ⁴⁹The courtier replied, “Sir, do come down before my boy is dead.”  ⁵⁰Jesus assured him, “Go your way; your son lives!”  The man believed what Jesus told him and went his way.  ⁵¹But even on the way there, his servants met him and announced that his boy had recovered; ⁵²so he asked them at what time he began to improve.  They told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock the fever left him.”  ⁵³Then the father knew it was the very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives.”  And he and his entire household became believers.

        ⁵⁴This was the second sign Jesus performed again as he came from Judea into Galilee.

 

Chapter Five

        Later on there was a Feast of the Jews and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  ²Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a bathing-pool, called in Hebrew, Bethesda, with five entrances ³in which a crowd of invalids,—blind, lame, shriveled-up patients lay (waiting for the stirring of the water.  ⁴For at intervals an angel descended into the pool and stirred the water.  Whoever got in first after the agitation of the pool enjoyed healing, no matter of what ailment he suffered).

        ⁵One man there had suffered from an infirmity for thirty-eight years.  ⁶When Jesus noticed him lying there, He accosted him, knowing he had been there for a long time, “Do you want to become well?”  ⁷The invalid replied, “I have no one, Sir, to put me into the bathing-pool right after it has been disturbed; while I am going there, another gets in ahead of me.”  ⁸Jesus told him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk!”  ⁹Instantly the man was well; he picked up his mat and walked.  But that was on the Sabbath-day.

        ¹⁰So the Jews remarked to the healed man, “This is the Sabbath and you have no right to carry the mat.”  ¹¹He told them, “The one who healed me, he himself said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk!’”  ¹²They questioned him, “Who is the person that told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”  ¹³But the healed man did not know who it was; for Jesus had withdrawn among the crowd around there.  ¹⁴Afterward Jesus came across him in the temple and told him, “You are now enjoying health; quit sinning or something worse will happen to you!”  ¹⁵The man went off and told the Jews, it was Jesus who had healed him.

        ¹⁶For this reason the Jews got after Jesus (and sought to slay Him); He did things on the Sabbath.  ¹⁷But He answered them, “My Father works till now and so I work.”  ¹⁸For this the Jews were more eager than ever to kill Him, since He not only broke the Sabbath, but called God His own Father and thus made Himself equal to God.  ¹⁹Jesus then replied to them, “I truly assure you, the Son is not able to do anything by Himself; but only what He sees the Father doing; whatever He does, the Son similarly does.  ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He Himself does, and He will show Him still greater deeds than these so that you will marvel; ²¹for just as the Father raises the dead and makes them live, so the Son makes alive whom He wills.  ²²The Father does not even sentence anyone, but leaves all judgment to the Son, ²³so that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father; in fact, whoever does not honor the Son, does not honor the Father who sent Him.

        ²⁴“Truly I assure you:  He who listens to My message and believes My Sender has eternal life; he comes under no sentence but has passed over from death into life.  ²⁵Doubly I assure you:  The hour comes and it is here when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.  ²⁶For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He granted the Son to have life in Himself ²⁷and has given Him authority to act as Judge, because He is the Son of Man.  ²⁸Be not surprised about this, for the time comes when all who are in the graves shall hear His voice ²⁹and shall come out, those who have done good for the resurrection of life and those who have practiced evil for the resurrection of condemnation.

        ³⁰“I can do nothing independently; I judge as I am informed and My judgment is fair; for I am not looking out for My will, but for the will of My Sender.  ³¹If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not reliable; ³²but Another is testifying about Me and I know that His evidence on My behalf is valid testimony.  ³³You sent to John and he bore witness to the truth; ³⁴however, I do not rest My claim on human testimony; I only mention this to have you saved.  ³⁵He was a lamp, shining and burning, and for a while you were willing to be happy in his light; ³⁶but I have a greater witness than John, for the works which My Father has given Me to accomplish, the activities in which I am engaged, these are My evidence that the Father has sent Me.  ³⁷And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified on My behalf; only, His voice you never yet heard; neither have you seen His form; ³⁸nor do you even have His message staying inside you, because you do not believe the One whom He personally sent.

        ³⁹“You investigate the Scriptures, because you suppose that you have eternal life in them, and they are the testimonies for Me; ⁴⁰yet you do not want to come to Me in order to have life.  ⁴¹I reach for no human fame; ⁴²but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in you.  ⁴³I have come in My Father’s name and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.  ⁴⁴How can you believe, when you welcome the praise of others and do not seek the praise of the only God?

        ⁴⁵“Do not imagine that I shall accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, in whom you are hoping.  ⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, since he personally wrote about Me.  ⁴⁷But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My teachings?”

 

Chapter Six

        Later on Jesus went to the further side of the Galilean sea, or sea of Tiberias.  ²A great multitude followed Him, because they saw the signs He performed on the sick.  ³But Jesus went up the mountain and there sat down with His disciples.  ⁴The Passover, the Jewish Feast, was near.

        ⁵Looking up and observing a vast host coming to Him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where shall we buy food, so they may eat?”  ⁶But He said this to test him, for He knew what He was going to do.  ⁷Philip replied, “Fifty dollars worth of bread would not suffice for them to have each receive a tiny bit.”  ⁸Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, one of His disciples, told Him, ⁹“There is a lad here with five barley-cakes and two fishes; but what are these for so many?”  ¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down!”  Now there was plenty of grass in the place, so the men sat down, numbering about five thousand.  ¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and had it served to those reclining, and the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.  ¹²When they were satisfied, He told His disciples, “Gather up the scattered leftovers, in order that nothing may be wasted.”  ¹³So they did gather them and filled twelve baskets with pieces of the five barley-cakes left over from what they had eaten.

        ¹⁴As the people saw the sign He performed, they said, “This surely is the prophet who is to come into the world.”  ¹⁵Then Jesus, aware that they intended to come and seize Him in order to make Him king, got away again into a mountain by Himself alone.

        ^16-17As evening fell, His disciples went down to the sea, boarded a ship and crossed the sea toward Capernaum.  Darkness had overtaken them and Jesus had not yet come to them, ¹⁸while the sea was mounting under a strong wind.  ¹⁹They had sailed about three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the sea and getting close to the vessel and they were afraid.  ²⁰But He told them, “It is I; have no fear.”  ²¹Then they were quite ready to take Him into the ship and presently the ship was at the shore for which they were sailing.

        ²²Next day the crowd that was standing on the other side of the sea realized that there was only the vessel which the disciples had used and that Jesus had not gone along with them into the ship, but the disciples had left by themselves.  ²³However, crafts from Tiberias did land near the place at which they had eaten after the Lord’s thanksgiving; ²⁴so when the crowd noticed that neither Jesus nor His disciples were there, they themselves embarked in little boats and sailed for Capernaum in search of Jesus.  ²⁵When they found Him across the sea, they asked Him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”  ²⁶Jesus answered them, “Truly I assure you, you are not looking for Me because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled up.  ²⁷Do not work for the food that must decompose; but for the food that lasts through life eternal, such as the Son of Man will furnish you; for God the Father has certified Him.”

        ²⁸Then they said to Him, “What should we do to accomplish the works of God?”  ²⁹Jesus replied, “This is God’s work, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  ³⁰They further said to Him, “What sign then will you work, so that we may see and believe you; what will you perform?  ³¹Our ancestors ate manna in the desert as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”  ³²So Jesus told them, “Truly I assure you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the real, heavenly food; ³³for what comes down from heaven and furnishes life to the world that is the bread of God.”

        ³⁴Then they said to Him, “Lord, give us this bread all the time!”  ³⁵Jesus replied, “I am the Bread of Life.  He who comes to Me will never starve and he who believes in Me shall not suffer thirst anymore.  ³⁶But as I told you:  You have seen (Me) and have not believed.  ³⁷Everyone whom the Father has given Me will come to Me, and I will certainly not cast out anyone who comes to me; ³⁸for I came down from heaven not to do My will but the will of My Sender.  ³⁹And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all He gave Me I shall lose nothing but shall raise them up at the Last Day.  ⁴⁰For this is My father’s will, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the Last Day.”

        ⁴¹The Jews grumbled about Him for saying, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”  ⁴²They remarked, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know?  Now how can he say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”  ⁴³Jesus replied to them, “Stop your mutual mutterings!  ⁴⁴No one is able to come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and him I will raise up at the Last Day.

        ⁴⁵“It is written in the Prophets, And they shall all be taught of God.  Everyone who has listened to and has learned of My Father comes to Me.  ⁴⁶Which does not imply that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from alongside of God; He has seen the Father.  ⁴⁷Truly I assure you, the believer has eternal life.  ⁴⁸I am the Bread of Life.  ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert and they died; ⁵⁰this is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone who eats of it may not die.  ⁵¹I am the Living Bread that came down from heaven.  If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.  And the bread, which for the life of the world I will give, is My flesh.”

        ⁵²Then the Jews wrangled with each other:  “How can this person give us his flesh to eat?”  ⁵³So Jesus told them, “Truly I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no inner life.  ⁵⁴He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life and I shall raise him up on the Last Day; ⁵⁵for My flesh is genuine food and My blood is genuine drink.  ⁵⁶He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me and I in him.  ⁵⁷Just as the life-giving Father sent Me and I live through the Father, so he who nourishes on Me shall live through Me.  ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven; not such as your fathers ate and they died; he who eats this bread shall live forever.”

        ⁵⁹These sayings He uttered as He was teaching in a Capernaum synagogue.  ⁶⁰So then many of His disciples who were listening said, “This is a difficult message!  Who can stand listening to it?”  ⁶¹Aware within Himself that His disciples were grumbling about it, Jesus told them:  “This aggravates you?  ⁶²Suppose you should see the Son of Man ascending where He was previously?  ⁶³The Spirit is the life-giver; the flesh does not benefit at all.  The messages I bring you are spirit and life; ⁶⁴but there are some of you who fail to believe.”  For Jesus knew from the start who were the unbelievers and who would be His betrayer.  ⁶⁵He further said, “For this reason I have told you that no one is able to come to Me unless it is granted him of the Father.”

        ⁶⁶From then on many of His disciples returned home and no longer walked with Him.  ⁶⁷So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to leave, too?”  ⁶⁸Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  Thou has the words of eternal life, ⁶⁹and we have believed and have grown certain that Thou art the holy One of God.”  ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “Have I not chosen you twelve?  Yet, one of you is a devil.”  ⁷¹He meant Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, for he, although one of the twelve, was going to betray him.

 

Chapter Seven

        Following this, Jesus walked up and down in Galilee; for He did not want to go around in Judea, because the Jews were trying to kill Him.  ²However, the Jewish Feast of Booths was near, ³so His brothers told Him:  “Get away from here and go off to Judea, so your disciples will see the works you perform; ⁴for no one who seeks to be in the limelight does things where they are not observed.  Since you do these things, show yourself to the world!”  ⁵For his brothers had no faith in Him either.

        ⁶Jesus told them, “My time has not yet arrived, but your time is always opportune.  ⁷The world cannot hate you; but it hates Me because I testify about it, that its works are wicked.  ⁸You go up to the Feast; I do not yet go up to this Feast, for My term is not yet completed.”

        ⁹With these remarks to them He remained in Galilee; ¹⁰but after His brothers had gone up to the Feast, then He went, too; not with a caravan but by Himself.

        ¹¹At the Feast the Jews were looking for Him and inquired:  “Where is he?”  ¹²There was considerable dispute about Him too among the crowds, some saying, “He is good!” and others, “No, but he misleads the people.”  ¹³No one, however, expressed himself openly about Him, due to fear of the Jews.

        ¹⁴By the time the Feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple and taught.  ¹⁵Then the Jews were surprised; they said, “How does this person know literature without an education?”  ¹⁶Jesus replied to them, “My teaching is not Mine but His who sent Me.  ¹⁷If anyone wills to do His will he shall understand the teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from Myself.  ¹⁸He who speaks from himself seeks his own honor; but he who seeks his sender’s honor is sincere and in him there is no deceit.  ¹⁹Did not Moses teach you the Law?  Yet none of you practices the Law.  Why do you try to kill Me?”

        ²⁰The crowd replied, “You have a demon!  Who is trying to kill you?”  ²¹Jesus answered them, I have done a single deed and you all marvel about it.  ²²Because Moses established circumcision among you—though it did not come from Moses but from previous ancestors—you circumcise a person even on the Sabbath.  ²³If a person receives circumcision on the Sabbath so as not to have Moses’ Law broken, are you enraged at Me for making a man entirely well on the Sabbath?  ²⁴Do not judge superficially, but judge fairly.”

        ²⁵Then some of the Jerusalemites said, “Is not he the one they try to kill?  ²⁶Here he stands talking in public and nothing is said to him.  The rulers surely have not discovered that he is the Christ!  ²⁷But we know where this person is from; when the Messiah comes no one will know where he is from.”

        ²⁸So Jesus called out as He taught in the temple:  “Do you know Me and do you know where I am from?  I have not come self-appointed; but He who sent Me is true.  You do not know Him.  ²⁹I know Him because I am from His presence and He personally sent Me.”

        ³⁰Then they were anxious to arrest Him; but no one laid hands on Him; for His hour had not yet come.  ³¹Besides, many of the people believed in Him and said, “When the Christ comes, will He achieve more signs than this one does?”

        ³²The Pharisees learned how the people under their breath said these things about Him, so the chief priests and the Pharisees dispatched attendants to arrest Him.  ³³Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little while longer and then I go to my Sender; ³⁴you will look for Me without finding Me and where I am then, you are not able to come.”

        ³⁵The Jews talked among themselves:  “Where is he intending to go, so we cannot find him?  He surely does not plan to visit the Dispersion among the Greeks and to teach the Greeks?  ³⁶What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”

        ³⁷On the final and most important day of the Feast, Jesus stood and called out, “Whoever is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  ³⁸He who believes in Me, just as the Scripture says, streams of water shall flow from his innermost being.”  ³⁹He said this concerning the Spirit which believers in Him were about to receive.  For as yet the (Holy) Spirit was not given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

        ⁴⁰Listening to these teachings there were those in the crowd who said, “This really is the prophet.”  ⁴¹Others said, “This is the Christ.”  Others questioned, “But the Christ does not come from Galilee, does He?  ⁴²Does not the Scripture say that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and from Bethlehem town where David lived?”  ⁴³So, on account of Him there was disagreement among the people ⁴⁴and some of them wanted to seize Him; but no one laid hands on Him.

        ⁴⁵When the attendants of the chief priests and Pharisees returned, they were asked, “For what reason did you fail to bring him?”  ⁴⁶The attendants replied, “No man ever spoke as this man speaks!”  ⁴⁷The Pharisees rejoined, “Surely you are not misled, too?  ⁴⁸Have any of the authorities believed in him?  Or the Pharisees?  ⁴⁹But this public that does not know the Law—accursed are they.”

        ⁵⁰Nicodemus, one of their number—who had previously called on Him—said to them, ⁵¹“Our Law does not condemn a person without giving him a hearing and ascertaining his behavior, does it?”  ⁵²They replied to him, “You are not perhaps from Galilee?  Investigate and see that no prophet comes to the fore from Galilee.”

        ⁵³(Each went to his own home;

 

Chapter Eight

¹but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.  ²Early in the morning He went back to the temple and as all the people came to Him, He sat down and taught them.

        ³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of sinning and, placing her in the center, ^4-6they said to Him,—they were talking to test Him so they might trump up a charge against Him—“Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.  Now Moses ordered in the Law to stone such as she, so what do you say?”

        But Jesus stooped down and wrote with His finger on the ground, ⁷and as they kept on questioning Him, He raised Himself and told them, “Let the sinless one among you throw the first stone at her!“  ⁸Stooping down again, He wrote with His finger on the ground.  ⁹But they, on hearing it, went away conscience-stricken one after the other, beginning from the oldest—to the last—until Jesus was left alone with the woman as she stood there.

        ¹⁰Jesus raised Himself and asked her, “Woman, where are your accusers?  Has no one condemned you?”  ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord!”  So Jesus told her, “Then I do not condemn you, either.  Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.”)

        ¹²Then Jesus spoke to them again, “I am the Light of the world; My follower shall not walk around in darkness, but has the Light of life.”  ¹³So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are witnessing to yourself; your testimony is not valid.”  ¹⁴Jesus answered them, “Even if I do testify for Myself, My testimony is valid, for I know from where I come and where I go; but you neither know where I am from nor where I am going.  ¹⁵You judge by human standards; I judge no one, ¹⁶and in case I do judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone, but it is My Sender and I.  ¹⁷It is written in your Law that the evidence of two persons is valid; ¹⁸I am a witness for Myself, and My Father who sent Me witnesses on My behalf.”

        ¹⁹Then they said to Him, “Where is your Father?”  Jesus replied, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”

        ²⁰These sayings He uttered in the temple at the treasury as He taught, and no one got hold of Him, for His time had not yet come.

        ²¹Once more He told them, “I go away and you will look for Me; but you will die in your sin; the place to which I go you are not able to reach.”  ²²So the Jews said, “He is not going to kill himself, is he, to say, ‘Where I go you cannot come’?”  ²³He further said to them, “You are from below and I am from above.  You are from this world; I am not from this world; ²⁴so I told you that you would die in your sins.  For if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

        ²⁵They said to Him, “Who are you?”  Jesus replied, “I am exactly what I tell you:  ²⁶I have much to say and to judge about you, but My Sender is reliable and what I have learned from Him I tell the world.”

        ²⁷They did not catch on that He was mentioning the Father to them, ²⁸so Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will realize that I am He, and that I do nothing of My own accord, but tell things just as the Father has taught Me.  ²⁹My Sender is with Me; He does not leave Me alone, for I do invariably what pleases Him.”

        ³⁰As He said these things, many believed in Him; ³¹so Jesus accosted the Jews who had come to believe in Him, “If you adhere to My teaching, you will truly be My disciples; ³²you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

        ³³They came back at Him, “We are Abraham’s progeny, and we have never been slaves to anyone.  What do you mean by, ‘You will become freemen’?”  ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly I assure you, every one who commits sin, is a slave to sin.  ³⁵But the slave does not forever stay in the home; the Son remains forever.  ³⁶So if the Son liberates you, then you are unquestionably free.  ³⁷I know you are Abraham’s offspring; but you look for means to kill Me, for you have no use for My teaching.  ³⁸I relate what I have observed at the Father’s side and you behave as you have learned from your father.”

        ³⁹They retorted, “Abraham is our father”; to which Jesus replied, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do what Abraham did; ⁴⁰but here you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth which he learned from God.  Abraham did not act that way.  ⁴¹You are doing your father’s works.”  They said to Him, “We are not born illegitimately; God is our one Father.”  ⁴²“If God were your Father,” Jesus rejoined, “you would love Me, for I came out of and am here from God; neither did I come from personal motives, but He sent me.  ⁴³Why do you not understand My language?  Because you cannot bear to listen to My message.  ⁴⁴You have the devil for your father and the hankerings of your father you want to practice; he was a murderer from the start and he could not stay in the truth because there is no truth in him.  When he tells a lie, he talks naturally; for he is a liar and its father; ⁴⁵but because I speak the truth, you disbelieve Me.  ⁴⁶Who of you convicts Me of sin?  If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?  ⁴⁷A person whose origin is God, listens to the words of God.  Because you are not from God you do not listen.”

        ⁴⁸“Do we not say rightly,” the Jews replied to Him, “that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”  ⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I have no demon, but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.  ⁵⁰I am not out for My glory; there is One who takes care of that and who judges.  ⁵¹With assurance I tell you, anyone who observes My teaching shall nowise taste death forever.”

        ⁵²Retorted the Jews, “Now we know you have a demon.  Both Abraham and the prophets died and you say, ‘If anyone observes My teaching he will nowise taste of death forever.’  ⁵³You are not superior to our father Abraham, who died, are you?  And the prophets died.  Whom do you make yourself?”  ⁵⁴To which Jesus replied, “If I ascribed glory to Myself, My glory would be worthless.  My Father, whom you call ‘our God,’ He ascribes glory to Me.  ⁵⁵You do not know Him, but I know Him, and if I said, ‘I do not know Him,’ I would be a prevaricator like yourselves.  But I know Him and observe His word.

        ⁵⁶“Your father Abraham was extremely happy in the prospect of seeing My Day, and he did see it and felt glad.”  ⁵⁷Then the Jews addressed Him, “You are not yet fifty, and have you seen Abraham?”  ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Surely I confirm to you:  Before Abraham’s birth, I am.”

        ⁵⁹Then they picked up stones to hurl at Him; but Jesus got under cover and passed out of the temple.

 

Chapter Nine

        As He walked along, He noticed a man who had been blind from his birth, ²and his disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this fellow or his parents, so that he was born blind?”  ³Jesus answered, “Neither he has sinned nor his parents; but in him the works of God should be displayed.  ⁴So long as daytime lasts we must practice the works of My Sender; a night approaches when no one shall be able to work.  ⁵While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.”

        ⁶This said, He spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva, daubed the mud on his eyes ⁷and told him, “Go out and wash them in the pool of Siloam,—translated, Sent.”  So he went and washed and returned enjoying sight.

        ⁸Then the neighbors and those who had seen him before as he begged, remarked, “Is not he the one who sat and begged?”  ⁹Some said, “Yes, he is the one.”  Others said, “No, but he looks like him.”  He himself said, “I am the one.”  ¹⁰They asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?”  ¹¹He replied, “A man by the name of Jesus composed mud and daubed my eyes and told me to go to Siloam and wash; so I went and washed and I saw.”  ¹²They asked him, “Where is he?”  “I do not know,” he said.

        ¹³They conducted the once-blind man to the Pharisees, ¹⁴and the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened his eyes was the Sabbath.  ¹⁵Then the Pharisees, too, asked once more how he came to see; but he told them, “He applied mud to my eyes, and I washed them and I see.”  ¹⁶Some of the Pharisees then remarked, “This is not a man of God; for he does not observe the Sabbath.”  Others said, “How can a sinful man effect such signs?”  So there was disagreement among them.

        ¹⁷Then they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?”  He said, “That he is a prophet.”  ¹⁸The Jews, however, did not believe that he was the blind man who saw again, until they summoned his parents ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, whom you report as having been born blind?  How is it that he now sees?”  ²⁰His parents replied, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind; ²¹but we do not know how he now sees; neither do we know who opened his eyes.  Ask him; he is of age; he will speak for himself.”  ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that every confessor of Christ should be debarred from the synagogue.  ²³For that reason his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

        ²⁴So for the second time they summoned the man once blind and told him, “Give God the praise; we know that this man is a sinner.”  ²⁵He then replied, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know.  One thing I do know, that I was blind and now I see.”  ²⁶They asked him, “What did he do to you?  How did he open your eyes?”  ²⁷He answered them, “I have already told you and you did not listen; why do you want to hear it again?  You do not perhaps want to become his disciples, too?”  ²⁸They abused him and said, “You are his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.  ²⁹We know that God spoke through Moses; but this fellow—we do not know where he hails from.”

        ³⁰The man replied to them, “This is the marvel of it:  You do not know where he hails from, yet he opened my eyes.  ³¹We know that God does not respond to sinners; but He does hear one who reverences Him and does His will.  ³²Through the ages this has never been heard of, that someone opened the eyes of one born blind.  ³³If he were not of God, he could do nothing.”

        ³⁴They retorted, “You, altogether born in sins, would you teach us?”  And they threw him clear outside.

        ³⁵Jesus learned that they had expelled him and, encountering him, said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”  ³⁶He answered, “Who is he, Lord, so I may believe in him?”  ³⁷Jesus told him, “You have looked at Him; in fact, He is talking with you now.”  ³⁸He called out, “Lord, I believe!” and worshiped Him.

        ³⁹Jesus further spoke:  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the sightless may see, and the seeing become blind.”  ⁴⁰Certain of the Pharisees near Him asked Him, when they heard that, “We are not blind, too?”  ⁴¹Jesus told them, “If you were blind you would be blameless; but since you claim to have sight, your sin remains.”

 

Chapter Ten

        “Truly I assure you, he who does not enter the sheepfold through the door, but climbs up from elsewhere, he is a thief and a robber; ²but he who enters through the door is the sheep’s shepherd.  ³To him the door-keeper opens and the sheep listen to his voice; he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  ⁴When he has put out all that belong to him, he walks ahead of them and the sheep follow him; for they know his voice.  ⁵They do not at all follow a stranger, but run away from him, because they do not recognize the call of strangers.”

        ⁶Jesus told them this illustration; but they did not catch the meaning of what He said to them, ⁷so Jesus spoke again.  “Truly I assure you, I am the door for the sheep.  ⁸All who came before Me are thieves and robbers; but the sheep did not listen to them.  ⁹I am the Door.  Whoever comes in through Me shall be saved; he will go in and out and find pasture.  ¹⁰The thief’s only purpose in coming is to steal, to butcher and to spoil.  I have come so they may have life and have it abundantly.

        ¹¹“I am the Good Shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  ¹²The hired man, who is not the shepherd, who does not own the sheep, deserts the sheep and runs when he sees the wolf coming; then the wolf tears and scatters them.  ¹³(The hireling flees) for he is a hireling; what does he care about the sheep?

        ¹⁴“I am the Good Shepherd and I recognize My own.  My own in turn recognize Me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father,—and I lay down My life on behalf of the sheep.  ¹⁶I have other sheep, too, that are not in this fold; those I must guide as well and they will listen to My call, so there will be one herd, one Herder.

        ¹⁷“For this reason My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life to receive it again.  ¹⁸No one snatches it from Me; but I voluntarily lay it down.  I have authority to resign it and I have authority to take it back again.  I received this injunction from My Father.”

        ¹⁹Once more a disagreement arose among the Jews due to these teachings.  ²⁰Many of them said, “He has a demon; he is out of his mind; why do you listen to him?”  ²¹Others said, “These are not the remarks of a demoniac.  A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?”

        ²²The Feast of Dedication came on in Jerusalem.  It was winter ²³and Jesus walked inside the temple in Solomon’s Vestibule.  ²⁴So the Jews encircled Him and asked Him, “How long will you keep our minds in suspense?  If you are the Christ, tell us plainly!”  ²⁵Jesus replied to them, “I have told you and you do not believe.  The works that I achieve in My Father’s name bear Me witness; ²⁶but you do not believe because you do not belong to My sheep.  ²⁷My sheep listen to My call; I know them and they follow Me.  ²⁸I also give them eternal life and they shall not perish at all forever, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.  ²⁹My Father who gave them to Me is mightier than all and no one can wrest them out of My Father’s hand.  ³⁰I and the Father are One.”

        ³¹Again the Jews picked up stones to stone Him.  ³²Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many of My Father’s benevolent doings; for which of them would you stone Me?”  ³³The Jews replied, “We would not stone you for a good act but for blasphemy; because you, a human being, make yourself God.”  ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, I said, you are gods?  ³⁵If it calls them gods, to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken—³⁶do you say to One whom the Father dedicated and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme!’ because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’?  ³⁷If I do not accomplish My Father’s work, do not believe Me; ³⁸but if I do, then though you disbelieve Me, believe the things done, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me and I am in the Father.”

        ³⁹Then they tried again to get hold of Him, but He escaped their hands ⁴⁰and resorted once more to the place beyond the Jordan where John first baptized, and there He stayed.  ⁴¹Many came to Him and said, “While John wrought no sign, yet everything John said about him was true.”  ⁴²And many there believed in Him.