John 5

Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool

1Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish feast. 2In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language# Aramaic, the language of the Jews in the first century. it is called Bethzatha.# Also called Bethsaida or Bethesda, a pool of water north of the Temple in Jerusalem. This pool is near the Sheep Gate. 3Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [and they waited for the water to move. 4Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].# Some Greek copies do not contain all or most of the bracketed text. 5There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. 6Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”

7The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”

8Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” 9And immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and began to walk.

The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. 10So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”

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

12Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”

13But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.

14Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”

15Then the man left and went back to the Jews. He told them that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

16Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day. So the Jews began to do bad things to him. 17But Jesus said to them, “My Father never stops working. And so I work, too.”

18This made the Jews try harder to kill him. They said, “First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Then he said that God is his own Father! He is making himself equal with God!”

Jesus Has God’s Authority

19But Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. The Son can do nothing alone. The Son does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does whatever the Father does. 20The Father loves the Son, and the Father shows the Son all the things he himself does. But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed. 21The Father raises the dead and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to those he wants to. 22Also, the Father judges no one. But the Father has given the Son power to do all the judging. 23God did this so that all people will respect the Son the same way they respect the Father. He who does not respect the Son does not respect the Father. The Father is the One who sent the Son.

24“I tell you the truth. Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life. 25I tell you the truth. The time is coming and is already here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear will have life. 26Life comes from the Father himself. So the Father has allowed the Son to give life. 27And the Father has given the Son the approval to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good will rise and have life forever. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.

Jesus Is God’s Son

30“I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told, so my judgment is right. I don’t try to please myself. I try to please the One who sent me.

31“If I tell people about myself, then they will not accept what I say about myself. 32But there is another who tells about me. And I know that the things he says about me are true.

33“You have sent men to John. And he has told you about the truth. 34But I don’t need a man to tell about me. I tell you this so that you can be saved. 35John was like a burning and shining lamp. And you were happy to enjoy his light for a while.

36“But I have a proof about myself that is greater than that of John. The things I do are my proof. These are the things my Father gave me to do. They show that the Father sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has given proof about me himself. You have never heard his voice. You have never seen what he looks like. 38His teaching does not live in you because you don’t believe in the One that the Father sent. 39You carefully study the Scriptures because you think that they give you eternal life. Those are the same Scriptures that tell about me! 40But you refuse to come to me to have that life.

41“I don’t want praise from men. 42But I know you—I know that you don’t have God’s love in you. 43I have come from my Father—I speak for him. But you don’t accept me. But when another person comes, speaking only for himself, you will accept him. 44You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe? 45Don’t think that I will stand before the Father and say that you are wrong. Moses is the one who says that you are wrong. And he is the one that you hoped would save you. 46If you really believed Moses, you would believe me because Moses wrote about me. 47But you don’t believe what Moses wrote. So how can you believe what I say?”

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John 5: ICB

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