John 11:1-16:33

ISV(i) 1 The Death of LazarusNow a certain man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 Mary was the woman who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was the one who was ill. 3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus and told him, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.”
4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness isn’t meant to end in death. It’s for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 Yet, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was for two more days.
7 After this, he told the disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death, and you are going back there again?”
9 Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours in the day, aren’t there? If anyone walks during the day he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks at night he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” 11 These were the things he said.
Then after this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I’m leaving to wake him up.”
12 So the disciples told him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was speaking about resting or sleeping.
14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 For your sake I’m glad that I wasn’t there, so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
16 Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, told his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too, so that we may die with him!”
17 Jesus the Resurrection and the LifeWhen Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. 20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.
21 Martha told Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give it to you.”
23 Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha told him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
25 Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live. 26 Indeed, everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world.”
28 When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you!”
29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet arrived at the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jewish leaders who had been with her, consoling her in the house, saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she had gone to the tomb to cry there.
32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was greatly troubled in spirit and deeply moved. 34 He asked, “Where have you put him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Jesus burst into tears.
36 So the Jewish leaders said, “See how much he loved him!”
37 But some of them said, “Surely the one who opened the eyes of the blind man could have kept this man from dying, couldn’t he?”
38 Jesus Brings Lazarus Back to LifeGroaning deeply again, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of it. 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.”
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there must be a stench by now, because he’s been dead for four days.”
40 Jesus told her, “I told you that if you believed you would see God’s glory, didn’t I?” 41 So they removed the stone.
Then Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. 42 I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
43 After saying this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The man who had died came out, his hands and feet tied with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a handkerchief. Jesus told them, “Untie him, and let him go.”
45 The Jewish Council Plans to Kill Jesus
Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and who had observed what Jesus did believed in him. 46 Some of them, however, went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the high priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, told them, “You don’t know anything! 50 You don’t realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” 51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they resolved to put him to death. 54 As a result, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. Instead, he went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness. There he remained with his disciples.
55 Now the Jewish Passover was approaching, and before the Passover many people from the countryside went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves. 56 They kept looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think? Surely he won’t come to the festival, will he?” 57 Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where he was should tell them so that they could arrest him.
12 1 Mary Anoints Jesus
Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived in Bethany, where Lazarus lived, the man whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. 3 Mary took a litron of very expensive perfume made of pure nard and anointed Jesus’ feet. She wiped his feet with her hair, and the house became filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was going to betray him, asked, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the destitute?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the destitute, but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the moneybag and would steal what was put into it.
7 Then Jesus said, “Leave her alone so she can observe the day of my burial, 8 because you will always have the destitute with you, but you won’t always have me.”
9 The Plot against LazarusWhen the large crowd of Jews realized that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the high priests planned to kill Lazarus, too, 11 since he was the reason why so many of the Jews were leaving to believe in Jesus.
12 The King Enters Jerusalem
The next day, the large crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem. 13 So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”
14 Then Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written: 15 “Stop being afraid, people of Zion. Look, your king is coming, sitting upon a donkey’s colt!”
16 At first, his disciples didn’t understand these things. However, when Jesus had been glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him and that people had done these things to him. 17 So the crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify to what they had seen. 18 The crowd was going out to meet Jesus because they had heard that he had performed this sign. 19 Then the Pharisees told one another, “You see, there is nothing you can do. Look, the world has gone after him!”
20 Some Greeks Ask to See JesusNow some Greeks were among those who had come up to worship at the festival. 21 They went to Philip (who was from Bethsaida in Galilee) and told him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”
22 Philip went and told Andrew, and Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus told them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces a lot of grain. 25 The one who loves his life will destroy it, and the one who hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must follow me. And where I am, there my servant will also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.”
27 Jesus Speaks about His Death“Now my soul is in turmoil, and what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No! It was for this very reason that I came to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again!” 29 The crowd standing there heard this and said that it was thunder.
Others were saying, “An angel has spoken to him.”
30 Jesus replied, “This voice is for your benefit, not for mine. 31 Now is the time for the judgment of this world to begin. Now the ruler of this world will be thrown out. 32 As for me, if I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was about to die.
34 Then the crowd answered him, “We have learned from the Law that the Messiah remains forever. So how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
35 Jesus replied to the crowd, “The light is among you only for a short time. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. The person who walks in the darkness is in the darkness and does not know where he is going. 36 As long as you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light.” After Jesus had said this, he went away and hid from them.
37 The Unbelief of the JewsAlthough he had performed numerous signs in their presence, they did not believe in him, 38 so that what the prophet Isaiah spoke might be fulfilled when he said: “Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the Lord’s power been revealed?”
39 This is why they could not believe: Isaiah also said, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they might not perceive with their eyes, and understand with their mind and turn, and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said this when he saw his glory and spoke about him. 42 Yet many people, even some of the authorities, believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not admit it so they would not be thrown out of the synagogue. 43 For they loved the praise of human beings more than the praise of God.
44 Judgment by Jesus’ WordThen Jesus said loudly, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me only, but also in the one who sent me. 45 The one who sees me sees the one who sent me. 46 I’ve come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me won’t remain in the darkness. 47 If anyone hears my words and doesn’t keep them, I don’t condemn him, because I didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save it. 48 The one who rejects me and doesn’t receive my words has something to judge him: The word that I’ve spoken will judge him on the last day, 49 because I haven’t spoken on my own authority. Instead, the Father who sent me has himself commanded me what to say and how to speak. 50 And I know that what he commands brings eternal life. What I speak, therefore, I speak just as the Father has told me.”
13 1 Jesus Washes the Disciples’ FeetNow before the Passover Festival, Jesus realized that his hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 By supper time, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him. 3 Because Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his control, that he had come from God, and that he was returning to God, 4 therefore he got up from the table, removed his outer robe, and took a towel and fastened it around his waist. 5 Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel that was tied around his waist.
6 Then he came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “You don’t realize now what I’m doing, but later on you’ll understand.”
8 Peter told him, “You must never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you cannot be involved with me.”
9 Simon Peter told him, “Lord, not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus told him, “Whoever has bathed is entirely clean. He doesn’t need to wash himself further, except for his feet. And you men are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him. That’s why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer robe, he sat down again and told them, “Do you realize what I’ve done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right because that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you must also wash one another’s feet. 15 I’ve set an example for you, so that you may do as I have done to you. 16 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, a servant isn’t greater than his master, and a messenger isn’t greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you understand these things, how blessed you are if you put them into practice! 18 I’m not talking about all of you. I know the ones I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: ‘The one who ate bread with me has turned against me.’ 19 I’m telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it does happen, you may believe that I AM. 20 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, the one who receives whomever I send receives me, and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me.”
21 Jesus Predicts His Betrayal
After saying this, Jesus was deeply troubled in spirit and declared solemnly, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, one of you is going to betray me!” 22 The disciples began looking at one another, completely mystified about whom he was speaking. 23 One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus kept loving, had been sitting very close to him.
24 So Simon Peter motioned to this man to ask Jesus about whom he was speaking. 25 Leaning forward on Jesus’ chest, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “He is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread after I have dipped it in the dish.”
Then he took a piece of bread, dipped it, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After he had taken the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus told him, “Do quickly what you are going to do!” 28 Now no one at the table knew why Jesus said this to him. 29 Some thought that, since Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him to buy what they needed for the festival or to give something to the destitute. 30 So Judas took the piece of bread, immediately went outside…and it was night.
31 The New CommandmentAfter Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “The Son of Man is now glorified, and God has been glorified by him. 32 If God has been glorified by him, God himself also will glorify the Son of Man, and he will do so quickly. 33 Little children, I’m with you only a little longer. You will look for me, but what I told the Jewish leaders I now tell you, ‘Where I’m going, you cannot come.’ 34 I’m giving you a new commandment…to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
36 Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial
Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him, “I’m going where you cannot follow me now, though you will follow me later on.”
37 “Lord, why can’t I follow you now?” Peter asked him. “I would lay down my life for you!”
38 Jesus answered him, “Would you lay down your life for me? I tell you emphatically, a rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.”
14 1 Jesus the Way to the Father “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there weren’t, I wouldn’t have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you, would I? 3 And since I’m going away to prepare a place for you, I’ll come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am. 4 You know where I am going, and you know the way.”
5 Thomas asked him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip told him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.”
9 “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” Jesus asked him. “The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 You believe, don’t you, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I don’t speak on my own. It is the Father who dwells in me and who carries out his work. 11 Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me because of what I’ve been doing. 12 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, the one who believes in me will also do what I’m doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I’m going to the Father. 13 I’ll do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.”
15 The Promise of the Helper“If you love me, keep my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father to give you another Helper, to be with you always. 17 He is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. But you recognize him, because he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I’m not going to forsake you like orphans. I will come back to you.
19 “In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. 20 At that time, you’ll know that I am in my Father, that you are in me, and that I am in you. 21 The person who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I, too, will love him and reveal myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) asked him, “Lord, how is it that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. Then my Father will love him, and we will go to him and make our home within him. 24 The one who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The words that you’re hearing me say are not mine, but come from the Father who sent me.
25 “I have told you this while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything that I have told you. 27 I’m leaving you at peace. I’m giving you my own peace. I’m not giving it to you as the world gives. So don’t let your hearts be troubled, and don’t be afraid. 28 You have heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, but I’m coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would rejoice that I’m going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. 29 I’ve told you this now, before I leave, so that when I do leave, you will believe. 30 I won’t talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me. 31 But I’m doing what the Father has commanded me, to let the world know that I love the Father. Get up! Let us leave this place.”
15 1 Jesus the True Vine “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vintner. 2 He cuts off every branch that does not produce fruit in me, and he cuts back every branch that does produce fruit, so that it might produce more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of what I’ve spoken to you.
4 “Abide in me, and I will abide in you. Just as the branch cannot produce fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine, you are the branches. The one who abides in me while I abide in him produces much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Unless a person abides in me, he is thrown away like a pruned branch and dries up. People gather such branches, throw them into a fire, and they are burned up.
7 “If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask for anything you want, and you’ll receive it. 8 This is how my Father is glorified, when you produce a lot of fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 Just as the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. So abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you’ll abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 I’ve told you this, so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
12 “This is my commandment: that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one shows greater love than when he lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends, if you do what I command you. 15 I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends, because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father.
16 “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 17 I am giving you these commandments so that you may love one another.”
18 The World’s Hatred“If the world hates you, you should realize that it hated me before you. 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. 20 Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. 21 They will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.
22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The person who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I hadn’t done among them the actions that no one else did, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this happened so that what has been written in their Law might be fulfilled: ‘They hated me for no reason.’
26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father— the Spirit of Truth, who comes from the Father—he will testify on my behalf. 27 You will testify also, because you have been with me from the beginning.
16 1 “I have told you this to keep you from falling away. 2 You’ll be thrown out of the synagogues. Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he’s serving God. 3 They’ll do this because they haven’t known the Father or me. 4 But I’ve told you this, so that when the time comes you’ll remember that I told you about them. I didn’t tell you this in the beginning, because I was still with you.”
5 The Work of the Spirit“But now I am going to the one who sent me. Yet none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6 But because I have told you this, sorrow has filled your hearts. 7 However, I’m telling you the truth. It’s for your advantage that I’m going away, because if I don’t go away, the Helper won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment— 9 of sin, because they don’t believe in me; 10 of righteousness, because I’m going to the Father and you will no longer see me; 11 and of judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
12 “I still have a lot to say to you, but you cannot bear it now. 13 Yet when the Spirit of Truth comes, he’ll guide you into all truth. He won’t speak on his own accord, but he’ll speak whatever he hears and will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said, ‘He will take what is mine and declare it to you.’ 16 In a little while you will no longer see me, then in a little while you will see me again.”
17 At this point, some of his disciples asked each other, “What does he mean by telling us, ‘In a little while you will no longer see me, then in a little while you will see me again,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 They kept saying, “What is this ‘in a little while’ that he keeps talking about? We don’t know what he means.”
19 Sorrow will Turn to JoyJesus knew that they wanted to ask him a question, so he asked them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will no longer see me, then in a little while you will see me again’? 20 Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, you’ll cry and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You’ll be deeply distressed, but your pain will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is in labor she has pain, because her time has come. Yet when she has given birth to her child, she doesn’t remember the agony anymore because of the joy of having brought a human being into the world. 22 Now you are having pain. But I’ll see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. 23 On that day, you won’t ask me for anything. Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, whatever you ask the Father for in my name, he will give it to you. 24 So far you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Keep asking and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.”
25 Victory over the World“I have said these things to you in figurative language. The time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 At that time, you will make your requests in my name, so that I will have no need to ask the Father on your behalf, 27 because the Father himself loves you, and because you have loved me and believed that I came from God. 28 I left the Father and came into the world. Now I’m leaving the world and going back to the Father.”
29 Jesus’ disciples said, “Well, now you’re speaking plainly and not using figurative language. 30 Now we know that you know everything and don’t need to have anyone ask you any questions. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God.”
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Listen, the time is coming, indeed it has already come, when you will be scattered, each of you to his own home, and you will leave me all by myself. Yet I’m not alone, because the Father is with me. 33 I have told you this so that through me you may have peace. In the world you’ll have trouble, but be courageous—I’ve overcome the world!”