JMNT(i)
1 Now there was a man from out of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler (leader; chief; head man) of the Jews (= Jewish culture, political organization and religion).
2 This one comes (or: goes; came; went) to Him by night, and says (or: said) to Him, "Rabbi, we have seen and thus know that You are a Teacher having come, and are here, from God, for no one is able (or: continues having power) to constantly be doing (making; producing) these signs (or: habitually performing these authenticating tokens and attesting signals), which You are constantly doing (performing; producing), unless God would continue being with him (or: if God should not be constantly with him)."
3 Jesus considered, and replies to him, saying, "Certainly it is so, I am saying (= I now point out) to you, unless anyone (or: someone) may be born back up again to a higher place (or: can be brought to birth again; or: would be given birth from above), he continues having no power (or: he is continuously unable) to see or perceive God’s reign, sovereign influence/activity, or kingdom."
4 Nicodemus says to Him, "How does a man continue being able to be born, being an old man? He is not able (or: He remains powerless) to enter into his mother’s womb (cavity; belly) a second [time] and be born!"
5 Jesus decisively replies, "Certainly that is so. I am now saying (laying it out; = pointing out) to you, unless anyone (or: someone) may be born forth from out of water and spirit (or: – as well as Breath-effect and attitude –) he continues being unable (he remains having no power) to enter into God’s realm (or: reign; kingdom; sovereign activity and influence).
6 "The thing being birthed, having been born forth from out of the flesh, is flesh (or: from the estranged human nature, continues being the estranged human nature; or: = from out of flesh system is a flesh system), and the thing being birthed, having been born forth from out of the Spirit, is spirit (or: what is birthed out of the Breath-effect continues being Breath-effect; or: what is born from the Attitude is an attitude).
7 "You should not be amazed (or: begin to marvel; at some point be filled with wonder; suddenly be astonished; or: Don't be surprised) that I said to you, 'It is necessary and binding for you folks to be born back up again to a higher place (or: for you people to be given birth from above).'
8 "The Spirit (or: Breath; Attitude) habitually breathes and blows where It (or: He) is presently intending (willing; purposing), and you continually hear It’s (or: His) voice, but yet you have not seen, and thus do not know, from what source It continuously comes, and where It goes and brings [things and folks] under control. (or: The wind constantly blows where it presently sets its will, and you constantly hear it’s sound, but yet you have not seen and do not know from where it is coming, nor where it is going; or: = The wind continuously blows and the Spirit normally breathes – in the place that each has purpose. And so you are often hearing the sound that either make, although you have not perceived from what place it is presently coming, as well as to what place it is presently leading, under [its influence or control].) Thus is everyone (or: does everyone constantly exist being) – the one being birthed, having been born forth from out of the midst of the Spirit (or: Breath; Attitude)."
9 Nicodemus considered in reply, and says to Him, "How is it possible for these things to occur (or: How can these things come to be; How is it repeatedly able [for] these to come to birth)?"
10 Jesus decisively responded and says to him, "You yourself are the teacher of Israel, and yet you continue not knowing and being intimately familiar with these things!
11 "Certainly it is so, I am now saying to you, that which we have seen and thus know (or: perceive), we are constantly speaking (or: telling; chattering [about]), and what we have caught sight of and seen we repeatedly bear witness of (constantly give testimony to), and you folks continue not receiving (or: none of you are laying hold of) our witness (or: testimony; evidence).
12 "Since I tell (or: If I told) you folks the earthly things (or: ones; situations), and you folks are not continuing in belief (do not presently believe; are not proceeding to trust), how will you continue to believe or trust if I should speak to you the things (or: situations; ones) upon the heavens (or: the super-heavenly occurrences; the fully-heavenly things [taking place]; the things or folks being in a position of control upon the atmospheres)?
13 "Furthermore, no one has ascended (or: stepped up) into the heaven (or: atmosphere) except the One descending (or: stepping down) from out of the midst of the atmosphere (or: heaven): the Son of Mankind (the Son of the human; Humanity’s Son; the Son of man) – the One continuously being (or: constantly existing) within the midst of the heaven (or: atmosphere). [with p66 & 75, Aleph, B and others: And yet not even one person climbed up into heaven (or: the sky), if not that one at one point descending from out of the midst of heaven (or: the sky) – the Human Being.]
14 "And so, just as (or: correspondingly as) Moses lifted up (elevated; raised up high) the serpent, within the wilderness (desert; desolate place) [Num. 21:7ff], thus it is necessary and binding for the Son of Mankind (Humanity’s Son) to be lifted up (elevated; raised up high; exalted),
15 "to the end that everyone – the one habitually believing and trusting – would continuously have eonian life (life having the state of being, qualities and characteristics of the sphere pertaining to the Age [of the Messiah]; age-quality and eon-lasting life): within (or: in union with) Him! [with other MSS: so that all, while continuously trusting into Him {others: on Him}, may not lose or destroy themselves, but rather may habitually hold age-abiding life (eonian life; life that continues on through the ages).]
16 "For thus God loves the world (the universe; the ordered arrangement; the organized system [of life and society]; or: = all mankind), so that He gives His uniquely-born [with other MSS: the only-begotten] Son, (or, reading wste as an adverb: You see, in this manner God loves the sum total of created beings as being the Son: He gives the Only-begotten One; or: reading wV te: For you see, [it is] in this way [that] God loves the aggregate of humanity – even as it were His Son: He gives the uniquely-born One), to the end that all (or: everyone) – the one habitually believing, putting confidence and trusting into Him – would not lose or destroy himself, or cause himself to fall into ruin, but rather can continuously have (or: would habitually possess and hold) eonian life (age-durative life with qualities derived from the Age [of the Messiah]; living existence of and for the ages). [note 1): I have here given the “fact” sense of the aorist tense of the verbs “love” and “give” rather than the simple past tense. The statement by Jesus is a “timeless” fact of God; it signifies that the object of His love and His gift (that object being the cosmos, the universe, the world of men and created beings) is in view as a whole, and both the love and the gift are presented as fact, as one complete whole (punctiliar) which exists apart from any sense of time (i.e., coming from the realm or sphere of the “eternal,” or, “the Being of God;” note 2): Paul Tillich defines "love" (agape): the whole being's drive and movement toward reunion with another, to overcome existential separation; an ecstatic manifestation of the Spiritual Presence; acceptance of the object of love without restriction, in spite of the estranged, profanized and demonized state of the object; – Systematic Theology III, pp 134-138]
17 "For God does not send forth His [other MSS: the] Son as an Emissary, or Representative, into the world (or: System; aggregate of humanity) to the end that He should continuously separate and make decisions about the world (or: would at some point sift and judge the System, or the aggregate of humanity), but to the contrary, to the end that the world would be delivered (or: that the System could be healed and made whole; that the ordered arrangement should be restored to health; that the aggregate of mankind may be saved – rescued and re-established in its original state): through Him!
18 "The one habitually believing and progressively placing trust into Him is not being continuously sifted or evaluated (is not habitually being separated for decisions or being judged). The one not habitually trusting and believing has already been sifted and evaluated (separated for a decision; judged) and that decision yet exists, because he has not believed so that he trusts into the Name [note: “name” is a Semitism for the person, or his authority, or his qualities] of the uniquely-born Son of God (or: into God’s Son – the only-begotten One).
19 "Now this continues being the (or: So there continues being the same) process of the sifting, the separation and the decision (the evaluation; the judging), because the Light has come (or: has gone) into the world (the aggregate of humanity; the ordered system and arrangement of religion, culture and government; or: the system of control and regulation), and yet the humans love the darkness (or: the men [= the leadership] love the dimness of obscurity and gloom; or: mankind loved the shadow-realm) rather than the Light, for their works (deeds; actions) were continuing to be bad ones (unsound ones; wicked ones; laborious ones; toilsome ones that created bad news; wrongful ones),
20 "for everyone [who is] habitually practicing (or: performing) worthless things (base, mean, common, careless, cheap, slight, paltry, sorry, vile things or refuse) is continuously hating (regarding with ill-will) the light, and is not coming (or: going) to the light (or: the Light), so that his works (deeds; actions) may not be tested and put to the proof (and thus, exposed and perhaps reproved).
21 "Yet the one habitually doing the truth (constantly constructing the real; repeatedly making the genuine) is constantly coming (or: going; moving) toward the light (or: the Light), so that his works (deeds; actions) may be set in clear light and manifested, because they exist being ones having been worked and accomplished (or: performed as deeds) within God (or: that it is within God [that they are] ones having been acted out)."
22 After these things, Jesus and the disciples went (or: came) into the Judean territory (land; country; region), and He was wearing away the time there with them. He was also periodically immersing (or: baptizing).
23 Now John was continuing repeatedly immersing (baptizing) in Enon, near Salim, because much water was (or: many waters were) there, and [folks] kept showing up alongside and were being immersed (baptized),
24 for not yet was John one having been cast into the guardhouse (jail; prison).
25 There arose (came to be) from out of John’s disciples, thereupon, a discussion (an inquiry; a seeking question) with a Jew (or: a Judean) about cleansing (ceremonial purification).
26 So they went to (or: come toward) John, and said (or: say) to him, "Rabbi, he who was with you across (on the other side of) the Jordan [River], to whom you have borne witness (or: for whom you have testified), look (see; consider), this one is continually immersing (baptizing), and everyone is (or: all are) constantly coming toward (or: going to) him."
27 John deliberated in reply and says, "Man continues without ability (or: remains unable) to be receiving anything, unless it may have been existing being having been given to him from out of the heaven (or: A man is continually powerless to lay hold of and take anything, unless he was possibly being one having been given [ability] from out of the atmosphere and heaven in him).
28 "You folks, yourselves, repeatedly bear me witness (or: habitually testify for me) that I myself said, 'I am not the Christ (the Anointed One)!' But rather that, 'I am one having been sent forth as an emissary (one sent forth with a mission as a representative) in front of That One.'
29 "The One continually holding (or: constantly having) the bride is (exists being) a Bridegroom (or: [the] Bridegroom). Yet the friend of the Bridegroom – the man having taken a stand, and continuing standing, and continuously listening and hearing from Him in joy – is constantly rejoicing because of the Bridegroom’s voice! This joy – the one [that is] mine – has therefore been fulfilled (or: This, then, my joy, has been made full).
30 "It is necessary and binding for That One to be progressively growing and increasing, yet for me to be progressively less (or: continually made inferior).
31 "The One repeatedly coming back again from above (or: habitually going again to a higher place) is above upon all people (or: constantly exists being up over upon all things). The person continuously being forth from out of the earth [as a source] is (or: constantly exists being) from out of the earth, and is habitually speaking forth from out of the earth. The One continuously coming (or: habitually going; repeatedly coming and progressively going) forth from out of the midst of the heaven (or: the atmosphere) is, and constantly exists being, above upon all people (or: up over upon all things).
32 "What He has seen and hears (or: heard), to this He continuously bears witness (or: is repeatedly testifying and giving evidence), and yet no one is presently grasping (or: habitually takes in hand; continues receiving) His witness (or: testimony; evidence).
33 "The one receiving (grasping; taking in hand; getting hold of) His witness (or: testimony; evidence) certifies – by setting a seal (= giving attestation) – that God is true (real; genuine; truthful),
34 "for He Whom God sends forth with a mission (dispatches as an Emissary and Representative) habitually is speaking the gush-effects from God (the results of the flows of God; God's declarations or sayings), for God is habitually (or: continuously) giving the Spirit (Breath; or: Attitude) [and] not from out of a measure (= not by a measured portion or limit; = without measure and without limitation).
35 "The Father continuously loves the Son, and He has given all humanity (or, as a neuter: all things) [to Him] so that He has it (or: them) as a gift within His hand.
36 "The one habitually trusting (or: continuously going on confidently believing with loyalty) into the Son is now constantly holding and progressively having eonian life (life having the characteristics and qualities of the sphere of the Age; life of and for the ages; eon-lasting life; life whose source is the Age [of Messiah]). Yet the person now continuing being unpersuaded by the Son (or: presently being constantly incompliant, disobedient or disbelieving to the Son; being repeatedly stubborn toward the Son) will not be catching sight of (seeing; observing; perceiving) [this] life. To the contrary, God’s inherent fervor (teeming passion and swelling desire; mental bent and natural impulse; propensity and disposition; or: anger, wrath and indignation) is continuously remaining (is now habitually dwelling and abiding) upon him." [note: vss. 31-36 may be narrative by the author, John, and not continued sayings of the Baptist]