MSB(i)
1 At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 (Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
4 When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6 So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,
7 and then He said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
8 “Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried to stone You, and You are going back there?”
9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.
10 But if anyone walks at night, he will stumble, because he has no light.”
11 After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.”
12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.”
13 They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus.
14 So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
16 Then Thomas called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
17 When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb.
18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away,
19 and many of the Jews had come to the women around Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.
20 So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Mary stayed at home.
21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.”
23 “Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her.
24 Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27 “Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
28 After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.”
29 And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him.
30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was at the place where Martha had met Him.
31 When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, saying that she was going to the tomb to mourn there.
32 When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
34 “Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered.
35 Jesus wept.
36 Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
37 But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.
39 “Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.”
40 Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”
41 So they took away the stone from where the dead man was lying. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42 I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”
43 After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him.
46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs.
48 If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49 But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all!
50 You do not realize that it is better for us that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
51 Caiaphas did not say this on his own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation,
52 and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one.
53 So from that day on they plotted to kill Him.
54 As a result, Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but He withdrew to a town called Ephraim in an area near the wilderness. And He stayed there with the disciples.
55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.
56 They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple courts, “What do you think? Will He come to the feast at all?”
57 But the chief priests and Pharisees had given an order that anyone who knew where He was must report it, so that they could arrest Him.
12 1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus who had died, whom He had raised from the dead.
2 So they hosted a dinner for Jesus there. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with Him.
3 Then Mary took about a pint of expensive perfume, made of pure nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
4 But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, who was going to betray Him, asked,
5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
6 Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.
7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “She has kept this perfume in preparation for the day of My burial.
8 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have Me.”
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews learned that Jesus was there. And they came not only because of Him, but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.
10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,
11 for on account of him many of the Jews were deserting them and believing in Jesus.
12 The next day the great crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
13 They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, crying out: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
14 Finding a young donkey, Jesus sat on it, as it is written:
15 “Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion. See, your King is coming, seated on the colt of a donkey.”
16 At first His disciples did not understand these things, but after Jesus was glorified they remembered what had been done to Him, and they realized that these very things had also been written about Him.
17 Meanwhile, many people continued to testify that they had been with Jesus when He called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead.
18 That is also why the crowd went out to meet Him, because they heard that He had performed this sign.
19 Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You can see that this is doing you no good. Look how the whole world has gone after Him!”
20 Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the feast.
21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
22 Philip relayed this appeal to Andrew, and both of them went and told Jesus.
23 But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
25 Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
26 If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
27 Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? No, it is for this purpose that I have come 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 it and said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to Him.
30 In response, Jesus said, “This voice was not for My benefit, but yours.
31 Now judgment is upon this world; now the prince of this world will be cast out.
32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw everyone to Myself.”
33 He said this to indicate the kind of death He was going to die.
34 The crowd replied, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ will remain forever. So how can You say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
35 Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
36 While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of light.” After Jesus had spoken these things, He went away and was hidden from them.
37 Although Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still did not believe in Him.
38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: “Lord, who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
39 For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:
40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes, and understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.”
41 Isaiah said these things when he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about Him.
42 Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.
43 For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.
44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in Me does not believe in Me alone, but in the One who sent Me.
45 And whoever sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.
47 As for anyone who hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him. For I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
48 There is a judge for the one who rejects Me and does not receive My words: The word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
49 I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.
50 And I know that His command leads to eternal life. So I speak exactly what the Father has told Me to say.”
13 1 It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew 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 very end.
2 The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
3 Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.
4 So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.
5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “Never shall You wash my feet!” Peter told Him. Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.”
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”
10 Jesus told him, “Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.”
11 For He knew who would betray Him. That is why He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again and asked, “Do you know what I have done for you?
13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.
14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.
15 I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.
16 Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
17 If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
18 I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’
19 I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you will believe that I am He.
20 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.”
21 After Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.”
22 The disciples looked at one another, perplexed as to which of them He meant.
23 One of His disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at His side.
24 So Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus which one He was talking about.
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this morsel after I have dipped it.” Then He dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
27 And when Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
28 But no one at the table knew why Jesus had said this to him.
29 Since Judas kept the money bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor.
30 As soon as he had received the morsel, Judas went out into the night.
31 When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
32 If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify the Son in Himself—and will glorify Him at once.
33 Little children, I am with you only a little while longer. You will look for Me, and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’
34 A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
36 “Lord, where are You going?” Simon Peter asked. Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow Me now, but you will follow Me later.”
37 “Lord,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”
38 “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.
14 1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe in Me as well.
2 In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and welcome you into My presence, so that you also may be where I am.
4 You know the place where I am going and you know the way.”
5 “Lord,” said Thomas, “we do not know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 If you had known Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me—or at least believe Me on account of the works themselves.
12 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to My Father.
13 And I will 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 If you love Me, keep My commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to abide with you forever—
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
19 In a little while the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you also will live.
20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.
21 Whoever 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 will love him and reveal Myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
24 Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.
25 All this I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
27 Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.
28 You heard Me say, ‘I am going away, and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved Me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because My Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe.
30 I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming, and he has no claim on Me.
31 But I do exactly what the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up! Let us go on from here.
15 1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the keeper of the vineyard.
2 He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
5 I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
6 If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers. Such branches are gathered up, thrown into the fire, and burned.
7 If you remain in Me and My words remain in you, then you will ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to My Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, proving yourselves to be My disciples.
9 As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Remain in My love.
10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
11 I have told you these things so that My joy may abide in you and your joy may be complete.
12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are My friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
17 This is My command to you: Love one another.
18 If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
19 If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
20 Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
21 But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin.
23 Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.
24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.
25 But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’
26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.
27 And you also must testify, because you have been with Me from the beginning.
16 1 “I have told you these things so that you will not fall away.
2 They will put you out of the synagogues. In fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.
3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me.
4 But I have told you these things so that when the hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
5 Now, however, I am going to Him who sent Me; yet none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’
6 Instead, your hearts are filled with sorrow because I have told you these things.
7 But I tell you the truth, it is for your benefit that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you.
8 And when He comes, He will convict the world in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
9 in regard to sin, because they do not believe in Me;
10 in regard to righteousness, because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me;
11 and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world has been condemned.
12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it.
13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you.
15 Everything that belongs to the Father is Mine. That is why I said that the Spirit will take from what is Mine and disclose it to you.
16 In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me, because I am going away to the Father.”
17 Then some of His disciples asked one another, “Why is He telling us, ‘In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
18 They kept asking, “Why is He saying, ‘a little while’? We do not understand what He is saying.”
19 Aware that they wanted to question Him, Jesus said to them, “Are you asking one another why I said, ‘In a little while you will not see Me, and then after a little while you will see Me’?
20 Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and wail while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.
21 A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the world.
22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.
23 In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
24 Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. But an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
26 In that day you will ask in My name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
27 For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.
28 I came from the Father and entered the world. In turn, I will leave the world and go to the Father.”
29 His disciples said, “See, now You are speaking plainly and without figures of speech.
30 Now we understand that You know all things and that You have no need for anyone to question You. Because of this, we believe that You came from God.”
31 “Do you finally believe?” Jesus replied.
32 “Look, an hour is coming and has already come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.
33 I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take courage; I have overcome the world!”