John 5
Healing a Paralytic at the Pool of Bethesda
5:1 After this1 there was a Jewish feast,2 and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.3 5:2 Now there is4 in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate5 a pool called Bethzatha6 in Aramaic,7 which has five covered walkways.8 5:3 A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways.9 5:5 Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years.10 5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized11 that the man12 had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, “Do you want to become well?” 5:7 The sick man answered him, “Sir,13 I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water,14 someone else15 goes down there16 before me.” 5:8 Jesus said to him, “Stand up! Pick up your mat17 and walk.” 5:9 Immediately the man was healed,18 and he picked up his mat19 and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.)20
5:10 So the Jewish leaders21 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.”22 5:11 But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat23 and walk.’” 5:12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat24 and walk’?”25 5:13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place.
5:14 After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “Look, you have become well. Don’t sin any more,26 lest anything worse happen to you.” 5:15 The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders27 that Jesus was the one who had made him well.
Responding to Jewish Leaders
5:16 Now because Jesus was doing these things28 on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders29 began persecuting30 him. 5:17 So he31 told32 them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.”33 5:18 For this reason the Jewish leaders34 were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.
5:19 So Jesus answered them,35 “I tell you the solemn truth,36 the Son can do nothing on his own initiative,37 but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father38 does, the Son does likewise.39 5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed. 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,40 so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.41 5:22 Furthermore, the Father does not judge42 anyone, but has assigned43 all judgment to the Son, 5:23 so that all people44 will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth,45 the one who hears46 my message47 and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned,48 but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth,49 a time50 is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 5:26 For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, 5:27 and he has granted the Son51 authority to execute judgment,52 because he is the Son of Man.
5:28 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time53 is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 5:29 and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation.54 5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative.55 Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just,56 because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.57
More Testimony About Jesus
5:31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 5:32 There is another58 who testifies about me, and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true. 5:33 You have sent to John,59 and he has testified to the truth. 5:34 (I do not accept60 human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.) 5:35 He was a lamp that was burning and shining,61 and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time62 in his light.
5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds63 that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds64 I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me. 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people65 have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time,66 5:38 nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. 5:39 You study the scriptures thoroughly67 because you think in them you possess eternal life,68 and it is these same scriptures69 that testify about me, 5:40 but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
5:41 “I do not accept70 praise71 from people,72 5:42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God73 within you. 5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept74 me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept75 him. 5:44 How can you believe, if you accept praise76 from one another and don’t seek the praise77 that comes from the only God?78
5:45 “Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.79 5:46 If80 you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 5:47 But if you do not believe what Moses81 wrote, how will you believe my words?”