1- 1 In the beginning was the Word;

the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

2 He was with God in the beginning.

3 Through him all things came to be.

Not one thing had its beginning but through him.

4 All that came to be had life in him

and that life was the light of men.

5 a light that shines in the dark,

a light that darkness could not overpower.

6 A man came, sent by God.

His name was John.

7 He came as a witness,

as a witness to speak for the light,

so that everyone might believe through him.

8 He was not the light,

only a witness to speak for the light.

9 The Word was the true light

that enlighten all men;

and he was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world

that had its being through him,

and the world did not know him.

11 He came to his own domain

and his own people did not accept him.

12 But to all who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to all who believe in the name of him

13 who was born not out of human stock

or urge of the flesh

or will of man

but of God himself.

14 The Word was made flesh,

he lived among us, and we saw his glory,

the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,

full of grace and ruth.

15 John appears as his witness. He proclaims:

"This is the one of who I said:

He who comes after me

ranks before me

because he existed before me."

16 Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received -

yes, grace in return for grace,

17 since, though the Law was given through Moses,

grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.

18 No one has ever seen God;

it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father's heart,

who made him known.

The witness of John

19 This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to sk him. "Who are you?" 20 he not only declared, but he declared quiet openly, "I am not the Christ." 21 "Well then," they asked, "are you Elijah?" "I am not," he said, "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." 22 So they said to him, "Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you got to say about yourself?" 23 So John said, "I am, as Isaiah prophesied:

A voice that cries in the wilderness;

Make a straight way for the Lord."

24 Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees, 25 and they put this further question to him, "Why are you baptizing if you are not the Christ , and not Elijah. And not a prophet?" 26 John replied, "I baptize with water; but there stands among you - unknown to you - 27 the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal strap." 28 This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day, seeing Jesus coming toward him, John said, "Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. 30 This is the one I spoke of when I said: A man is coming after me who ranks before me because he existed before me. 31 I did not know him myself, and yet it was to reveal him to Israel that I came baptizing with water." 32 John also declared, "I saw the Spirit coming down on him from heaven like a dove and resting on him. 33 I did not know him myself, but he who sent me to baptize with water had said to me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and rest is the one who is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit.' 34 Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God."

The first disciples

35 On the following day as John stood there again with two of his disciples, 36 Jesus passed, and John stared hard at him and said, "Look, there is the lamb of God." 37 Hearing this, the two disciples followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned around, saw them following and said, "What do you want?" They answered, "Rabbi," - which means Teacher - where do you live?" 39 Come and see," he replied; so they went and saw where he lived, and stayed with hm the rest of the day. It was about the tenth hour.

40 One of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 41 "e have found the Messiah" - which means the Christ - 42 and he took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked hard at him and said, "You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas" - meaning Rock.

43 The next day, after Jesus had decided to leave for Galilee, he met Philip and said, "Follow me." 44 Philip came from the same town, Bethsaida, as Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, the one about whom the prophets wrote: he is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth." 46 From Nazareth?" Said Nathanael, "Can anything good come from that place?" "Come and see," replied Philip. 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming he sais of him, "There is an Israelite who deserves the name, incapable to deceit." 48 "How do you know me?" Said Nathanael "Before Philip came to call you," Jesus said, "I saw you under the fig tree." 49 Nathanael answered, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel." 50 Jesus replied, "You believe that just because I said: I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things then that." 51 And then he added, "I tell you most solemnly, you will see heaven laid open and, above the Son of Man, the angels of God ascending and descending."

The wedding at Cana

2- 1 Three days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee. The mother of Jesus was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited. 3 When they ran out of wine, since the wine provided for the wedding was all finished, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." 4 Jesus said, "Woman, why turn to me? My hour has not come yet." 5 His mother said to the servants "Do whatever he tells you." 6 There were six stone water jars standing there, meant for the ablution that are customary among the Jews; each could hold twenty or thirty gallons. 7 Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water," and they filled them to the brim. 8 Draw some out now," he told them, "and take it to the steward." 9 They did this; the steward tasted the water, and it had turned into wine. Having no idea where it came from - only the servants who had drawn the water knew - the steward called the bridegroom 10 "People generally serve the best wine first, and keep the cheaper sort till the guests have had plenty to drink; but you have kept the best wine till now."

11 This was the first of the signs given by Jesus: it was given at Cana in Galilee. He let his glory be seen, and his disciples believed in him. 12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and the brothers, but they stayed there only a few days.

The cleansing of the Temple

13 Just before the Jewish Passover Jesus went to Jerusalem, 14 and in the Temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting a their counter there. 15 Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them all out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers' coins, knocked their tables over 16 and said to the pigeon sellers, "Take all this out of here and stop turning my Father's house into a market." 17 Then his disciples remembered the word of scripture: Zeal for your house will devour me. 18 The Jews intervened and said, "What sign can you show us to justify what you have done?" 19 Jesus answered, "Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up." 20 The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to built this sanctuary; are you going to raise it p in three days?" 21 But he was speaking of the sanctuary that was his body, 22 and when Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the words he had said.

23 During his stay in Jerusalem for the Passover many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he gave, 24 but Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them; 25 he never needed evidence about any man; he could tell what a man had in him.

The conversation with Nicodemus

3- 1 There was one of the Pharisees called Nicodemus, a leading Jew, 2 who came to Jesus by night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who comes from God; for no one could perform the signs that you do unless God were with him." 3 Jesus answered:

"I tell you most solemnly,

unless a man is born again from above,

he cannot see the kingdom of God."

4 Nicodemus said, "How can a grown man be born? Can he go back into his mother's womb and be born again?" 5 Jesus replied:

"I ell you most solemnly,

unless a man is born through water and the Spirit,

he cannot enter the kingdom of God;

6 what is born of the flesh is flesh;

what is born of the Spirit is spirit,

7 Do not be surprised when I say:

You must be born from above.

8 The wind blows wherever it pleases;

you hear its sound,

but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.

That is how it is with all who are born of the Spirit."

9 "How can that be possible?" Asked Nicidemus. 10 "You, a teacher in Israel, and you do not know these things!" replied Jesus.

11 "I tell you solemnly,

we speak only about what we know

and witness only to what we have seen

and yet you people reject our evidence.

12 If you do nor believe me

when I speak about things in this world,

how are you going to believe me

when I speak to you about heavenly things?

13 No one has gone up to heaven

except the one who came down from heaven,

the Son of Man must be lifted up

14 as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert,

15 so that everybody who believes may have eternal life in him.

16 Yes, God loved the world so much

that he ave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost

but may have eternal life.

17 For God sent his Son into the world

not to condemn the world

but so that through him the world might be saved.

18 No one who believes in him is condemn;

but whoever refuses to believe is condemn already,

because he has refused to believe

in the name of God's only Son.

19 On these grounds is sentence pronounced:

that though the light has come into the world

men have shown they prefer

darkness to the light

because their deeds were evil.

20 And indeed, everybody who does wrong

hates the light and avoids it,

for fear his actions should be exposed;

21 but the man who lives by the truth

comes out into the light,

so that it may be plainly seen that what he does is done in God."

John bears witness for the last time

22 After tis, Jesus went with his disciples into the Judaean countryside and stayed with them there and baptized. 23 At the same time John was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, where there was plenty of water, and people were going there to be baptized. 24 This was before John had been put in prison.

25 Now some of John's disciples had opened a discussion with a Jew about purification, 26 so they went to John and said, "Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan, the man to whom you bore witness, is baptizing now; and everyone is going to him." 27 John replied:

"A man can lay claim

only to what is given him from heaven.

28 "You yourselves can bear me out; I said: I myself am not the Christ; I am the one who has been sent in front of him.

29 "The bride is only for the bridegroom;

and yet the bridegroom's friends,

who stand there and listens,

is glad when he hears the bridegroom's voice.

The same joy I feel, and now it is complete.

30 He must grow greater,

I must grow smaller.

31 He who comes from above

is above all others;

he who is born of the earth

is earthly himself and speaks in an earthly way.

He who comes from heaven

32 bears witness to the things he has seen and heard.

Even if his testimony is not accepted;

33 though all who do accept his testimony

are attesting the truthfulness of God,

34 since he whom God has sent

speaks God's own words:

God gives him the Spirit without reserve.

35 The Father loves the Son

and has entrusted everything to him.

36 Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life.

But anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life:

the anger of God stays on him."

The saviour of the world revealed to the Samaritans

4- 1 When Jesus heard that the Pharisees had found out that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John - 2 though in fact it was his disciples who baptized, not Jesus himself - 3 he left Judaea and went back to Galilee. 4 his meant that he had to cross Samaria.

5 On the way he came in the Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well is there and Jesus, tired by the journey, sat straight down by the well. It was about the sixth hour. 7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, "What? You are a Jew and you ask me, a Samaritan, for a drink?" - Jews, in fact, do not associate with Samaritans. 10 Jesus replied:

"If you only knew what God is offering

and who it is that is saying to you:

Give me a drink,

you would have been the one to ask,

and he would have given you living water."

11 "You have no bucket, sir, she answered, "and the well is deep: how could you get this living water? 12 Are you a greater man than our father Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself with his sons and his cattle?" 13 Jesus replied:

"Whoever drinks this water

will get thirsty again;

14 but anyone who drinks the water that I shall give

will never be thirsty again.

Will turn into a spring inside him, welling up to eternal life."

15 "Sir," said the woman, "give me some of that water, so that I may never get thirsty and never have to come here again to draw water." 16 "Go and call your husband," said Jesus to her, "and come back here." 17 The woman answered, "I have no husband." He said to her, You are right to say, 'I have no husband'; 18 for although you have had five, the one you have now is not your husband. You spoke the truth there." 19 "I see you are a prophet, sir" said the woman. 20 "Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, while you say that Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." 21 Jesus said:

"Believe me, woman, the hour is coming

when you will worship the Father

neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

22 You worship what you do not know;

we worship what we do know;

for salvation comes from the Jews.

23 But the hour will come - in fact it is here already -

when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth;

the Father wants.

24 God is spirit,

and those who worship

must worship in spirit and truth."

25 The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah - that is Christ - is coming; and when he comes he will tell us everything." 26 "I who am speaking to you," said Jesus, "I am he."

27 At this point his disciples returned, and were surprised to find him speaking to a woman, though none of them asked, "What do you want of her?" Or, "Why are you speaking to her?" 28 The woman put down her water jar and hurried back to the town to tell the people. 29 "Come and see a man who has told me everything I ever did; I wonder if he is the Christ?" 30 This brought people out of the town and they started walking toward him.

31 Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, do have something to eat"; 32 but he said, "I have food to et that you do not know about." 33 So the disciples asked one another, "Has someone been bringing him food?" 34 But Jesus said:

"My food

is to do the will of the one who sent me,

and to complete his work.

35 Have you not got a saying:

Four months and then the harvest?

Well, I tell you:

Look around you, look at the fields;

already they are white, ready for harvest!

36 Already the reaper is being paid his wages,

already he is bringing in the grain for eternal life,

and thus sower and raper rejoice together.

37 For here the proverb holds good:

one sows, another reaps;

38 I sent you to reap

a harvest you had not worked for.

Others worked for it;

and you have come into the rewards of their trouble.

39 Many Samaritans of that town had believed in him on the strength of the woman's testimony when she said, "He told me all I have ever done," 40 so, when the Samaritans came up to him, they begged him to stay with them. He stayed for two days, and 41 when he spoke to them many more came to believe; 42 and they said to the woman, "Now we no longer believe because of what you told us; we have heard him ourselves and we know that he really is the saviour of the wold."

The cure of the nobleman's son

43 When the two days were over Jesus left for Galilee. 44 He himself had declared that there is o respect for a prophet in his own country, 45 but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem during the festival which they too had attended.

46 He went again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum 47 and, hearing that Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and cure his son as he was at the point of death. 48 Jesus said, "so you will nor believe unless you see signs and portents!" 49 "Sir," answered the official, "come down before the child dies." 50 "Go home," said Jesus, "your son will live." The man believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; 51 and while he was still on the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. 52 He asked them when the boy had began to recover. "The fever left him yesterday." they said, "at the seventh hour." 53 The father realized that this was exactly the time when Jesus said, "Your son will live"; and he and his household believed.

54 This was the second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.

The cure of a sick man at the Pool of Behzatha

5- 1 Some time after this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem there is a building, called Betzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticoes; 3 and under these were crowds of sick people - blind, lame, paralysed - waiting for the water to move; 4 for at intervals the angel of the Lord came down into the pool, and the water was disturbed, and the first person to enter the water after this disturbance was cured of any ailment he suffered from. 5 One man here had an illness which had lasted thirty-eight years, 6 and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in this condition for a long time, he said, "Do you want to be well again?" 7 "Sir," replied the sick man, "I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me." 8 Jesus said, "Get up, pick up your sleeping mat and walk." 9 The man was cured at once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.

Now that day happened to be the sabbath, 10 so the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping mat." 11 He replied, "But the man who cured me told me, "Pick up your mat and walk.'" 12 They asked, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your mat and walk?'" 13 The man had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled the place. 14 After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, "Now you are well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you." 15 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. 16 It was because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute Jesus. 17 His answer to them was, "My Father goes on working, and so do I." 18 But that only made the Jews even more intent on killing him, because, not content with breaking the sabbath, he spoke of God as his own Father, and so made himself God's equal.

19 To this accusation Jesus replied:

"I tell you most solemnly,

the Son can do nothing by himself;

he can do only what he sees the Father doing;

and whatever the Father does the Son does too.

20 For the Father loves the Son

and shows him everything he does himself,

and he will show him even greater things than these,

works that will astonish you.

21 Thus, as the Father raises the dead and give them life,

so the Son gives life to anyone he choses;

22 for the Father judges no one;

he has entrusted all judgment to the Son,

23 so that all may honour the Son

as they honour the Father.

Whoever refuses honour to the Son

refuses honour to the Father who sent him.

24 I tell you most solemnly,

whoever listens to my words,

and believes in the one who sent me,

has eternal life,

without being brought to judgment

he has passed fro death to life.

25 I tell you most solemnly,

the hour will come - in fact it is here already -

when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,

and all who hear it will live.

26 For the Father, who is the source of life,

has made the Son the source of life;

27 and, because he is the Son of Man,

has appointed him supreme judge.

28 Do not be surprise at this,

for the hour is coming

when the dead will leave their graves

at the sound of his voice:

29 those who did good

will rise again to life;

and those who did evil, to condemnation.

30 I can do nothing by myself;

I can only judge as I am told to judge,

and my judging is just,

because my aim is to do not my own will,

but the will of him who sent me.

31 "Were I to testify on my own behalf,

my testimony would not be valid;

32 but there is another witness who can speak on my behalf,

ans I know that is testimony is valid.

33 You sent messengers to John,

and he gave his testimony to the truth:

34 not that I depend on human testimony;

no, it is for your salvation that I speak of this.

35 John was a lamp alight and shining

and for a time you were content to enjoy the light that he gave.

36 But my testimony is greater than John's:

the works my Father has given me to carry out,

these same works of mine

testify that the Father has sent me.

37 Besides, the Father who sent me

bears witness to me himself.

You have never heard his voice,

you have never seen his shape,

38 and his word finds no home in you

because you do not believe

in the one he has sent.

39 "You study the scriptures,

believing that in them you have eternal life;

now these same scriptures testify to me,

40 and yet you refuse to come to me for life!

41 As for human approval, this means nothing to me.

42 Besides, I know you to well;

you have no love of God in you.

43 I have come in the name of my Father

and you refuse to accept me;

if someone else comes in his own name

you will accept him.

44 How can you believe,

since you look to one another for approval

and are not concerned

with the approval that comes from the one God?

45 Do not imagine that I am going to accuse you before the Father:

you place your hopes on Moses,

and Moses will be your accuser.

46 If you really believe him

you would believe me too,

since it was I that he was writing about;

47 but is you refuse to believe what he wrote,

how can you believe what I say?"

The miracle of the loaves

6- 1 Some time after this, Jesus went off to the other side of the ea of Galilee - or of Tiberias - 2 and a large crowd followed hum, impressed by the signs he gave by curing the sick. 3 Jesus climbed the hillside, and sat down there with his disciples. 4 It was shortly before the Jewish feast of Passover.

5 Looking up, Jesus saw the crowds approaching and said to Philip, "Where can we buy some bread for these people to eat?" 6 He only said this to test Philip; he himself knew exactly what he was going to do. 7 Philip answered, "Two hundred denarii would only buy enough to give them a small piece each." 8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said, 9 "There is a small boy here with five barley loaves and two fish; but what is that between so many?" 10 Jesus said to them, "Make the people sit down." There was plenty of grass there, and as many as five thousand men sat down. 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted. 12 When they had eaten enough he said to the disciples, "Pick up the pieces left over, so that nothing get wasted." 13 So they picked them up, and filled twelve hampers with scraps left over from the meal of five barley loaves. 14 The people, seeing this sign that he had given, said, "This really is the prophet who is to come into the world." 15 Jesus who could see they were about to come and take him by force and make him king, escaped back to the hills by himself.

Jesus walks on the waters

16 That evening the disciples went down to the shore of the lake and 17 got into a boat to make for Capernaum on the other side of the lake. It was getting dark now and Jesus had still not rejoined them. 18 The wind was strong, and the sea was getting rough. 19 They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the lake and coming toward the boat. This frightened them, 20 but he said, "It is I. Do not be afraid." 21 They were for taking him into the boat, but in no time it reach the shore at the place they were making for.

The discourse in the synagogue at Capernaum

22 Next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side saw that oly one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not got into the boat with his disciples, but that the disciples had set off by themselves. 23 Other boats however, had put in from Tiberias, near the place where the bread had been eaten. 24 When the people saw that neither Jesus nor the disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26 Jesus answered:

"I tell you most solemnly,

you are not looking for me

but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat.

27 Do not work for food that cannot last,

but work for food that endures to eternal life,

the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you,

for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal."

28 Then they said to him, "What must we do to do the works that God wants?" 29 Jesus gave them this answer, "This is working for God, you must believe in the one he has sent." 30 So they said, "What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? 31 Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

32 Jesus answered:

"I tell you solemnly,

it was not Moses who gave bread from heaven,

it is my Father who gives you the bread from heaven,

the true bread;

33 for the bread of God

is that which comes down from heaven

and gives life to the world."

34 "Sir," they said, "Give us that bread always." 35 Jesus answered:

"I am the bread of life.

He who comes to me will never be hungry;

he who believes in me will never thirst.

36 But, as I have told you.

You can see me and still you will not believe.

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me,

and whoever comes to me

I shall not turn him away;

38 because I have come from heaven,

not to do my own will,

but to do the will of the one who sent me.

39 Now the will of the one who sent me

is that I should lose nothing

of all that he has given me,

and that I should raise it up on the last day.

40 Yes, it is my Father's will

that whoever sees the Son and believes in him

shall have eternal life,

and that I shall raise him up on the last day."

41 Meanwhile the Jews were complaining to each other about him, because he had said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42 "Surely this Jesus son of Joseph," they said. L"We know his father and mother. How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven?'" 43 Jesus said in reply, "Stop complaining to each other.

44 "No one can come to me

unless he is drawn by the Father who sent me,

and I will raise him up at the last day.

45 It is written in the prophets:

They will all be taught by God,

and to hear the teaching of the Father,

and learn from it,

is to come to me.

46 Not that anybody has seen the Father,

except the one who comes from God:

he has seen the Father.

47 I tell you most solemnly,

everybody who believes has eternal life.

48 I am the bread of life.

49 Your fathers ate the manna in the desert

and they are dead;

50 but this is the bread that comes down from heaven,

so that man may eat it and not die.

51 I am the living bread which has come down from heaven.

Anyone who eats this bread will live for ever;

and the bread that I shall give

is my flesh, for the life of the world."

52 hen the Jews started arguing with one another: "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" They said. 53 Jesus replied:

"I tell you most solemnly,

if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man

and drink his blood,

you will not have life in you.

54 Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood

has eternal life,

and I shall raise him up on the last day.

55 For my flesh is real food

and my blood is real drink.

56 He who eats my flesh and drink my blood

lives in me

and I live in him.

57 As I, who am sent by the living Father,

myself draw life from my Father,

so whoever eats me will draw life from me.

58 This is the bread come down from heaven;

not like the bread our ancestors ate:

they are dead,

but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever."

59 He taught this doctrine at Capernaum, in the synagogue. 60 After hearing it, many of his followers said, "his is intolerable language. How can anyone accept it?" 61 Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, "Does this upset you? 62 What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?

63 "It is the spirit that gives life,

the flesh has nothing to offer.

The words I have spoken to you are spirit

and they are life.

64 "But there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. 65 He went on, "This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him." 66 After this, many of the disciples left him and stopped going with him.

Peter's profession of faith

67 Then Jesus said to the Twelve, "What about you, do you want to go away too?" 68 Simon Peter answered, "Lord, who shall we go to? You hae the message of eternal life, 69 and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God." 70 Jesus replied, "Have I not chosen you, you Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil." 71 He meant Judas son of Simon Iscariot, since this was the man, one of the Twelve, who was going to betray him.

Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for the feast and teaches there

7- 1 After this Jesus stayed in Galilee; he could not stay in Judaea, because the Jews were out to kill him.

2 As the Jewish feast of Tabernacles drew near, 3 his brothers said to him, "Why not leave this place and go to Judaea, and let your disciples see he works you are doing; 4 if a man wants to be known he does not do tings in secret; since you are doing all this, you should let the whole world see." 5 Not even his brothers, in fact, had faith in him. 6 Jesus answered, "The right time for me has not come yet, but any time is the right time for you. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it does hate me, because I give evidence that its ways are evil. 8 Go up to this festival yourselves: I am not going to this festival, because for me the time is not ripe yet." 9 "Having said that, he stayed behind in Galilee.

10 However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went up has well, but quite privately, without drawing attention to himself. 11 At the festival the Jews were on the lookout for him: "Where is he?" They said. 12 People stood in groups whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man"; others, "No, he is leading people astray." 13 Yet no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Jews.

14 When the festival was half over, Jesus went to the Temple and bean to teach. 15 The Jews were astonished and said, "How did he learn to read? He has not been taught." 16 Jesus answered:

"My teaching is not from myself;

it comes from the one who sent me;

17 and if anyone is prepared to do his will,

he will know whether my teaching is from God

or whether my doctrine is my own.

18 When a man's doctrine is his own

he is hoping to get honour for himself;

but when he is working for the honour of one who sent im,

then he is sincere

and by no means an impostor.

19 Did not Moses give you the Law?

And yet not one of you keeps the Law!

"Why do you want to kill me?" 20 The crowd replied, "You are mad! Who wants to kill you?" 21 Jesus answered, "One work I did, you are all surprised by it. 22 Moses ordered you to practice circumcision - not that it began with im, it goes back to the patriarchs - and you circumcise on the sabbath. 23 Now if a man can circumcise on the sabbath so that the Law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me for making a man whole and complete on a sabbath? 24 Do not keep judging according to appearances; let your judgment be according to what is wright."

The people discuss the origin of the Messiah

25 Meanwhile some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, "Isn't this the man they want to kill?" 26 And here he is, speaking freely, and they have nothing to say to him! Can it be true the authority have made up their minds that he is the Christ? 27 Yet we all know where he comes from, but when the Christ appears no one will know where he comes from."

28 Then as Jesus taught in the Temple, he cried out:

"Yes, you know me and you know where I come from.

Yet I have not come of myself:

ne, there is one who sent me and I really come from him,

and you do not know him,

29 but I know him

and it was he who sent me."

30 They would have arrested him then, but because his time had not yet come no one laid a hand on him.

Jesus foretells his approaching departure

31 There were many people in the crowd, however, who believed in him; they were saying, "When the Christ comes, will he give more signs than this man?" 32 Hearing that rumours like this about him were spreading among the people, the Pharisees sent the Temple police to arrest him.

33 Then Jesus said:

"I shall remain with you for only a short time now;

then I shall go back to the one who sent me.

34 You will look for me and will not find me:

where i am

you cannot come."

35 The Jews then said to one another, "here is he going that we shan't be able to find him? Is he going abroad to the people who are dispersed among the Greeks and will he teach the Greeks? 36 What does he mean when he says:

'You will look for me and you will not find me;

where I am,

you cannot come?'"

The promise of living water

37 On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out:

"If any man is thirsty, let him come to me!

38 Let the man come and drink who believes in me!"

As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.

39 He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet be glorified.

Fresh discussion on the origin of the Messiah

40 Several people who had been listening said, "Surely he must be the prophet." 41 And some said, "He is the Christ," but others said, "Would the Christ be from Galilee? 42 Does the scripture say that Christ must be descended from David and come from the town of Bethlehem?" 43 So the people could not agree about him. 44 Some would have liked to arrest him, but no one actually laid hands on him.

45 The police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees who said to them, "Why haven't you brought him?" 46 The police replied, "There has never been anybody who has spoken like him." 47 "So," the Pharisees answered, "you have been led astray as well? 48 Have any of the authorities believed in him? Any of the Pharisees? 49 Tis rabble knows nothing about the Law - they are damned." 50 One of them Nicodemus - the same man who had come to Jesus earlier - said to them, 51 But surely the Law does not allow us to pass judgment on a man without giving him a hearing and discovering what he is about?" 52 To this they answered, "Are you a Galilean too? Go into the matter, and see for yourself: prophets do not come out of Galilee."

The adulteress woman

53 They all went home, 8- 1 and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

2 At daybreak he appeared in the Temple again; and as all the people came to him, he sat down and began to teach them.

3 The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman along who had been caught committing adultery; and making her stand there in full view of everybody, 4 they said to Jesus, "Master, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery, 5 and Moses has ordered us in the Law to condemned women like this to death by stoning. What have you to say?" 6 They asked him as a test, looking for something to use against him. But Jesus bent down and started writing on the ground with is finger. 7 As they persisted with their question, he looked up and said, "If there is one of you who has not sinned, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Then he bent down and wrote on the ground again. 9 When they heard this they went away one by one, beginning with the eldest, until Jesus was left alone with the woman, who remained standing there. 10 He looked up and said, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" 11 "No one, sir," she replied. "Neither do I condemn you," said Jesus, "Go away and don't sin any more."

Jesus the light of te world

12 When Jesus spoke to the people again, he said:

"I am the light of the world;

anyone who follows me will not be walking in the dark;

he will have the light of life."

A discussion on the testimony of Jesus to himself

13 At this the Pharisees said to him, "You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid." 14 Jesus replied:

"It is true that I am testifying on my own behalf,

but my testimony is still valid,

because I know

where I come from and where I am going;

but you do not know

where I come from or where I am going.

15 You judge by human standards;

I judge no one,

16 but if I judge,

my judgment will be sound,

because I am not alone:

the one who sent me is with me;

17 and in your Law it is written

that the testimony of two witnesses is valid.

18 I may be testifying on my own behalf,

but the Father who sent me is my witness too."

19 They asked him, "Where id your Father?" Jesus answered:

"You do not know me, nor do you know my Father;

if you did know me, you would know my Father as well."

20 He spoke these words in the Treasury, while teaching in the Temple. No one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

The unbelieving Jews warned

21 Again he said to them:

"I am going away; you will look for me

and you will die in your sin.

Where I am going, you cannot come."

22 The jews said to one another, "Will he kill himself? Is that what he means by saying, 'Where I am going, you cannot come?'" 23 Jesus went on:

"Yo are from below;

I am from above.

You are of the world;

I am not of this world.

24 I have told you already: You will die in your sins.

Yes, if you do not believe that I am He,

you will die in your sins."

25 So they said to him, "Who are you?" Jesus answered:

"What I have told you from the outset.

26 About you I have much to say

and much to condemn;

but the one who sent me is truthful,

and what I have learned from him

I declare to the world."

27 They failed to understand that he was talking to them about the Father. 28 So Jesus said:

"When you have lifted up the Son of Man,

then you will know that I am He

and that I do nothing of myself:

what the Father has taught me

is what I preach;

29 he who sent me is with me,

and has not left me to myself,

for I always do what pleases him."

30 As he was saying this, many came to believe in him.

Jesus and Abraham

31 To the Jews who believed in him Jesus said:

"If you make my word your home

you will indeed be my disciples,

32 you will learn the truth

and the truth shall make you free."

33 They answered, "We are descended from Abraham and we have never been the slave of anyone, what do you mean, 'You will be made free?" 34 Jesus replied:

"I tell you most solemnly,

everyone who commits sin is a slave.

35 Now the slave's place in the house is not assured,

but the son's place is assured.

36 So if the Son makes you free,

you will be free indeed.

37 I know that you are descended from Abraham;

but in spite of that you want to kill me

because nothing I say has penetrated into you.

38 What I, from my part, speak of

is what I have seen with my Father;

but you, you put into action

the lessons learned from your fathers."

39 They repeated, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them:

"If you were Abraham's children,

you would do as Abraham did.

40 As it is, you want to kill me

when I tell you the truth

as I learned it from God;

that is not what Abraham did.

41 What you are doing is what your father does."

"We were not born of prostitution," they went on, "we have one father God." 42 Jesus answered:

"If God were your father, you would love me,

since I have come here from God; yes, I have come from him;

no, I was sent, and by him.

43 Do you know why I cannot take in what you say?

It is because you are unable to understand my language.

44 The devil is your father,

and you prefer to do

What your father wants.

He was a murderer from the start;

he was never grounded in the truth;

there is no truth in him at all:

when he lies

he is drawing on his own store,

because he is a liar, and the father of lies.

45 But as for me I speak the truth

and for that very reason,

you do not believe me.

46 Can one of you convict me of sin?

If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?

47 A child of God

listens to the words of God;

if you refuse to listen,

it is because you are not God's children."

48 The Jews replied, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and possessed by a devil?" Jesus answered:

49 "I am not possessed;

no, I honour my Father,

but you want to dishonour me.

50 Not that I care for my own glory,

there is someone who takes care of that and is the judge of it.

51 I tell you most solemnly,

whoever keeps my word

will never see death."

52 The Jews said, "Now we know for certain that you are possessed. Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead, and yet you say, "Whoever keeps my word will never the taste of death.' 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The prophets are dead too. Who are you claiming to be?" 54 Jesus answered:

"If I were to seek my own glory

that would be no glory at all;

my glory is conferred by the Father,

by the one of whom you say, 'He is our God,'

55 although you do not know him.

But I know him,

and if I were to say: I do not know him,

I should be a liar, as you are liars yourselves.

But I do know him, and I faithfully keep his word.

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced

to think that he would see my Day;

he saw it and was glad."

57 The Jews then said, "You are not fifty yet, and you have seen Abraham!" 58 Jesus replied:

"I tell you most solemnly,

before Abraham ever was,

I am."

59 At this they picked up stones to throw at him; but Jesus hid himself and left the Temple.

The cure of a man born blind

9- 1 As he went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, "Rabi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?" 3 "Neither he or his parents sinned," Jesus answered, "He was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

4 "As long as the day lasts

I must carry out the work of the one who sent me;

the night will soon be here when no one can work.

5 As long as I am in the world

I am the light of the world."

6 Having said this, he spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man, 7 and said to him, "Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam (a name that means "sent"). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

8 His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, "Isn't this man who used to sit and beg?" 9 Some said, "Yes, it is the same one." Others said, "No, he only looks like him." The man himself said, "I am the man." 10 So they said to him, "Then how do your eyes come to be open?" 11 "The man called Jesus" he answered, "made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, 'Go and wash at Siloam'; so I went, and when I washed I could see." 12 They asked, "Where is he?" "I do not know," he answered.

13 They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14 It has been a sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man's eyes, 15 so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, e said, "He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see." 16 Then some of the Pharisees said, "This man cannot be from God; he does not keep the sabbath." Others said, "How could a sinner produce signs like this?" And there was disagreement among them. 17 So the spoke to the blind man again, "What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?" "He is a prophet," replied the man.

18 However, the Jews would not believe that the man had been blind and had gained his sight, without first sending for his parents and 19 asking them, "Is this man really your son who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he is now able to see?" 20 His parents answered, "We know he is our son and we know he was born blind, 21 but we don't know how it is that he can see now, or who opened his eyes. He is old enough: let him speak for himself." 22 His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to expel from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. 23 This was why his parents said, "He is old enough; ask him."

24 So the Jews again sent for the man and said to him, "Give glory to God! For our part, we know that this man is a sinner." 25 The man answered, "I don't know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see." 26 They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he opened your eyes?" 27 He replied, "I have told you ounce and you wouldn't listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become his disciples too?" 28 At this they hurled abuse at him: "You can be his disciple," they said, "we are disciples of Moses; 29 we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for you this man, we don't know where he comes from." 30 The man replied, "Now here is an astonishing thing! He has opened my eyes, and you don't know where he comes from! 31 We know that God doesn't listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will. 32 Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind; 33 if this man were not from God, he couldn't do a thing." 34 "Are you trying to teach us," they replied, "And you a sinner through and through, since you were born!" And they drove him away.

35 Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" 36 "Sir," the man replied, "tell me who he is so that I can believe in him." 37 Jesus said, "You are looking at him; he is speaking to you." 38 The man said, "Lord, I believe," and worshipped him.

39 Jesus said:

"It is for judgment

that I have come into this world,

so that those without sight may see

and those with sight turn blind."

40 Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, "We are not blind, surely?" 41 Jesus replied:

"Blind? If you were,

you would not be guilty,

but since you say, 'We see,'

Your guilt remains.

The good shepherd

10- 1 "I tell you most solemnly, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold through the gate, but gets in some other way is a thief and a brigand. 2 The one who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the flock; 3 the gatekeeper lets him in, the sheep hear his voice one by one he calls his own sheep and leads them out. 4 When he has brought out his flock, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow because they know his voice. 5 They never follow a stranger but run away from him: they do not recognize the voice of strangers."

6 Jesus told them this parable but they failed to understand what he meant by telling it to them.

7 So Jesus spoke to them again:

"I tell you most solemnly,

I am the gate of the sheepfold.

8 All others who have come

are thieves and brigands;

but the sheep took no notice of them.

9 I am the gate.

Anyone who enters through me will be safe:

he will go freely in and out

and be sure of finding pasture.

10 The thief comes

only to steal and kill and destroy.

I have come

so that they may have life

and have it to the full.

11 I am the good shepherd;

the good shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep.

12 The hired man, since he is not the shepherd

and the sheep do not belong to him,

abandons the sheep and runs away

as soon as he sees a wolf coming,

and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep;

13 this is because he is only a hired man

and has no concern for the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd;

I know my own

and my own know me,

15 just as the Father knows me

and I know the Father;

and I lay down my life for my sheep.

16 And there are other sheep I have

that are not of this fold,

and these I have to lead as well.

They too will listen to my voice,

and there will be only one flock,

and one shepherd.

17 The Father loves me,

because I lay down my life

in order to take it up again.

18 No one takes it from me;

I lay it down of my own free will,

and as it is in my power to lay it down,

so it is in my power to take it up again;

and this is the command I have been given by my Father."

19 These words caused disagreement among the Jews. 20 Many said, "He is possessed, he is raving; why bother to listen to him?" 21 Others said, "These are not the words of a man possessed by a devil: could a devil open eyes of the blind?"

Jesus claims to be the Son of God

22 It was the time when the feast of Dedication was being celebrated in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23 and Jesus was in the Temple walking up and down in the Portion of Solomon. 24 The Jews gathered around him and said, "How much longer are you going us in suspense? If you are the Christ , tell us plainly." 25 Jesus replied:

"I have told you, but you do not believe.

The works I do in my Father's name are my witness;

26 but you do not believe,

because you are no sheep of mine.

27 The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice;

I know them and they follow me.

28 I give them eternal life;

they will never be lost

and no one will ever steal them from me.

29 The Father who gave them to me is greater than anyone,

and no one can steal from the Father.

30 The Father and I are one."

31 The Jews fetched stones to stone him, 32 so Jesus said to them, "I have done many good works for you to see, works from my Father; for which of these are you stoning me?" 33 The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for doing a good work but for blasphemy: you are only a man and you claim to be God." 34 Jesus answered:

"Is it not written in your Law:

I said, you are gods?

35 So the Law uses the word gods

of those to whom the word God was addressed,

and scripture cannot be rejected.

36 Yet you say to someone the Father has consecrated and sent

Into the world,

'You are blaspheming,'

Because he says, 'I am the Son of God.'

37 If I am not doing my Father's work,

there is no need to believe me;

38 but if I am doing it,

then even if you refuse to believe in me,

at least believe in the work I do;

then you will know for sure

that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."

39 They wanted to arrest him then, but he eluded them.

Jesus withdraws to the other side of the Jordan

40 He went back again to the far side of the Jordan to stay in the district where John had once been baptizing. 41 Many people who came to him there said, "John gave no signs, but all he said about this man was true"; 42 and many of them believed him.

The resurrection of Lazarus

11- 1 There was a man name Lazarus who lived in the village of Bethany with the two sisters, Mary and Martha, and he was ill - 2 It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair. 3 The sister sent this message to Jesus, "Lord, the man you love is ill." 4 On receiving the message, Jesus said, "The sickness will end not in death but in God's glory, and through it the Son of God will be glorified."

5 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 before saying to the disciples, "Let us go to Judaea." 8 The disciples said, "Rabbi, is it not long since the Jews wanted to stone you; are you going back again?" 9 Jesus replied:

"Are there not twelve hours in the day?

A man can walk in daytime without stumbling

because he has the light of this world to see by;

10 but if he walks at night he stumbles,

because there is no light to guide him."

11 He said that and then added, "Our friend Lazarus id resting, I am going to wake him." 12 The disciples said to im, "Lord, if he is able to rest he is sure to get better." 13 The phrase Jesus used referred to the death of Lazarus, but they thought that by "rest" he meant sleep," so 14 Jesus put it plainly, "Lazarus is dead; 15 and for your sake I am glad I was not there because now you will believe. But let us go to him." 16 Then Thomas - known as the Twin - said to the other disciples, "Let us go too, and die with him."

17 On arriving, Jesus found that Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days already. 18 Bethany is only about two miles from Jerusalem, 19 and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to sympathise with them over their brother. 20 When Martha heard that Jesus had come she went to meet him. Mary remained sitting in the house. 21 Martha said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died, 22 but I know that, even now, whatever you ask of God, he will grant you." 23 "Your brother," said Jesus to her, "Will rise again." 24 Martha said, "I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day." 25 Jesus said:

"I am the resurrection.

If anyone believes in me, even though he dies he will live,

26 and whoever lives and believes in me

will never die.

Do you believe this?

27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world."

28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in a low voice, "The Master is here and wants to see you." 29 Hearing this, Mary got up quickly and went to him. 30 Jesus had not yet come into the village; he was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who were in the house sympathizing with Mary saw her get up so quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 Mary went to Jesus, and as soon as she saw him she threw herself at his feet, saying, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." At the sight of her tears, and those of the Jews who followed her, Jesus said in great distress, with a sigh that came straight from the heart, 34 "Where have you put him?" They said, "Lord, come and see." 35 Jesus wept; 36 and the Jews said, "See how much he loved him!" 37 But there were some who remarked, "He opened the eyes of the blind man, could he not have prevented this man's death?" 38 Still sighing, Jesus reached the tomb: it was a cave with a stone to close the opening. 39 Jesus said, "Take the stone away." Martha said to him, "Lord, by now he will smell; this is the fourth day." 40 Jesus replied, "Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted up is eyes and said:

"Father, I thank you for hearing my prayer.

42 I knew indeed that you always hear me,

but I speak

for the sake of all these who stand around me,

so that they may believe it was you who sent me."

43 When he had said this, he cried in a loud voice, Lazarus, here! Come out!" 44 The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with bands of stuff and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, let him go free."

The Jewish leaders decide on the death of Jesus

45 Many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what he did believed in him, 46 but some of them went to tell the Pharisees what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting. "Here is the man working all these signs," they said, "and what action are we taking? 48 If we let him go on in this way everybody will believe in im, and the Romans will come and destroy the Holy Place and our nation." 49 One of them, Caiaphas, the high priests that year, said, "You don't seem to have grasped the situation at all; 50 you fail to see that it is better for one man to die for the people, than for the whole nation to be destroyed." 51 He did not speak in his own person, it was as high priest that he made this prophecy that Jesus was to die for the nation - 52 and not for the nation only, but to gather together in unity the scattered children of God. 53 From that day they were determined to kill him. 54 So Jesus no longer went out openly among the Jews, but left the district for a town called Ephraim, in the country bordering on the desert, and stayed there with his disciples.

The Passover draws near

55 The Jewish Passover drew near, and many of the country people who ad gone up to Jerusalem to purify themselves 56 looked out for Jesus, saying to one another as they stood about in the Temple, "What do you think? Will he come to the festival or not?" 57 The chief priests and Pharisees had by now given their orders: anyone who knew where he as must inform them so that they could arrest him.

The anointing at Bethany

12- 1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus went to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 They gave a dinner for him there; Martha waited on them and Lazarus was among those at table. 3 Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was full of the scent of the ointment. 4 Then Judas Iscariot - one of his disciples, the man who was to betray him - 5 Why wasn't this ointment sold for three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor?" 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he was in charge of the common fund and used to help himself to the contribution. 7 So Jesus said, 'Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. 8 You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me."

9 Meanwhile a large number of Jews heard that he was there and came not only on account of Jesus but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. 10 The chief priests decided to kill Lazarus as well, 11 since it was on his account that many of the Jews were leaving them and believing in Jesus.

The Messiah enters Jerusalem

12 The next day the crowds who had come up for the festival heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 They took branches of palm and went out to meet him, shouting, "Hosanna! Blessings on the King of Israel who comes in the name of the Lord." 14 Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it - as the scripture says: 15 Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion; see, your king is coming, mounted on the colt of a donkey. 16 At the time his disciples did not understand this, but later, after Jesus had been glorified, the remembered that this had been written about him and that this was in act how they received him. 17 All who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead were telling how they had witnessed it; 18 it was because of this too, that the crowd came out to meet him: they had heard that he had given this sign. 19 Then the Pharisees said to one another, "You see there is nothing you can do; look, the whole world is running after him!"

Jesus foretells is death and subsequent glorification

20 Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. 21 These approached Philip, who came from Betsaida in Galilee, and put this request to him, "Sir, we should like to see Jesus." 22 Philip went to tell Andrew, and Andrew and Philip together went to tell Jesus.

23 Jesus replied to them:

"Now the hour has come

for the Son of Man to be glorified.

24 I tell you, most solemnly,

unless a wheat grain falls on the ground and dies,

it remains only a single grain;

but if it dies,

it yields a rich harvest.

25 Anyone who loves his life loses it;

anyone who hates his life in this world

will keep it for the eternal life.

26 If a man serves me, he must follow me,

wherever I am, my servant will be there too.

If anyone serves me, my Father will honour him.

27 Now my soul is troubled.

What shall I say:

Father, save me from this hour?

But it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour.

28 Father, glorify your name!"

A voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again."

29 People standing by, who heard this, said it was a clap of thunder; others said, "It was an angel speaking to him." 30 Jesus answered, "It was not for my sake that this voice came, but for yours.

31 "Now sentence is being passed on this world;

now the prince of this world is to be overthrown.

32 And when I am lifted up from the earth,

I shall draw all men to myself."

33 By these words he indicated the kind of death he would die. 34 The crowd answered, "The Law has taught us that the Christ will remain for ever. How can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up?' Who is this Son of Man?" 35 Jesus then said:

"The light will be with you only a little longer now.

Walk while you have the light,

or the dark will overtake you;

he who walks in the ark does not know where he is going.

36 While you still have the light,

believe in he light

and you will become sons of light."

Having said this, Jesus left them and kept himself hidden.

Conclusion: the unbelief of the Jews

37 Though they had been present when he gave so many signs, they did not believe in him; 38 this was to fulfill the words of the prophet Isaiah: Lord, who could believe what we have heard said, and to whom has the power of the Lord been revealed? 39 Indeed, they were unable to believe because, as Isaiah says again: 40 He has blinded their eyes, he has hardened their hearts, for fear they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and turn to me for healing.

41 Isaiah said this when he saw his glory, and his words referred to Jesus.

42 And yet there were many who did believe in him, even among the leading men, but they did not admit it, through fear of the Pharisees and fear of being expelled from the synagogue: 43 they put honour from men before the honour that comes from God.

44 Jesus declared publicly:

"Whoever believe in me

believes not in me

but in the one who sent me,

45 and whoever sees me,

sees the one who sent me.

46 I, the light, hae come into the world,

so that whoever believes in me

need not stay in the dark any more.

47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them faithfully,

it is not I who shall condemn him,

since I have come not to condemn the world,

but to save the world;

48 he who rejects me and refuses my words

has his judge already:

the word itself that I have spoken

will be the judge on the last day.

49 For what I have spoken does not come from myself;

no, what I was to say, what I had to speak,

was commanded by the Father who sent me,

50 and I know that his commands mean eternal life.

And therefore what the Father has told me

is what I speak."

Jesus washes his disciples' feet

13- 1 It was before the festival of the Passover, and Jesus knew that the hor had come for him to pass this world to the Father. He had always loved those who were in the world, but now he showed how perfect his love was.

2 They were at supper, and the devil had already put it into the mind of Judas Iscariot son of Simon, to betray him. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put everything into his hands, and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 4 and he got up from table, removed his outer garment and, taking a towel, wrapped it around his waist; 5 he then poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing.

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered, "At the moment you do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand." 8 "Never!" said Peter. "You will never wash my feet." Jesus replied, "If I do not wash you, you can have nothing in common with me." 9 "Then, Lord," said Simon Peter, "not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!" 10 Jesus said, "No one who has taken a bath needs washing, he is clean all over. You too are clean, though not all of you are." 11 He knew who was going to betray him, that was why he said, "though not all of you are."

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his clothes again he went back to the table. "Do you understand," he said, "what I have done to you? 13 You call me Master and Lord, and your right; so I am. 14 If I, then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you should wash each other's feet. 15 I have given you an example so that you may copy what I have done to you.

16 "I tell you most solemnly,

no servant is greater than his master,

no messenger is greater than the man who sent him.

17 "Now that you know this, happiness will be yours if you behave accordingly. 18 I am not speaking about all of you: I know the ones I have chosen; but what scripture says must be fulfilled; Someone who shares my table rebels against me.

19 "I tell you this now, before it happens,

so that when it does happen

you may believe that I am He.

20 I tell you most solemnly,

whoever welcomes the one I send welcomes me,

and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me."

The treachery of Judas foretold

21 Having said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, "I tell you most solemnly, one of you will betray me." 22 The disciples looked at one another, wondering which he meant. 23 The disciple Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus; 24 Simon Peter signed to him and said, "Ask who it is he means," 25 so leaning back on Jesus' breast he said, "Who is it Lord?" 26 It is the one," he replied Jesus, "to whom I give the piece of bread that I shall dip in the dish." He dipped the piece of bread and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27 At this instant, after Judas had taken the bread, Satan entered him. Jesus then said, "What you are going to do, do quickly." 28 None of the others at table understood the reason he said this. 29 Since Judas had charge of the common fund, some of them thought Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival," or telling him to give, something to the poor. 30 As soon has Judas had taken the piece of bread he went out. Night had fallen.

31 When he had gone Jesus said:

"Now has the Son of Man been glorified,

and in him God has been glorified.

32 If God has been glorified in him,

God will in turn glorify him in himself,

and will glorify him very soon.

Farewell discourses

33 "My little children,

I shall not be with you much longer.

You will look for me,

and, as I told the Jews,

where I am going,

you cannot come.

34 I give you a new commandment:

love one another;

just as I have loved you,

you also must love one another.

35 By this love you have for one another,

everyone will know that you are my disciples."

36 Simon Peter said, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going you cannot follow me now; you will follow me later." 37 Peter said to him, "Why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you." 38 "Lay down your life for me?" answered Jesus. "I tell you most solemnly, before the cock crows you will have disowned me three times.

14- 1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Trust in God still, and trust in me.

2 There are many rooms in my Father's house;

if there were not, I should have told you.

I am going now to prepare a place for you,

3 and after I have gone and prepare you a place,

I shall return to take you with me;

so that where I am

you may be too.

4 You know the way to the place where I am going."

5 Thomas said, "Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus said:

"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

No one can come to the Father except through me.

7 If you know me, you know my Father too.

From this moment you know him and have seen him."

8 Philip said, "Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied." 9 "Have I been with you all this time, Philip," said Jesus to him, "and you still do not know me?

"To have seen me is to have seen the Father,

so how can you say, 'Let us see 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 as from myself:

it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work.

11 You must believe me when I say

that I am in the Father and the Father is in me;

believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason.

12 I tell you most solemnly,

whoever believes in me

will perform the same works as I do myself,

he will perform even greater works,

because I am going to the Father.

13 Whatever you ask for in my name I will do,

so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask for anything in my name,

I will do it.

15 If you love me you will keep my commandments.

16 I shall ask the Father,

and he will give you another Advocate

to be with you for ever,

17 that Spirit of truth

whom the world can never receive

since it neither sees nor knows him;

but you know him,

because he is with you, he is in you.

18 I will not leave you orphans;

I will come back to you.

19 In a short time the world will no longer see me;

but you will see me,

because I live and you will live.

20 On that day

you will understand that I am in my Father

and you in me and I in you.

21 Anybody who receives my commandments and keeps them

will be one who loves me;

and anybody who loves me will be loved by my Father,

and I shall love him and show myself to him."

22 Judas - this was not Judas Iscariot - said to him, "Lord, what is all this about? Do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus replied:

"If any one loves me he will keep my word,

and my Father will love him,

and we shall come to him

and make our home with him.

24 Those who do not love me do not keep my words.

And my word is not my own:

it is the word of the one who sent me.

25 I have said these things to you

while still with you;

26 but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,

whom the Father will send in my name,

will teach you everything

and remind you of all I have said to you.

27 Peace I bequeath to you,

my own peace I give you,

a peace the world cannot give, this is my gift to you.

Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

28 You hear me say:

I am going away, and shall return.

If you loved me you would have been glad to know that I am

Going to the Father.

For the Father is greater than I.

29 I have told you this now before it happens,

so that when it does happen you may believe.

30 I shall not talk with you any longer,

because the prince of this world is on his way.

He has o power over me,

31 but the world must be brought to know that I love the Father

and that I am doing exactly what the Father told me.

Come now, let us go.

The true vine

15- 1 "I am the true vine,

and my Father is the vine-dresser.

2 Every branch in me that bears no fruit

he cuts away,

and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes

to make it bear even more.

3 You are prune already,

by means of the word that I have spoken to you.

4 Make your home in me, as I make mine in you,

As a branch cannot bear fruit all be itself,

but must remain part of the vine,

neither can you unless you remain in me.

5 I am the vine,

you are the branches.

Whoever remains in me, with me in him,

bears fruit in plenty;

for cut off from me yo can do nothing.

6 Anyone who does not remain in me

is like a ranch that has been thrown away

- he withers;

these branches are collected and thrown on the fire,

and they are burned.

7 If you remain in me

and my words remain in you,

you may ask what you will

and you shall get it.

8 It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit,

and then you will be my disciples.

9 As my Father has loved me,

so I have loved you.

Remain in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments

you will remain on my love,

just as I have kept my Father's commandments

and remain in his love.

11 I have told you this

so that my own joy may be in you

and your joy be complete.

12 This is my commandment:

love one another,

as I have loved you.

13 A man can have no greater love

than to lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are my friends,

if you do what I command you.

15 I shall not call you servants any more,

because a servant does not know

his master's business;

I call you friends,

because I have made known to you

everything I have learned from my Father.

16 You did not choose me,

no, I chose you;

and I commissioned you

to go out and to bear fruit,

fruit that will last;

and then the Father will give you

anything you ask him in my name.

17 What I command you

is to love one another.

The hostile world

18 "If the world hates you,

remember that it hated me before you.

19 If you belonged to the world,

the world would love you as its own;

but because you don not belong to the world,

because my choice withdrew you from the world,

therefore the world hates you.

20 A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me;

they will persecute you too;

if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well

21 But it will be on my account that they will do all this,

because they do not know the one who sent me.

22 If I had not come,

if I had not spoken to them,

they would have been blameless;

but as it is they have no excuse for their sin.

23 Anyone who hates me hates my Father.

24 If I had not performed such works among them

as no one else ever done,

they would be blameless;

but as it is, they have seen all this,

and still they hate both me and my Father.

25 But all this was to fulfill the words written in their Law:

They hated me for no reason.

26 When the Advocate comes,

whom I shall send to you from the Father,

the Spirit of truth who issues from the Father,

he will be my witness.

27 And you too will be witnesses,

because you have been with me from the outset.

16- 1 "I have told you all this

so that your faith may not be shaken.

2 They will expel you from the synagogues,

and indeed the hour is coming

when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy duty for God.

3 They will do these things

because they have never known either the Father or myself.

4 But I have told you all this,

so that when the time for it comes

you may remember that I told you.

The coming of the Advocate

"I did not tell you this from the outset,

because I was with you;

5 but now I am going to the one who sent me.

Not one of you have asked, 'Where are you going?'

6 Yet you are sad at heart because I have told you this.

7 Still, I must tell you the truth:

it is for your own good that I am going

because unless I go,

the Advocate will not come to you;

but if I go, I will send him to you.

8 And when he comes,

he will show the world how wrong it was,

about sin,

and about who was in the right,

and about judgment:

9 about sin:

proved by their refusal to believe in me;

10 about who was in the right:

proved by my going to the Father

and your seeing me no more;

11 about judgment:

proved by the prince of this world being already condemned.

12 I still have many things to say to you

but they would be too much for you now.

13 But when the Spirit of truth comes

ne will lead you to the complete truth,

since he will not be speaking as from himself

but will say only what he has learned;

and he will tell you of the things to come.

14 He will glorify me,

since all he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.

15 Everything the Father has is mine;

that is why I said:

All he tells you

will be taken from what is mine.

Jesus to return very soon

16 "In a short time you will no longer see me,

and then a short time later you will see me again."

17 Then some of the disciples said to one another, "What does he mean, 'In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again' and, 'I am going to the Father'? 18 What is this 'short time'? We don't know what he means." 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said, "You are asking one another what I meant by saying: In a short time you will no longer see me, and then a short time later you will see me again.

20 "I tell you most solemnly,

you will be weeping and wailing

while the world will rejoice;

you will be sorrowful,

but your sorrow will turn to joy.

21 A woman in childbirth suffers,

because her time has come;

but when she has given birth to the child she forgets the suffering

in her joy that a man has been born into the world.

22 So it is with you: you are sad now,

but I shall see you again, and your hearts will be full of joy,

and that joy no one shall take from you.

23 When that day comes,

you will not ask me any questions.

I tell you most solemnly,

anything you ask from the Father

he will grant in my name.

24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name.

Ask and you will receive,

and so your joy will be complete.

25 I have been telling you all this in metaphors;

the hour is coming

when I shall no longer speak to you in metaphors;

but tell you about the Father in plain words.

26 hen that day comes

you will ask in my name;

and I do not say that I shall pray to the Father for you,

27 because the Father himself loves you

for loving me

and believing that I came from God.

28 I came from the Father and have come into the world

and now I leave the world to go to the Father."

29 His disciples said, "Now you are speaking plainly and not using metaphors! 30 Now we see that you know everything, and do not have to wait for questions to be put into words; because of this we believe that you came from Gd." 31 Jesus answered them:

"Do you believe at last?

32 Listen; the time will come - in fact it has come already -

when you will be scattered, each going his own way

and leaving me alone.

And yet I am not alone,

because the Father is with me.

33 I have told you all this

so that you may find peace in me.

In the world you will have trouble,

but be brave:

I have conquered the world."

The priestly prayer of Christ

17- 1 After saying this, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and said:

"Father, the hour has come:

glory your Son

so that your Son may glorify you;

2 and, through the power over all mankind that you have given him,

let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

3 And eternal life is this:

to know you, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

4 I have glorified you on earth

and finished the work

that you gave me to do.

5 Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me

with that glory I had with you

before ever the world was.

6 I have made your name known

to the men you took from the world to give me.

They were yours and you gave them to me,

and they have kept your word.

7 Now at last they know

that all you have given me comes indeed from you;

8 for I have given them

the teaching you gave to me,

and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you,

and have believe that it was you who sent me.

9 I pray for them;

I am not praying for the world

but for those you have given me,

because they belong to you:

10 all I have is yours

and all you have is mine,

and in tem I am glorified.

11 I am not in the world any longer,

and I am coming to you.

Holy Father,

keep those you have given me true to your name,

so that they may be one like us.

12 While I was with them,

I kept those you had given me true to your name.

I have watched over them and not one is lost

except the one who chose to be lost,

and this was to fulfill the scriptures.

13 But now I am coming to you

and while in the world I say these things

to share my joy with them to the full.

14 I passed your word on to them,

and the world hated them,

because they belong to the world

no more than I belong to the world.

15 I am not asking you to remove them from the world,

but to protect them from the evil one.

16 They do not belong to the world

any more than I belong to the world.

17 Consecrate them in the truth;

your word is truth.

18 As you sent me into the world,

I have sent them into the world,

19 and for their sake I consecrate myself

so that they too may be consecrated in truth.

20 I pray not only for these,

but for those also

who through their words will believe in me.

21 May they all be one.

Father, may they be one in us,

as you are in me and I am in you,

so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.

22 I have given them the glory you gave to me,

that they may be one as we are one.

23 With me in them and you in me,

may they be so completely one

that the world will realize that it was you who sent me

and that I have loved them as much as you loved me.

24 Father,

I want those you have given me

to be with me where I am,

so that they always see the glory

you have given me

before the foundation of the world.

25 Father, Righteous One,

the world has known you,

and these have known

that you sent me.

26 I have made your name known to them

and will continue to make it known,

so that the love with which you loved me may be in them,

and so that I may be in them."

The arrest of Jesus

18- 1 After he had said all this Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kedron valley. There was a garden there, and he went into it with is disciples. 2 Judas the traitor knew the place well, since Jesus had often met his disciples there, 3 and he brought a cohort to this place together with a detachment of guards sent by the chief priests and the Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Knowing everything that was going to happen to him, Jesus then came forward and said, "Who are you looking for?" 5 They answered, "Jesus the Nazarene." Now Judas te traitor was standing among them. 6 When Jesus said, "I am he," they moved back and fell to the ground. 7 He asked them a second time, "Who are you looking for?" They said, "Jesus the Nazarene." 8 "I have told you that I am he," replied Jesus. "If I am the one you are looking for, let these others go." 9 This was to fulfill the words he had spoken, "Not one of those you gave me have I lost."

10 Simon Peter, who carried a sword, drew it and wounded the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. 11 Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword back in his scabbard; am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?"

Jesus before Annas and Caiaphas. Peter disowns him

12 The cohort and its captain and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him. 13 They took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. 14 It was Caiaphas who had suggested to the Jews, "It is better for one man to die for the people."

15 Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest's palace, 16 but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who was keeping the door and brought Peter in. 17 The maid on duty at the door said to Peter, "Aren't you another of that man's disciples?" He answered, "I am not." 18 Now it was cold, and the servants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too, warming himself with the others.

19 The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and is teaching. 20 Jesus answered, "I have spoken openly for all the world to hear; I have always taught in the synagogues and in the Temple where all the Jews meet together: I have said nothing in secret. 21 But they ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught: they know what I said." 22 At these words, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a slap in the face saying, 'Is that the way to answer the high priest?" 23 Jesus replied, "If there is something wrong in what I said, point it out; but if there is no offense in it, why did you strike me?" 24 Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.

25 As Simon Peter stood there warming himself, someone said to him, "Aren't you another of his disciples?" He denied it saying, "I am not." 26 One of the high priest's servants, a relation of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Didn't I see you in the garden with him?" 27 Again Peter denied it; and at once the cock crew.

Jesus before Pilate

28 They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the praetorium. It was now morning. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves or they would be defiled and unable to eat the passover. 29 So Pilate came outside to them and said, "What charge do you bring against this man?" They replied, 30 "If he were not a criminal we should not be handing him over to you." 31 Pilate said, "Take him yourselves, and try him by your own Law." The Jews answered, "We are not allowed to put him to death." 32 his was to fulfill the words Jesus had spoken indicating the way he was going to die.

33 So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and called Jesus to him, "Are you the king of the Jews?" He asked. 34 Jesus replied, "Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others spoken to you about me?" 35 Pilate answered, "Am I a Jew? It is your ow people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have you done?" 36 Jesus replied, "Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews. But my kingdom is not of this kind." 37 "So you are a king then?" said Pilate. "It is you who say it," answered Jesus. "Yes, I am a king I was born for this, I came into the world for this: to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the side of truth listen to my voice." 38 "Truth?" said Pilate, "What is that?"; and with that he went out again to the Jews and said, "I find no case against him. 39 But according to a custom of yours I should release one prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then to release the king of the Jews?" 40 "Not this man," they said, "but Barabbas." Barabbas was a brigand.

19- 1 Pilate then had Jesus taken away and scourged; 2 and after this, the soldiers twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head, and dressed him in a purple robe. 3 They kept coming up to him and saying, "Hail, king of the Jew!"; and they slapped him in the face.

4 Pilate came outside again and said to them, "Look, I am going to bring him out to you to let you see that I find no case." 5 Jesus then came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, "Here is the man." 6 When they saw him the chief priests and he guards shouted, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" Pilate said, "Take him yourselves and crucify him: I can find no case against him." 7 "We have a Law," the Jews replied, "and according to that Law he ought to die, because he has claimed to be the Son of God."

8 When Pilate heard them say this his fears increased. 9 Re-entering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus. 'Where do you come from?" But Jesus made no answer.10 Pilate then said to him, "Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?" 11 "You would have no power over me." replied Jesus, "if it had not been given you from above; that is why the one who handed me over to you has greater guilt."

Jesus is condemned to death

12 From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the Jews shouted, "If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar's; anyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar." 13 Hearing these words, Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated himself on the chair of judgment as a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. 14 "It was Passover Preparation Day, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," said Plate to the Jews. 15 "Take him away, take him away!" they said. "Crucify him!" "Do you want me to crucify your king?" Said Pilate. The chief priests answered "We have no king except Caesar." 16 So in the end Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.

The crucifixion

They then took charge of Jesus, 17 and carrying his own cross he went out of the city to the place of the skull or, as it is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, 18 where they crucified him with two others, one on either side with Jesus in the middle. 19 Pilate wrote out a notice and had it fixed to the cross; it ran: "Jesus the Nazarene, King of the Jews." 20 The notice was read by many of the Jews, because the place where Jesus was crucified was not far from the city, and the writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. 21 So the Jewish chief priests said to Pilate "You should not write 'King of the Jews,' but 'This man said: I am King of the Jews.'" 22 Pilate answered, "What I have written, I have written."

Christ's garment divided

23 When the soldiers had finished crucifying Jesus they took his clothing and divided it into four shares, one for each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in one piece from neck to hem; 24 so they said to one another, "Instead of tearing it, let's throw dice to decide who is to ave it." In this way the words of scripture were fulfilled:

They shared out my clothing among them,

They cast lots for my clothes.

This is exactly what the soldiers did.

Jesus and his mother

25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister. Mary wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. 26 Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Mother, this is your son." 27 Then to he disciple he said, "This is your mother." And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.

The death of Jesus

28 Afer this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed, and to fulfill the scripture perfectly he said:

"I am thirsty."

29 A jar full of vinegar stood there, so putting a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick they held it up to his mouth. 30 After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, "It is accomplished"; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit.

The pierced Christ

31 It was the Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath - since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity - the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. 32 Consequently the soldier came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. 33 When hey came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs 34 one of the soldiers pierced his side with his lance; and immediately came out blood and water. 35 This is the evidence of one who saw it - trustworthy evidence, and he knows he speaks the truth - and he gives it so that you may believe as well. 36 Because all this happened to fulfilled the words of scripture:

Not one bone of his will be broken,

37 and again, in another place scripture says:

They will look on the one whom they have pierced.

The burial

38 After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus - though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews - asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away 39 Nicodemus came as well - the same one who had first come to Jesus at nighttime - and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. 40 They took the body of Jesus wrapped it with the spices in linen cloths, following the Jewish custom. 41 At the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb was near at hand, they laid Jesus there.

The empty tomb

20- 1 It was very early on the first day of the week and still dark, when Mary of Magdala came to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed away from the tomb 2 and came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved. "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb," she said, "and we don't know where they have put him."

3 So Peter set out with the other disciple to go to the tomb. 4 They ran together, but the other disciple running faster than Peter, reach the tomb first; 5 he bent down and saw the linen cloths lying on the ground, but did not go in. 6 Simon Peter who was following now came up, went right into the tomb, saw the linen cloths on the ground, 7 and also the cloth that had been over his head; this was not with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. 8 Then the other disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in; he saw and he believed. 9 Till this moment they had failed to understand the teaching of scripture, that he must rise from the dead. 10 The disciples then went home again.

The appearance to Mary Magdala

11 Meanwhile Mary stayed outside near the tomb, weeping. Then, still weeping, she stood to look inside, 12 and saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had been, one at the head, the other at the feet. 13 They said, "Woman, why are you weeping?" "They have taken my Lord away." She replied, "and I don't know where they have put him." 14 As she said this she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, though she did not recognized him. 15 Jesus said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have taken him away, tel me where you have put him, and I will go and remove him." 16 Jesus said, "Mary!" She knew him then and said to him in Hebrew, "Rubbuni!" - which mean Master. 17 Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and find the brothers, and tell them: I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God." 18 So Mary of Magdala went and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord and that he had said these things to her.

Appearance to the disciples

19 In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, "Peace be with you," 20 and showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were filled with joy when they saw the Lord, 21 and he said to them again, "Peace be with you.

"As the Father sent me,

so am I sending you."

22 After saying this he breathed on them and said:

"Receive the Holy Spirit.

23 For those whose sins you forgive,

they are forgiven;

for those whose sins you retain,

they are retained."

24 Thomas called the Twin, who was one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 When the disciples said, "We have seen the Lord," he answered, "Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands and can put my finger into the holes they made, and unless I can put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe." 26 Eight days later the disciples were in the house again and Thomas was with them. The doors were closed, but Jesus came in and stood among tem, "Peace be with you," he said. 27 Then he spoke to Thomas, "Put your finger here; look, here are my hands. Give me your hand; put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe." 28 Thomas replied, "My Lord and my God!" 29 Jesus said to him:

"You believe because you can see me.

Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe."

30 There were many other signs that Jesus worked and the disciples saw, but they are not recorded in this book. 31 These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.

The appearance on the shore of Tiberias

21- 1 Later on, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. It was on the Sea of Tiberias, and it happened like this: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee and two more of his disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said, "I'm going fishing." They replied, "We'll come with you." They went out and got into the boat but caught nothing that night.

4 It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realized that it was Jesus. 5 Jesus called out, "Have you caught anything, friends?" And when they answered, "No," 6 he said, "Throw the net out to starboard and you will find something." O they dropped the net, and there were so many fish that they could not haul it in. 7 The disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord," Simon Peter, who had practically nothing on, wrapped his cloak around him and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples came on in the boat, towing the net and the fish; they were only about a hundred yards from land.

9 As soon as they came ashore they saw that there was bread there, and a charcoal fire with fish cooking on it. 10 Jesus said, "Bring some of the fish you have just caught." 11 Simon Peter went aboard and dragged the net to the shore full of big fish, one hundred and fifty-three of them; and in spite of there being so many the net was not broken. 12 Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, "Who are you?"; they knew quite well it was the Lord. 13 Jesus then stepped forward, took the bread and gave it to them, and the same with the fish. 14 This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after rising from the dead.

15 After the meal Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these others do?" He answered, "Yes Lord, you know I love you." Jesus said to him. "Feed my lambs." 16 A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He replied, "Yes, Lord you know I love you." Jesus said to him. "Look after my sheep." 17 Then he said to him a third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter was upset that he asked him a third time, "Do you love me?" And said, "Lord, you know everything; you know I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

18 "I tell you solemnly,

when you are young

you put on your own belt

and walked where you liked;

but when you grow old

you will stretch out your hands,

and somebody else will put a belt around you

and take you where you would rather not go."

19 In these words he indicated the kind of death by which Peter would give glory to God. After this he said, "Follow me."

20 Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them - the one who had leaned on his breast at the supper and had said to him, "Lord, who is it that will betray you?" 21 Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, "What about him, Lord?" 22 "If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me." 23 The rumour went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, "He will not die," but, "If I want him to stay behind till I come."

Conclusion

24 This disciples is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that the testimony is true.

25 There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the work itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.