You Must Be Born Again

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named ^hNicodemus, ⁱa ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus^{1 j}by night and said to him, ^k“Rabbi, ^lwe know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do ^munless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is ⁿborn ^oagain² he cannot ^psee the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^qof water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 ^rThat which is born of the flesh is ^sflesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.³ 7 ^tDo not marvel that I said to you, ‘You⁴ must be born ^uagain.’ 8 ^vThe wind⁵ blows ^wwhere it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

9 Nicodemus said to him, ^x“How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel ^yand yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, ^zwe speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but ^zyou⁶ do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 ^aNo one has ^bascended into heaven except ^che who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.⁷ 14 And ^das Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man ^ebe lifted up, 15 that whoever believes ^fin him ^gmay have eternal life.⁸

For God So Loved the World

16 “For ^hGod so loved ⁱthe world,^{9 j}that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^kperish but have eternal life. 17 For ^lGod did not send his Son into the world ^mto condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 ⁿWhoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not ^obelieved in the name of the only Son of God. 19 ^pAnd this is the judgment: ^qthe light has come into the world, and ^rpeople loved the darkness rather than the light because ^stheir works were evil. 20 ^tFor everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ^ulest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever ^vdoes what is true ^wcomes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and ^xwas baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for ^yJohn had not yet been put in prison).

25 Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over ^zpurification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, ^a“Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, ^bto whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and ^call are going to him.” 27 John answered, ^d“A person cannot receive even one thing ^eunless it is given him ^ffrom heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ^g‘I am not the Christ, but ^hI have been sent before him.’ 29 ⁱThe one who has the bride is the bridegroom. ^jThe friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, ^krejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 ^lHe must increase, but I must decrease.”¹⁰

31 ^mHe who comes from above ⁿis above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and ^ospeaks in an earthly way. ^pHe who comes from heaven ⁿis above all. 32 ^qHe bears witness to what he has seen and heard, ^ryet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony ^ssets his seal to this, ^tthat God is true. 34 For he whom ^uGod has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit ^vwithout measure. 35 ^wThe Father loves the Son and ^xhas given all things into his hand. 36 ^yWhoever believes in the Son has eternal life; ^zwhoever does not obey the Son shall not ^asee life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

12 Now when he heard that ⁿJohn had been arrested, ^ohe withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving ^pNazareth he went and lived in ^qCapernaum by ^rthe sea, in the territory of ^sZebulun and Naphtali, 14 ^tso that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

17 ^xFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ^z“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”¹

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 ^cNow after John was arrested, Jesus ^dcame into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, ^e“The time is fulfilled, and ^fthe kingdom of God is at hand;^{1 g}repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Begins His Ministry

14 ^oAnd Jesus returned ^pin the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and ^qa report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And ^rhe taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

16 ^sAnd he came to ^tNazareth, where he had been brought up. And ^uas was his custom, ^vhe went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up ^wto read. 17 And ^xthe scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

20 And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and ^fsat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were ^gfixed on him. 21 And he began to say to them, “Today ^hthis Scripture ⁱhas been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all spoke well of him and marveled at ^jthe gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ^k“Is not this ^lJoseph’s son?” 23 And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ^m‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did ⁿat Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ^ono prophet is acceptable in his hometown. 25 But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when ^pthe heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, 26 and Elijah was sent to none of them ^qbut only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And ^rthere were many lepers¹ in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, ^sbut only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. 29 And they rose up and ^tdrove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. 30 But ^upassing through their midst, he went away.

Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

1 Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^bbaptizing more disciples than John 2 (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), 3 he left Judea and departed ^cagain for Galilee. 4 ^dAnd he had to pass through Samaria. 5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ^ethat Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, ^fwearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.¹

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ^f“Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (^gFor Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you ^hliving water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 ⁱAre you greater than our father Jacob? ^jHe gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but ^kwhoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^lwill never be thirsty again.² The water that I will give him will become ^min him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, ⁿgive me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Go, ^ocall your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^pyou are ^qa prophet. 20 ^rOur fathers worshiped on ^sthis mountain, but you say that ^tin Jerusalem is ^uthe place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, ^v“Woman, believe me, ^wthe hour is coming when ^xneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 ^yYou worship what you do not know; ^zwe worship what we know, for ^zsalvation is ^afrom the Jews. 23 But ^bthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^cin spirit and ^dtruth, for the Father ^eis seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that ^fMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ^ghe will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, ^h“I who speak to you am he.”

27 Just then ⁱhis disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” 28 So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man ^jwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” 30 They went out of the town and were coming to him.

31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, ^k“Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, ^l“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, ^m“My food is ⁿto do the will of him who sent me and ^oto accomplish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that ^pthe fields are white for harvest. 36 Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that ^qsower and ^rreaper ^smay rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, ^t‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap ^uthat for which you did not labor. Others have labored, ^vand you have entered into their labor.”

39 Many Samaritans ^wfrom that town believed in him ^xbecause of ^ythe woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. 41 And many more believed ^zbecause of his word. 42 They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, ^aand we know that this is indeed ^bthe Savior ^cof the world.”

43 After ^dthe two days he departed for Galilee. 44 (For Jesus himself had testified ^ethat a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) 45 So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, ^fhaving seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For ^gthey too had gone to the feast.

Jesus Heals an Official’s Son

46 So he came again to ^hCana in Galilee, ⁱwhere he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus ^jhad come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. 48 So Jesus said to him, ^k“Unless you³ see signs and wonders you will not believe.” 49 The official said to him, “Sir, come down ^lbefore my child dies.” 50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. 51 As he was going down, his servants⁴ met him and told him that his son was recovering. 52 So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour⁵ the fever left him.” 53 The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, ^mand all his household. 54 ⁿThis was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.