John 5
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem when the Jews were having [another] celebration.
Sometime after this there was a Jewish Festival; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2 At one of the gates [into the city] called the Sheep Gate, there is a pool. In our language we call it Bethzatha. [Around the pool] were five open areas with roofs over them.
There is in Jerusalem, near the sheep-gate, a bath with five colonnades round it. It is called in Hebrew “Bethesda.”
3 Many people were lying there. They were people who were blind, lame, or paralyzed.
In these colonnades a large number of sick people were lying – blind, lame, and crippled.
5 One of those who was there had been paralyzed for 38 years.
One man who was there had been crippled for thirty-eight years.
6 Jesus saw him lying there and found out that the man had been like that for a long time. He said to the man, “Do you want to become well?”
Jesus saw the man lying there, and, finding that he had been in this state a long time, said to him, ‘Do you wish to be cured?’
7 The paralyzed man replied to him, “[Yes], sir, [I want to get well, but] there is no one to help me get down into the pool when the water is stirred {stirs}. While I am trying to get [to the pool], someone else always gets there before me.”
‘I have no one, Sir,’ the sick man answered, ‘to put me into the bath when there is a troubling of the water, and, while I am getting to it, someone else steps down before me.’
8 Jesus said to him, “Get up! Then pick up your mat and walk!”
‘Stand up,’ said Jesus, ‘take up your mat, and walk.’
9 The man immediately was healed. He picked up his mat and started walking! The day on which this happened was a Jewish day of rest.
The man was cured immediately, and took up his mat and began walking.
10 So the Jewish [leaders] said to the man who had been healed, “Today is (the Sabbath/our rest day), and [in our Jewish] laws [it is written that people should not work on our] ([Sabbath/rest day]), so you should not be carrying your mat!”
Now it was the Sabbath. So the religious authorities said to the man who had been cured, ‘This is the Sabbath; you must not carry your mat.’
11 The man replied to them, “The man who healed me, he himself said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk!’”
‘The man who cured me,’ he answered, ‘said to me “Take up your mat and walk.”’
12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick it up and walk!’?”
‘Who was it,’ they asked, ‘that said to you “Take up your mat and walk”?’
13 But since Jesus had disappeared in the crowd [without telling the man his name], the man did not know who it was [who had healed him].
But the man who had been restored did not know who it was; for Jesus had moved away, because there was a crowd there.
14 Later, Jesus found the man in the Temple [courtyard]. He [told the man his name, and] said to him, “Listen! You are healed! So stop sinning! If you do not stop sinning, something will happen to you that will be worse [than the illness you had before]!”
Afterwards Jesus found the man in the Temple Courts, and said to him, ‘You are cured now; do not sin again, or something worse may happen to you.’
15 The man went away and told the Jewish [leaders] [SYN] that it was Jesus who had healed him.
The man went away, and told the authorities that it was Jesus who had cured him.
16 So the Jewish [leaders] [SYN] started to harass Jesus, because Jesus was doing these things (on the Sabbath/on the Jewish rest day).
And that was why they began to persecute Jesus – because he did things of this kind on the Sabbath.
17 Then Jesus replied to them, “My Father has always been working every day, [including] ([the Sabbath/the day of rest]), up until now. I am doing the same thing!”
But Jesus replied, ‘My Father works to this very hour, and I work also.’
18 The Jewish leaders [SYN] considered that he was disobeying their rules about (the Sabbath/the day of rest), and that by saying that God was his Father, he was making himself equal with God. And they considered that both these things were grounds for killing him. So they tried even harder to find a way to kill him.
This made the authorities all the more eager to kill him, because not only was he doing away with the Sabbath, but he actually called God his own Father – putting himself on an equality with God.
19 Jesus replied to them by saying, “You need to know this: I can do nothing by my own [authority]. I do only the [kind of] things that I see [my] Father doing. Whatever kinds of things my Father is doing, those are the things I am doing.
So Jesus made this further reply, ‘In truth I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself; he does only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does also.
20 [My] Father loves me, and he shows me everything that he is doing. He will show me [the miracles] that [he wants me to do] that will be greater than the ones that [you have already seen me do], so that you may be amazed.
For the Father loves his Son, and shows him everything that he is doing; and he will show him still greater things – so that you will be filled with wonder.
21 [For example], just like [my] Father causes people who have died to become alive again, I will give [eternal] life to everyone that I want to.
For, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he pleases.
22 Furthermore, [my] Father is not the one who judges people [concerning their sins]. Instead, he has given to me the work of judging people,
The Father himself does not judge any one, but has entrusted the work of judging entirely to his Son,
23 in order that all people may honor me, just like they honor [my] Father. [My] Father [considers that] anyone who does not honor me is not honoring [him], the one who sent me.
so that everyone may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. The person who does not honour the Son fails to honour the Father who sent him.
24 Listen to this carefully: Those who hear my message and believe that [God] is the one who sent me have eternal life. [God will] not (condemn them/say that he will punish them). They are no longer separated from God. Instead, they have [eternal] life. (aiōnios g166)
In truth I tell you that the person who listens to my message and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and does not come under condemnation, but has already passed out of death into life. (aiōnios g166)
25 Listen to this carefully: There will be a time when those who are (spiritually dead/separated from God) will hear the voice of me, (the Son of God/the man who is also God). In fact, it is that time already. Those who hear [and pay attention to my message] will have [eternal] life.
In truth I tell you that a time is coming, indeed it is already here, when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and when those who listen will live.
26 [My] Father has [power to] make things live. Similarly, he has given me the [power to enable] people to live [eternally].
For, just as the Father has inherent life within him, so also he has granted to the Son to have inherent life within him;
27 Because I am the one who came from heaven, he has given me the authority to judge people [concerning their sins].
and, because he is Son of Man, he has also given him authority to act as judge.
28 Do not be surprised about that, because there will be a time when all people who have died will hear my voice,
Do not wonder at this; for the time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice,
29 and they will become alive again. Those who have lived good [lives] will rise [from their graves] and live forever. But those who have lived evil lives will rise, and I will (condemn them/declare that I will punish them [for their sins]).
and will come out – those who have done good rising to life, and those who have lived evil lives rising for condemnation.
30 I do not do anything [like that] by my own authority. I judge people only according to what I hear [my Father tell me]. I will judge people fairly, because I do not want to please only myself. Instead, I want to please [my Father], who sent me.
I can do nothing of myself; I judge as I am taught; and the judgment that I give is just, because my aim is not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
31 If I were the [only] one to tell people about myself, [people could rightly say that] what I say is not true.
‘If I bear testimony to myself, my testimony is not trustworthy;
32 But there is someone else who tells people about me. And I know that what he tells people about me is true.
it is another who bears testimony to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is trustworthy.
33 As for you, when you sent messengers to John [the Baptizer to ask about me], he told the truth [about me].
You have yourselves sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34 I do not [need that] people tell others [about me]. But instead, I am reminding [you about what John told people about me], in order that you will [believe it and] be saved {[God] will save you}.
But the testimony which I receive is not from people; I am saying this for your salvation.
35 [John’s message about me] (OR, [John]) [MET] was [like] a lamp that shines brightly. For a short while you were willing to be made happy [by that message] {to let [that message] make you happy}.
He was the Lamp that was burning and shining, and you were ready to rejoice, for a time, in his light.
36 But there is something else that tells you about me. [It should prove who I am] more than what John [said about me]. The miracles [PRS] that [my] Father told me to do, the miracles that I am performing, show (OR, prove) to people that my Father sent me.
But the testimony which I have is of greater weight than John’s; for the work that the Father has given me to carry out – the work that I am doing – is in itself proof that the Father has sent me as his messenger.
37 Furthermore, [my] Father, who sent me, tells people about me. You have never heard his voice or seen him.
The Father who has sent me has himself borne testimony to me. You have neither listened to his voice, not seen his form;
38 Furthermore, you have not believed in [me], the one he sent. So you have not [believed] his message in your inner beings.
and you have not taken his message home to your hearts, because you do not believe him whom he sent as his messenger.
39 You carefully study (OR, Study) the Scriptures, because you think that by [studying] them you will [find the way to] have eternal life. And those Scriptures tell people about me! (aiōnios g166)
You search the scriptures, because you think that you find in them immortal life; and, though it is those scriptures that bear testimony to me, (aiōnios g166)
40 But you refuse (to come to me/to believe my message) in order that you may have [eternal] life.
you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 It does not [matter to] me whether people praise me.
‘I do not receive honour from people,
42 But you [want people to praise you]. I know that within yourselves you do not love God.
but I know this of you, that you have not the love of God in your hearts.
43 Although I have come to earth with my Father’s authority [MTY], you do not accept me. But if someone else comes with his own authority [MTY], you accept him!
I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
44 You accept your praising each other, but you do not try to do things that will result in God himself praising you. So (there is no way you can believe [in me]!/how can you believe [my message]?) [RHQ]
How can you believe in me, when you receive honour from one another and do not desire the honour which comes from the only God?
45 But do not think that I am the one who will accuse you while [my] Father is listening! No, it is Moses who will accuse you! You thought that he would [defend you].
Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have been resting your hopes.
46 Moses wrote about me, so if you had believed what he [wrote], you would have believed what I [said]
For, had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for it was of me that Moses wrote;
47 But because you did not believe what he wrote [about me], (you will certainly not believe what I say!/how will you believe what I say?) [RHQ]”
but, if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my teaching?’
