JohnChapter 5

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¹Some time later there was a Jewish feast. Jesus went up to Jerusalem for it. ²In Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate there is a pool. In Hebrew it is called Bethesda. It has five covered porches.a ³Many sick people lay on these porches. There were people who were blind, people who couldn't walk well, and people who couldn't move at all. ⁴—b ⁵One man there had been sick and weak for 38 years.c ⁶Jesus saw him lying there. He knew the man had been like this for a long time. So Jesus asked him, "Do you want to get well?" ⁷"Sir," the sick man answered, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I'm trying to get there, someone else goes in ahead of me." ⁸Then Jesus told him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." ⁹Right away the man was healed. He picked up his mat and began to walk. This happened on the Sabbath day, ¹⁰so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "This is the Sabbath! The law says you can't carry your mat."d ¹¹But he answered, "The man who healed me told me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" ¹²"Who is this man who told you to pick it up and walk?" they asked. ¹³But the man who was healed didn't know who it was. Jesus had slipped away while the crowd was there. ¹⁴Later Jesus found the man at the temple. He said to him, "Look, you are well now. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you." ¹⁵The man went away. He told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath. So the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷But Jesus answered them, "My Father is always at his work, even today. And I am working too." ¹⁸Because of this, the Jewish leaders tried even harder to kill him. He was breaking the Sabbath. But even more, he was calling God his own Father. He was making himself equal with God. ¹⁹So Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He can only do what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. ²⁰The Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does. And he will show him even greater works than these. You will be amazed. ²¹The Father raises the dead and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to anyone he wants. ²²Also, the Father judges no one. He has given all judging to the Son, ²³so that everyone will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes the one who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged. He has already crossed over from death to life. ²⁵I tell you the truth, a time is coming, and it is already here. The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear will live. ²⁶The Father has life in himself. In the same way, he has let the Son have life in himself. ²⁷And he has given the Son the power to judge, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸Don't be amazed at this. A time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹and come out. Those who have done good will rise to live. Those who have done evil will rise to be judged. ³⁰I can do nothing by myself. I judge only as I hear. And my judging is fair, because I don't try to do what I want. I do what the one who sent me wants. ³¹If I tell about myself, what I say is not valid. ³²But someone else tells about me. And I know that what he says about me is true. ³³You sent people to John, and he told them the truth. ³⁴I do not accept proof from people. Even so, I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵John was a lamp that burned and gave light. For a while you were happy to enjoy his light. ³⁶But I have proof that is greater than John's. The Father has given me works to finish. These very works that I am doing tell about me. They show that the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me has told about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like, ³⁸and his word does not live in you. That's because you do not believe the one he sent. ³⁹You study the Scriptures closely because you think they give you eternal life. These are the very words that tell about me, ⁴⁰yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹I don't accept praise from people, ⁴²but I know you. I know you don't have the love of God in you. ⁴³I have come in my Father's name, and you have not welcomed me. But if someone else comes in his own name, you will welcome him. ⁴⁴How can you believe if you accept praise from each other, but don't look for the praise that comes from the only God? ⁴⁵Don't think that I will accuse you in front of the Father. Moses is the one who accuses you. And he is the one you have put your hope in. ⁴⁶If you had believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But you don't believe what he wrote. So how will you believe what I say?"