John 8:12-9:41

English Standard Version

I Am the Light of the World

^12 (A)Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(B)“I am the light of the world. Whoever ^(C)follows me will not ^(D)walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” ¹³ So the Pharisees said to him, ^(E)“You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” ¹⁴ Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, ^(F)my testimony is true, for I know ^(G)where I came from and ^(H)where I am going, but ^(I)you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ^15 (J)You judge according to the flesh; ^(K)I judge no one. ¹⁶ Yet even if I do judge, ^(L)my judgment is true, for ^(M)it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^[a] who sent me. ^17 (N)In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. ¹⁸ I am the one who bears witness about myself, and ^(O)the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” ¹⁹ They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, ^(P)“You know neither me nor my Father. ^(Q)If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” ²⁰ These words he spoke in ^(R)the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but ^(S)no one arrested him, because ^(T)his hour had not yet come.

²¹ So he said to them again, ^(U)“I am going away, and ^(V)you will seek me, and ^(W)you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² So the Jews said, ^(X)“Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ He said to them, ^(Y)“You are from below; I am from above. ^(Z)You are of this world; ^(AA)I am not of this world. ²⁴ I told you that you ^(AB)would die in your sins, for ^(AC)unless you believe that ^(AD)I am he you will die in your sins.” ²⁵ So they said to him, ^(AE)“Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. ²⁶ I have much to say about you and much to judge, but ^(AF)he who sent me is true, and I declare ^(AG)to the world ^(AH)what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that ^(AI)he had been speaking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Jesus said to them, “When you have ^(AJ)lifted up the Son of Man, ^(AK)then you will know that ^(AL)I am he, and that ^(AM)I do nothing on my own authority, but ^(AN)speak just as the Father taught me. ²⁹ And ^(AO)he who sent me is with me. ^(AP)He has not left me alone, for ^(AQ)I always do the things that are pleasing to him.” ³⁰ As he was saying these things, ^(AR)many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free

³¹ So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, ^(AS)“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, ³² and you will ^(AT)know the truth, and the truth ^(AU)will set you free.” ³³ They answered him, ^(AV)“We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(AW)everyone who practices sin is a slave^[b] to sin. ^35 (AX)The slave does not remain in the house forever; ^(AY)the son remains forever. ³⁶ So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. ³⁷ I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet ^(AZ)you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. ^38 (BA)I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard ^(BB)from your father.”

You Are of Your Father the Devil

³⁹ They answered him, ^(BC)“Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, ^(BD)“If you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, ⁴⁰ but now ^(BE)you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth ^(BF)that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. ⁴¹ You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, ^(BG)“We were not born of sexual immorality. We have ^(BH)one Father—even God.” ⁴² Jesus said to them, ^(BI)“If God were your Father, you would love me, for ^(BJ)I came from God and ^(BK)I am here. ^(BL)I came not of my own accord, but ^(BM)he sent me. ^43 (BN)Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot ^(BO)bear to hear my word. ^44 (BP)You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. ^(BQ)He was a murderer from the beginning, and ^(BR)does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ^(BS)When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? ^47 (BT)Whoever is of God hears the words of God. ^(BU)The reason why you do not hear them is that ^(BV)you are not of God.”

Before Abraham Was, I Am

⁴⁸ The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and ^(BW)have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but ^(BX)I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ Yet ^(BY)I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Truly, truly, ^(BZ)I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never ^(CA)see death.” ⁵² The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! ^(CB)Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet ^(CC)you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never ^(CD)taste death.’ ^53 (CE)Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” ⁵⁴ Jesus answered, ^(CF)“If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. ^(CG)It is my Father who glorifies me, ^(CH)of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’^{[c] 55} But ^(CI)you have not known him. ^(CJ)I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be ^(CK)a liar ^(CL)like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. ^56 (CM)Your father Abraham ^(CN)rejoiced ^(CO)that he would see my day. ^(CP)He saw it and was glad.” ⁵⁷ So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”^{[d] 58} Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, ^(CQ)I am.” ⁵⁹ So ^(CR)they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. ² And his disciples asked him, ^(CS)“Rabbi, ^(CT)who sinned, ^(CU)this man or ^(CV)his parents, that he was born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but ^(CW)that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must ^(CX)work the works of him who sent me ^(CY)while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ As long as I am in the world, ^(CZ)I am the light of the world.” ⁶ Having said these things, ^(DA)he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. ^(DB)Then he anointed the man's eyes with the mud ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in ^(DC)the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and ^(DD)came back seeing.

⁸ The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, ^(DE)“Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰ So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹ He answered, ^(DF)“The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ^14 (DG)Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ^15 (DH)So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” ¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not ^(DI)from God, ^(DJ)for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, ^(DK)“How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And ^(DL)there was a division among them. ¹⁷ So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, ^(DM)“He is a prophet.”

^18 (DN)The Jews^[e] did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹ and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹ But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²² (His parents said these things ^(DO)because they feared the Jews, for ^(DP)the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should ^(DQ)confess Jesus^[f] to be Christ, ^(DR)he was to be put out of the synagogue.) ²³ Therefore his parents said, ^(DS)“He is of age; ask him.”

²⁴ So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, ^(DT)“Give glory to God. We know that ^(DU)this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I ^(DV)was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ He answered them, ^(DW)“I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸ And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but ^(DX)we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, ^(DY)we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰ The man answered, “Why, this is ^(DZ)an amazing thing! ^(EA)You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that ^(EB)God does not listen to sinners, but ^(EC)if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. ³² Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. ^33 (ED)If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴ They answered him, ^(EE)“You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they ^(EF)cast him out.

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in ^(EG)the Son of Man?”^{[g] 36} He answered, ^(EH)“And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” ³⁷ Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and ^(EI)it is he who is speaking to you.” ³⁸ He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. ³⁹ Jesus said, ^(EJ)“For judgment I came into this world, ^(EK)that those who do not see may see, and ^(EL)those who see may become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, ^(EM)“Are we also blind?” ⁴¹ Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, ^(EN)you would have no guilt;^[h] but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.