⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,^{(A) 10} and so the Jewish leaders^(B) said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”^(C)

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning^(D) or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders^(E) that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father^(F) is always at his work^(G) to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him;^(H) not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.^(I)