You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^(A)Nicodemus, a ^(B)ruler of the Jews; ² this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “^(C)Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^[a](D)signs that You do unless ^(E)God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ^(F)is born ^[b]again he cannot see ^(G)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 of ^(H)water and the Spirit he cannot enter into ^(I)the kingdom of God. ^6 (J)That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born ^[c]again.’ ^8 (K)The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you ^(L)the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(M)we speak of what we know and ^(N)bear witness of what we have seen, and ^(O)you do not accept our witness. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (P)And no one has ascended into heaven, but ^(Q)He who descended from heaven, ^(R)the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And as ^(S)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must ^(T)the Son of Man ^(U)be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that whoever believes will ^(V)in Him have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God ^[d]so ^(W)loved the world, that He ^(X)gave His ^[e](Y)only begotten Son, that whoever ^(Z)believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God ^(AA)did not send the Son into the world ^(AB)to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ^18 (AC)He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(AD)the ^[f]only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that ^(AE)the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for ^(AF)their deeds were evil. ^20 (AG)For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed. ²¹ But he who ^(AH)practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.”

John the Baptist’s Last Witness

²² After these things Jesus and His ^(AI)disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and ^(AJ)baptizing. ²³ And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized— ²⁴ for ^(AK)John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵ Therefore there arose a debate between John’s disciples and a Jew about ^(AL)purification. ²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, “^(AM)Rabbi, He who was with you ^(AN)beyond the Jordan, to whom you ^(AO)have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” ²⁷ John answered and said, “^(AP)A man can receive nothing unless it ^(AQ)has been given him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves ^[g]are my witnesses that I said, ‘^(AR)I am not the ^[h]Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is ^(AS)the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this ^(AT)joy of mine has been made full. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹ “^(AU)He who comes from above is above all, ^(AV)he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. ^(AW)He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² What He has seen and heard, of that He ^(AX)bears witness; and ^(AY)no one receives His witness. ³³ He who has received His witness ^(AZ)has set his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴ For He whom God has ^(BA)sent speaks the words of God; ^[i](BB)for He gives the Spirit without measure. ^35 (BC)The Father loves the Son and ^(BD)has given all things into His hand. ³⁶ He who ^(BE)believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who ^(BF)does not ^[j]obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”