11 Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill. He was of Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived.

² This Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped His feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was [now] sick.

³ So the sisters sent to Him, saying, Lord, he whom You love [so well] is sick.

⁴ When Jesus received the message, He said, This sickness is not to end in death; but [on the contrary] it is to honor God and to promote His glory, that the Son of God may be glorified through (by) it.

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. [They were His dear friends, and He held them in loving esteem.]

⁶ Therefore [even] when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He still stayed two days longer in the same place where He was.

⁷ Then after that interval He said to His disciples, Let us go back again to Judea.

⁸ The disciples said to Him, Rabbi, the Jews only recently were intending and trying to stone You, and are You [thinking of] going back there again?

⁹ Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? Anyone who walks about in the daytime does not stumble, because he sees [by] the light of this world.

¹⁰ But if anyone walks about in the night, he does stumble, because there is no light in him [the light is lacking to him].

¹¹ He said these things, and then added, Our friend Lazarus is at rest and sleeping; but I am going there that I may awaken him out of his sleep.

¹² The disciples answered, Lord, if he is sleeping, he will recover.

¹³ However, Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He referred to falling into a refreshing and natural sleep.

¹⁴ So then Jesus told them plainly, Lazarus is dead,

¹⁵ And for your sake I am glad that I was not there; it will help you to believe (to trust and rely on Me). However, let us go to him.

¹⁶ Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us go too, that we may die [be killed] along with Him.

¹⁷ So when Jesus arrived, He found that he [Lazarus] had already been in the tomb four days.

¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away,

¹⁹ And a considerable number of the Jews had gone out to see Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet Him, while Mary remained sitting in the house.

²¹ Martha then said to Jesus, Master, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

²² And even now I know that whatever You ask from God, He will grant it to You.

²³ Jesus said to her, Your brother shall rise again.

²⁴ Martha replied, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.

²⁵ Jesus said to her, I am [Myself] the Resurrection and the Life. Whoever believes in (adheres to, trusts in, and relies on) Me, although he may die, yet he shall live;

²⁶ And whoever continues to live and believes in (has faith in, cleaves to, and relies on) Me shall never [actually] die at all. Do you believe this?

²⁷ She said to Him, Yes, Lord, I have believed [I do believe] that You are the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One), the Son of God, [even He] Who was to come into the world. [It is for Your coming that the world has waited.]

²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, privately whispering to her, The Teacher is close at hand and is asking for you.

²⁹ When she heard this, she sprang up quickly and went to Him.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the same spot where Martha had met Him.

³¹ When the Jews who were sitting with her in the house and consoling her saw how hastily Mary had arisen and gone out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to pour out her grief there.

³² When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she dropped down at His feet, saying to Him, Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.

³³ When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who came with her [also] sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. [He chafed in spirit and sighed and was disturbed.]

³⁴ And He said, Where have you laid him? They said to Him, Lord, come and see.

³⁵ Jesus wept.

³⁶ The Jews said, See how [tenderly] He loved him!

³⁷ But some of them said, Could not He Who opened a blind man’s eyes have prevented this man from dying?

³⁸ Now Jesus, again sighing repeatedly and deeply disquieted, approached the tomb. It was a cave (a hole in the rock), and a boulder lay against [the entrance to close] it.

³⁹ Jesus said, Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, exclaimed, But Lord, by this time he [is decaying and] throws off an offensive odor, for he has been dead four days!

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, Did I not tell you and ^[a]promise you that if you would believe and rely on Me, you would see the glory of God?

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.

⁴² Yes, I know You always hear and listen to Me, but I have said this on account of and for the benefit of the people standing around, so that they may believe that You did send Me [that You have made Me Your Messenger].

⁴³ When He had said this, He shouted with a loud voice, Lazarus, come out!

⁴⁴ And out walked the man who had been dead, his hands and feet wrapped in burial cloths (linen strips), and with a [burial] napkin bound around his face. Jesus said to them, Free him of the burial wrappings and let him go.

⁴⁵ Upon seeing what Jesus had done, many of the Jews who had come with Mary believed in Him. [They trusted in Him and adhered to Him and relied on Him.]

⁴⁶ But some of them went back to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

⁴⁷ So the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the council (the Sanhedrin) and said, What are we to do? For this Man performs many signs (evidences, miracles).

⁴⁸ If we let Him alone to go on like this, everyone will believe in Him and adhere to Him, and the Romans will come and suppress and destroy and take away our [holy] place and our nation [^[b]our temple and city and our civil organization].

⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, declared, You know nothing at all!

⁵⁰ Nor do you understand or reason out that it is expedient and better for your own welfare that one man should die on behalf of the people than that the whole nation should perish (be destroyed, ruined).

⁵¹ Now he did not say this simply of his own accord [he was not self-moved]; but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was to die for the nation,^(A)

⁵² And not only for the nation but also for the purpose of uniting into one body the children of God who have been scattered far and wide.^(B)

⁵³ So from that day on they took counsel and plotted together how they might put Him to death.

⁵⁴ For that reason Jesus no longer appeared publicly among the Jews, but left there and retired to the district that borders on the wilderness (the desert), to a village called Ephraim, and there He stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Jewish Passover was at hand, and many from the country went up to Jerusalem in order that they might purify and consecrate themselves before the Passover.

⁵⁶ So they kept looking for Jesus and questioned among themselves as they were standing about in the temple [^[c]area], What do you think? Will He not come to the Feast at all?

⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he should report it to them, so that they might arrest Him.