John 11
English Standard Version
The Death of Lazarus
11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of (A)Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (B)It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, (C)he whom you love is ill.” 4 But when Jesus heard it he said, (D)“This illness does not lead to death. It is for (E)the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now (F)Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, (G)he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. 7 Then after this he said to the disciples, (H)“Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to him, (I)“Rabbi, (J)the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 9 Jesus answered, (K)“Are there not twelve hours in the day? (L)If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But (M)if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not (N)in him.” 11 After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus (O)has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.” 12 The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died, 15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 (P)So Thomas, called the Twin,[b] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, (Q)that we may die with him.”
I Am the Resurrection and the Life
17 Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb (R)four days. 18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles[c] off, 19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary (S)to console them concerning their brother. 20 (T)So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha said to (U)Jesus, “Lord, (V)if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, (W)God will give you.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 (X)Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in (Y)the resurrection on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, (Z)“I am the resurrection and (AA)the life.[d] Whoever believes in me, (AB)though he die, (AC)yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me (AD)shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord; (AE)I believe that (AF)you are the Christ, the Son of God, (AG)who is coming into the world.”
Jesus Weeps
28 When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, (AH)“The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews (AI)who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, (AJ)“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he (AK)was deeply moved[e] in his spirit and (AL)greatly troubled. 34 And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 (AM)Jesus wept. 36 So the Jews said, “See (AN)how he loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not he (AO)who opened the eyes of the blind man (AP)also have kept this man from dying?”
Jesus Raises Lazarus
38 Then Jesus, (AQ)deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was (AR)a cave, and (AS)a stone lay against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for (AT)he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, (AU)“Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see (AV)the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus (AW)lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 (AX)I knew that you always hear me, but I said this (AY)on account of the people standing around, (AZ)that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” 44 (BA)The man who had died came out, (BB)his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and (BC)his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45 (BD)Many of the Jews therefore, (BE)who had come with Mary and (BF)had seen what he did, believed in him, 46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees (BG)gathered (BH)the council and said, (BI)“What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and (BJ)the Romans will come and take away both our (BK)place and our nation.” 49 But one of them, (BL)Caiaphas, (BM)who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you understand that (BN)it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but (BO)being high priest that year (BP)he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and (BQ)not for the nation only, but also (BR)to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they (BS)made plans to put him to death.
54 Jesus therefore (BT)no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
55 Now (BU)the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and (BV)many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover (BW)to purify themselves. 56 (BX)They were looking for[f] Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Footnotes
- John 11:6 Greek he; also verse 17
- John 11:16 Greek Didymus
- John 11:18 Greek fifteen stadia; a stadion was about 607 feet or 185 meters
- John 11:25 Some manuscripts omit and the life
- John 11:33 Or was indignant; also verse 38
- John 11:56 Greek were seeking for
John 11
Young's Literal Translation
11 And there was a certain one ailing, Lazarus, from Bethany, of the village of Mary and Martha her sister --
2 and it was Mary who did anoint the Lord with ointment, and did wipe his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ailing --
3 therefore sent the sisters unto him, saying, `Sir, lo, he whom thou dost love is ailing;'
4 and Jesus having heard, said, `This ailment is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'
5 And Jesus was loving Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus,
6 when, therefore, he heard that he is ailing, then indeed he remained in the place in which he was two days,
7 then after this, he saith to the disciples, `We may go to Judea again;'
8 the disciples say to him, `Rabbi, now were the Jews seeking to stone thee, and again thou dost go thither!'
9 Jesus answered, `Are there not twelve hours in the day? if any one may walk in the day, he doth not stumble, because the light of this world he doth see;
10 and if any one may walk in the night, he stumbleth, because the light is not in him.'
11 These things he said, and after this he saith to them, `Lazarus our friend hath fallen asleep, but I go on that I may awake him;'
12 therefore said his disciples, `Sir, if he hath fallen asleep, he will be saved;'
13 but Jesus had spoken about his death, but they thought that about the repose of sleep he speaketh.
14 Then, therefore, Jesus said to them freely, `Lazarus hath died;
15 and I rejoice, for your sake, (that ye may believe,) that I was not there; but we may go to him;'
16 therefore said Thomas, who is called Didymus, to the fellow-disciples, `We may go -- we also, that we may die with him,'
17 Jesus, therefore, having come, found him having been four days already in the tomb.
18 And Bethany was nigh to Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off,
19 and many of the Jews had come unto Martha and Mary, that they might comfort them concerning their brother;
20 Martha, therefore, when she heard that Jesus doth come, met him, and Mary kept sitting in the house.
21 Martha, therefore, said unto Jesus, `Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;
22 but even now, I have known that whatever thou mayest ask of God, God will give to thee;'
23 Jesus saith to her, `Thy brother shall rise again.'
24 Martha saith to him, `I have known that he will rise again, in the rising again in the last day;'
25 Jesus said to her, `I am the rising again, and the life; he who is believing in me, even if he may die, shall live;
26 and every one who is living and believing in me shall not die -- to the age;
27 believest thou this?' she saith to him, `Yes, sir, I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming to the world.'
28 And these things having said, she went away, and called Mary her sister privately, saying, `The Teacher is present, and doth call thee;'
29 she, when she heard, riseth up quickly, and doth come to him;
30 and Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was in the place where Martha met him;
31 the Jews, therefore, who were with her in the house, and were comforting her, having seen Mary that she rose up quickly and went forth, followed her, saying -- `She doth go away to the tomb, that she may weep there.'
32 Mary, therefore, when she came where Jesus was, having seen him, fell at his feet, saying to him, `Sir, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died;'
33 Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, did groan in the spirit, and troubled himself, and he said,
34 `Where have ye laid him?' they say to him, `Sir, come and see;'
35 Jesus wept.
36 The Jews, therefore, said, `Lo, how he was loving him!'
37 and certain of them said, `Was not this one, who did open the eyes of the blind man, able to cause that also this one might not have died?'
38 Jesus, therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the tomb, and it was a cave, and a stone was lying upon it,
39 Jesus saith, `Take ye away the stone;' the sister of him who hath died -- Martha -- saith to him, `Sir, already he stinketh, for he is four days dead;'
40 Jesus saith to her, `Said I not to thee, that if thou mayest believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?'
41 They took away, therefore, the stone where the dead was laid, and Jesus lifted his eyes upwards, and said, `Father, I thank Thee, that Thou didst hear me;
42 and I knew that Thou always dost hear me, but, because of the multitude that is standing by, I said [it], that they may believe that Thou didst send me.'
43 And these things saying, with a loud voice he cried out, `Lazarus, come forth;'
44 and he who died came forth, being bound feet and hands with grave-clothes, and his visage with a napkin was bound about; Jesus saith to them, `Loose him, and suffer to go.'
45 Many, therefore, of the Jews who came unto Mary, and beheld what Jesus did, believed in him;
46 but certain of them went away unto the Pharisees, and told them what Jesus did;
47 the chief priests, therefore, and the Pharisees, gathered together a sanhedrim, and said, `What may we do? because this man doth many signs?
48 if we may let him alone thus, all will believe in him; and the Romans will come, and will take away both our place and nation.'
49 and a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being chief priest of that year, said to them, `Ye have not known anything,
50 nor reason that it is good for us that one man may die for the people, and not the whole nation perish.'
51 And this he said not of himself, but being chief priest of that year, he did prophesy that Jesus was about to die for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but that also the children of God, who have been scattered abroad, he may gather together into one.
53 From that day, therefore, they took counsel together that they may kill him;
54 Jesus, therefore, was no more freely walking among the Jews, but went away thence to the region nigh the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there he tarried with his disciples.
55 And the passover of the Jews was nigh, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the passover, that they might purify themselves;
56 they were seeking, therefore, Jesus, and said one with another, standing in the temple, `What doth appear to you -- that he may not come to the feast?'
57 and both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if any one may know where he is, he may shew [it], so that they may seize him.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
