Water From the Rock

17 The entire Israelite community set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin^[a] as the Lord had commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”

³ But the people were thirsty for water there, so they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up out of Egypt to let us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?”

⁴ Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!”

⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Go in front of the people, and take the elders of Israel with you. Also take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ Watch me. I will stand there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” Moses did that in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah^[b] and Meribah,^[c] because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Justification Brings Peace and Joy

5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace^[a] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. ² Through him we also have obtained access by faith^[b] into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory^[c] of God.

³ Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, ⁴ and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. ⁵ And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

God’s Love Is Evident in Christ’s Death for the Ungodly

⁶ For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. ⁸ But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus Teaches Nicodemus

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. ² He came to Jesus at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these miraculous signs you are doing unless God is with him.”

³ Jesus replied, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born from above,^[a] he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God! ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh. Whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be surprised when I tell you that you must be born from above.^{[b] 8} The wind blows where it pleases. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ “How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰ “You are the teacher of Israel,” Jesus answered, “and you do not know these things? ¹¹ Amen, Amen, I tell you: We speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. But you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven, except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.^[c]

¹⁴ “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him shall not perish but^[d] have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.