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Jesus Heals a Sick Man

Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem for another Jewish festival.[a] In the city near the sheep gate was a pool with five porches, and its name in Hebrew was Bethzatha.[b]

3-4 Many sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying close to the pool.[c]

Beside the pool was a man who had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw the man and realized that he had been crippled for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to be healed?”

The man answered, “Sir, I don't have anyone to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up. I try to get in, but someone else always gets there first.”

Jesus told him, “Pick up your mat and walk!” Right then the man was healed. He picked up his mat and started walking around. The day on which this happened was a Sabbath.

10 (A) When the Jewish leaders saw the man carrying his mat, they said to him, “This is the Sabbath! No one is allowed to carry a mat on the Sabbath.”

11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me to pick up my mat and walk.”

12 They asked him, “Who is this man that told you to pick up your mat and walk?” 13 But he did not know who Jesus was, and Jesus had left because of the crowd.

14 Later, Jesus met the man in the temple and told him, “You are now well. But don't sin anymore or something worse might happen to you.”

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Footnotes

  1. 5.1 another Jewish festival: Either the Festival of Shelters or Passover.
  2. 5.2 Bethzatha: Some manuscripts have “Bethesda” and others have “Bethsaida.”
  3. 5.3,4 pool: Some manuscripts add, “They were waiting for the water to be stirred, because an angel from the Lord would sometimes come down and stir it. The first person to get into the pool after that would be healed.”

The Healing at the Pool

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate(A) a pool, which in Aramaic(B) is called Bethesda[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. [4] [b] One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”(C) At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

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

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(G) or something worse may happen to you.”

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Footnotes

  1. John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida
  2. John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had.