5 After this, there was a Judean festival; and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. ² In Yerushalayim, by the Sheep Gate, is a pool called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata, ³ in which lay a crowd of invalids — blind, lame, crippled. ^{4 [a] 5} One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ Yeshua, seeing this man and knowing that he had been there a long time, said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered, “I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is disturbed; and while I’m trying to get there, someone goes in ahead of me.” ⁸ Yeshua said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat and walk!” ⁹ Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and walked.

Now that day was Shabbat, ¹⁰ so the Judeans said to the man who had been healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s against Torah for you to carry your mat!” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who healed me — he’s the one who told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick it up and walk?” ¹³ But the man who had been healed didn’t know who it was, because Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd.

¹⁴ Afterwards Yeshua found him in the Temple court and said to him, “See, you are well! Now stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you!” ¹⁵ The man went off and told the Judeans it was Yeshua who had healed him; ¹⁶ and on account of this, the Judeans began harassing Yeshua because he did these things on Shabbat.

¹⁷ But he answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ This answer made the Judeans all the more intent on killing him — not only was he breaking Shabbat; but also, by saying that God was his own Father, he was claiming equality with God. ¹⁹ Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: “Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does; and he will show him even greater things than these, so that you will be amazed. ²¹ Just as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so too the Son makes alive anyone he wants. ²² The Father does not judge anyone but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever fails to honor the Son is not honoring the Father who sent him. ²⁴ Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever hears what I am saying and trusts the One who sent me has eternal life — that is, he will not come up for judgment but has already crossed over from death to life! ²⁵ Yes, indeed! I tell you that there is coming a time — in fact, it’s already here — when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen will come to life. ²⁶ For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son life to have in himself. ²⁷ Also he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸ Don’t be surprised at this; because the time is coming when all who are in the grave will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out — those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to a resurrection of judgment. ³⁰ I can’t do a thing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is right; because I don’t seek my own desire, but the desire of the one who sent me.

³¹ “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is not valid. ³² But there is someone else testifying on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he is making is valid — ³³ you have sent to Yochanan, and he has testified to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I collect human testimony; rather, I say these things so that you might be saved. ³⁵ He was a lamp burning and shining, and for a little while you were willing to bask in his light.

³⁶ “But I have a testimony that is greater than Yochanan’s. For the things the Father has given me to do, the very things I am doing now, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.

³⁷ “In addition, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice or seen his shape; ³⁸ moreover, his word does not stay in you, because you don’t trust the one he sent. ³⁹ You keep examining the Tanakh because you think that in it you have eternal life. Those very Scriptures bear witness to me, ⁴⁰ but you won’t come to me in order to have life!

⁴¹ “I don’t collect praise from men, ⁴² but I do know you people — I know that you have no love for God in you! ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t accept me; if someone else comes in his own name, him you will accept. ⁴⁴ How can you trust? You’re busy collecting praise from each other, instead of seeking praise from God only.

⁴⁵ “But don’t think that it is I who will be your accuser before the Father. Do you know who will accuse you? Moshe, the very one you have counted on! ⁴⁶ For if you really believed Moshe, you would believe me; because it was about me that he wrote. ⁴⁷ But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”

6 Some time later, Yeshua went over to the far side of Lake Kinneret (that is, Lake Tiberias), ² and a large crowd followed him, because they had seen the miracles he had performed on the sick. ³ Yeshua went up into the hills and sat down there with his talmidim. ⁴ Now the Judean festival of Pesach was coming up; ⁵ so when Yeshua looked up and saw that a large crowd was approaching, he said to Philip, “Where will we be able to buy bread, so that these people can eat?” ⁶ (Now Yeshua said this to test Philip, for Yeshua himself knew what he was about to do.) ⁷ Philip answered, “Half a year’s wages wouldn’t buy enough bread for them — each one would get only a bite!” ⁸ One of the talmidim, Andrew the brother of Shim‘on Kefa, said to him, ⁹ “There’s a young fellow here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But how far will they go among so many?”

¹⁰ Yeshua said, “Have the people sit down.” There was a lot of grass there, so they sat down. The number of men was about five thousand. ¹¹ Then Yeshua took the loaves of bread, and, after making a b’rakhah, gave to all who were sitting there, and likewise with the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹² After they had eaten their fill, he told his talmidim, “Gather the leftover pieces, so that nothing gets wasted.” ¹³ They gathered them and filled twelve baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten.

¹⁴ When the people saw the miracle he had performed, they said, “This has to be ‘the prophet’ who is supposed to come into the world.” ¹⁵ Yeshua knew that they were on the point of coming and seizing him, in order to make him king; so he went back to the hills again. This time he went by himself.

¹⁶ When evening came, his talmidim went down to the lake, ¹⁷ got into a boat and set out across the lake toward K’far-Nachum. By now it was dark, Yeshua had not yet joined them, ¹⁸ and the sea was getting rough, because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹ They had rowed three or four miles when they saw Yeshua approaching the boat, walking on the lake! They were terrified; ²⁰ but he said to them, “Stop being afraid, it is I.” ²¹ Then they were willing to take him into the boat, and instantly the boat reached the land they were heading for.

²² The next day, the crowd which had stayed on the other side of the lake noticed that there had been only one boat there, and that Yeshua had not entered the boat with his talmidim, but that the talmidim had been alone when they sailed off. ²³ Then other boats, from Tiberias, came ashore near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had made the b’rakhah. ²⁴ Accordingly, when the crowd saw that neither Yeshua nor his talmidim were there, they themselves boarded the boats and made for K’far-Nachum in search of Yeshua.

²⁵ When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” ²⁶ Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed! I tell you, you’re not looking for me because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate the bread and had all you wanted! ²⁷ Don’t work for the food which passes away but for the food that stays on into eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For this is the one on whom God the Father has put his seal.”

²⁸ So they said to him, “What should we do in order to perform the works of God?” ²⁹ Yeshua answered, “Here’s what the work of God is: to trust in the one he sent!”

³⁰ They said to him, “Nu, what miracle will you do for us, so that we may see it and trust you? What work can you perform? ³¹ Our fathers ate man in the desert — as it says in the Tanakh, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’^{[b] 32} Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you it wasn’t Moshe who gave you the bread from heaven. But my Father is giving you the genuine bread from heaven; ³³ for God’s bread is the one who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.”

³⁴ They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread from now on.” ³⁵ Yeshua answered, “I am the bread which is life! Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever trusts in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶ I told you that you have seen but still don’t trust. ³⁷ Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will certainly not turn away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of the One who sent me. ³⁹ And this is the will of the One who sent me: that I should not lose any of all those he has given me but should raise them up on the Last Day. ⁴⁰ Yes, this is the will of my Father: that all who see the Son and trust in him should have eternal life, and that I should raise them up on the Last Day.”

⁴¹ At this the Judeans began grumbling about him because he said, “I am the bread which has come down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Isn’t this Yeshua Ben-Yosef? We know his father and mother! How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³ Yeshua answered them, “Stop grumbling to each other! ⁴⁴ No one can come to me unless the Father — the One who sent me — draws him. And I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by Adonai.’^[c] Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God — he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Yes, indeed! I tell you, whoever trusts has eternal life: ⁴⁸ I am the bread which is life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the man in the desert; they died. ⁵⁰ But the bread that comes down from heaven is such that a person may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that has come down from heaven; if anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. Furthermore, the bread that I will give is my own flesh; and I will give it for the life of the world.”

⁵² At this, the Judeans disputed with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” ⁵³ Then Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life — that is, I will raise him up on the Last Day. ⁵⁵ For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I live in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live through the Father, so also whoever eats me will live through me. ⁵⁸ So this is the bread that has come down from heaven — it is not like the bread the fathers ate; they’re dead, but whoever eats this bread will live forever!” ⁵⁹ He said these things as he was teaching in a synagogue in K’far-Nachum.

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his talmidim said, “This is a hard word — who can bear to listen to it?” ⁶¹ But Yeshua, aware that his talmidim were grumbling about this, said to them, “This is a trap for you? ⁶² Suppose you were to see the Son of Man going back up to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh is no help. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life, ⁶⁴ yet some among you do not trust.” (For Yeshua knew from the outset which ones would not trust him, also which one would betray him.) ⁶⁵ “This,” he said, “is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has made it possible for him.”

⁶⁶ From this time on, many of his talmidim turned back and no longer traveled around with him. ⁶⁷ So Yeshua said to the Twelve, “Don’t you want to leave too?” ⁶⁸ Shim‘on Kefa answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the word of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have trusted, and we know that you are the Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰ Yeshua answered them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is an adversary.” ⁷¹ (He was speaking of Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on, from K’riot; for this man — one of the Twelve! — was soon to betray him.)

7 After this, Yeshua traveled around in the Galil, intentionally avoiding Y’hudah because the Judeans were out to kill him. ² But the festival of Sukkot in Y’hudah was near; ³ so his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go into Y’hudah, so that your talmidim can see the miracles you do; ⁴ for no one who wants to become known acts in secret. If you’re doing these things, show yourself to the world!” ⁵ (His brothers spoke this way because they had not put their trust in him.) ⁶ Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come; but for you, any time is right. ⁷ The world can’t hate you, but it does hate me, because I keep telling it how wicked its ways are. ⁸ You, go on up to the festival; as for me, I am not going up to this festival now, because the right time for me has not yet come.” ⁹ Having said this, he stayed on in the Galil.

¹⁰ But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he too went up, not publicly but in secret. ¹¹ At the festival, the Judeans were looking for him. “Where is he?” they asked. ¹² And among the crowds there was much whispering about him. Some said, “He’s a good man”; but others said, “No, he is deceiving the masses.” ¹³ However, no one spoke about him openly, for fear of the Judeans.

¹⁴ Not until the festival was half over did Yeshua go up to the Temple courts and begin to teach. ¹⁵ The Judeans were surprised: “How does this man know so much without having studied?” they asked. ¹⁶ So Yeshua gave them an answer: “My teaching is not my own, it comes from the One who sent me. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to do his will, he will know whether my teaching is from God or I speak on my own. ¹⁸ A person who speaks on his own is trying to win praise for himself; but a person who tries to win praise for the one who sent him is honest, there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah? Yet not one of you obeys the Torah! Why are you out to kill me?” ²⁰ “You have a demon!” the crowd answered. “Who’s out to kill you?” ²¹ Yeshua answered them, “I did one thing; and because of this, all of you are amazed. ²² Moshe gave you b’rit-milah — not that it came from Moshe but from the Patriarchs — and you do a boy’s b’rit-milah on Shabbat. ²³ If a boy is circumcised on Shabbat so that the Torah of Moshe will not be broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man’s whole body well on Shabbat? ²⁴ Stop judging by surface appearances, and judge the right way!”

²⁵ Some of the Yerushalayim people said, “Isn’t this the man they’re out to kill? ²⁶ Yet here he is, speaking openly; and they don’t say anything to him. It couldn’t be, could it, that the authorities have actually concluded he’s the Messiah? ²⁷ Surely not — we know where this man comes from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from.” ²⁸ Whereupon Yeshua, continuing to teach in the Temple courts, cried out, “Indeed you do know me! And you know where I’m from! And I have not come on my own! The One who sent me is real. But him you don’t know! ²⁹ I do know him, because I am with him, and he sent me!”

³⁰ At this, they tried to arrest him; but no one laid a hand on him; because his time had not yet come. ³¹ However, many in the crowd put their trust in him and said, “When the Messiah comes, will he do more miracles than this man has done?”

³² The P’rushim heard the crowd whispering these things about Yeshua; so the head cohanim and the P’rushim sent some of the Temple guards to arrest him. ³³ Yeshua said, “I will be with you only a little while longer; then I will go away to the One who sent me. ³⁴ You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come.” ³⁵ The Judeans said to themselves, “Where is this man about to go, that we won’t find him? Does he intend to go to the Greek Diaspora and teach the Greek-speaking Jews? ³⁶ And when he says, ‘You will look for me and not find me; indeed, where I am, you cannot come’ — what does he mean?”

³⁷ Now on the last day of the festival, Hoshana Rabbah, Yeshua stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him keep coming to me and drinking! ³⁸ Whoever puts his trust in me, as the Scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his inmost being!” ³⁹ (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who trusted in him were to receive later — the Spirit had not yet been given, because Yeshua had not yet been glorified.)

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some people in the crowd said, “Surely this man is ‘the prophet’”; ⁴¹ others said, “This is the Messiah.” But others said, “How can the Messiah come from the Galil? ⁴² Doesn’t the Tanakh say that the Messiah is from the seed of David^[d] and comes from Beit-Lechem,^[e] the village where David lived?” ⁴³ So the people were divided because of him. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him.

⁴⁵ The guards came back to the head cohanim and the P’rushim, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” ⁴⁶ The guards replied, “No one ever spoke the way this man speaks!” ⁴⁷ “You mean you’ve been taken in as well?” the P’rushim retorted. ⁴⁸ “Has any of the authorities trusted him? Or any of the P’rushim? No! ⁴⁹ True, these ‘am-ha’aretz do, but they know nothing about the Torah, they are under a curse!”

⁵⁰ Nakdimon, the man who had gone to Yeshua before and was one of them, said to them, ⁵¹ “Our Torah doesn’t condemn a man — does it? — until after hearing from him and finding out what he’s doing.” ⁵² They replied, “You aren’t from the Galil too, are you? Study the Tanakh, and see for yourself that no prophet comes from the Galil!” ^{[f] 53} Then they all left, each one to his own home.

8 But Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives. ² At daybreak, he appeared again in the Temple Court, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. ³ The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery and made her stand in the center of the group. ⁴ Then they said to him, “Rabbi, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵ Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded that such a woman be stoned to death. What do you say about it?” ⁶ They said this to trap him, so that they might have ground for bringing charges against him; but Yeshua bent down and began writing in the dust with his finger. ⁷ When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “The one of you who is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he bent down and wrote in the dust again. ⁹ On hearing this, they began to leave, one by one, the older ones first, until he was left alone, with the woman still there. ¹⁰ Standing up, Yeshua said to her, “Where are they? Has no one condemned you?” ¹¹ She said, “No one, sir.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Now go, and don’t sin any more.”

¹² Yeshua spoke to them again: “I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light which gives life.” ¹³ So the P’rushim said to him, “Now you’re testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” ¹⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony is indeed valid; because I know where I came from and where I’m going; but you do not know where I came from or where I’m going. ¹⁵ You judge by merely human standards. As for me, I pass judgment on no one; ¹⁶ but if I were indeed to pass judgment, my judgment would be valid; because it is not I alone who judge, but I and the One who sent me. ¹⁷ And even in your Torah it is written that the testimony of two people is valid. ¹⁸ I myself testify on my own behalf, and so does the Father who sent me.”

¹⁹ They said to him, “Where is this ‘father’ of yours?” Yeshua answered, “You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father too.” ²⁰ He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.

²¹ Again he told them, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin — where I am going, you cannot come.” ²² The Judeans said, “Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ²³ Yeshua said to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. ²⁴ This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins.”

²⁵ At this, they said to him, “You? Who are you?” Yeshua answered, “Just what I’ve been telling you from the start. ²⁶ There are many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make. However, the One who sent me is true; so I say in the world only what I have heard from him.” ²⁷ They did not understand that he was talking to them about the Father. ²⁸ So Yeshua said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM [who I say I am], and that of myself I do nothing, but say only what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ Also, the One who sent me is still with me; he did not leave me to myself, because I always do what pleases him.”

³⁰ Many people who heard him say these things trusted in him. ³¹ So Yeshua said to the Judeans who had trusted him, “If you obey what I say, then you are really my talmidim, ³² you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ³³ They answered, “We are the seed of Avraham and have never been slaves to anyone; so what do you mean by saying, ‘You will be set free’?” ³⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ Now a slave does not remain with a family forever, but a son does remain with it forever. ³⁶ So if the Son frees you, you will really be free! ³⁷ I know you are the seed of Avraham. Yet you are out to kill me, because what I am saying makes no headway in you. ³⁸ I say what my Father has shown me; you do what your father has told you!”

³⁹ They answered him, “Our father is Avraham.” Yeshua replied, “If you are children of Avraham, then do the things Avraham did! ⁴⁰ As it is, you are out to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Avraham did nothing like that! ⁴¹ You are doing the things your father does.” “We’re not illegitimate children!” they said to him. “We have only one Father — God!” ⁴² Yeshua replied to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me; because I came out from God; and now I have arrived here. I did not come on my own; he sent me. ⁴³ Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? Because you can’t bear to listen to my message. ⁴⁴ You belong to your father, Satan, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. From the start he was a murderer, and he has never stood by the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he is speaking in character; because he is a liar — indeed, the inventor of the lie! ⁴⁵ But as for me, because I tell the truth you don’t believe me. ⁴⁶ Which one of you can show me where I’m wrong? If I’m telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷ Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says; the reason you don’t listen is that you don’t belong to God.”

⁴⁸ The Judeans answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying you are from Shomron and have a demon?” ⁴⁹ Yeshua replied, “Me? I have no demon. I am honoring my Father. But you dishonor me. ⁵⁰ I am not seeking praise for myself. There is One who is seeking it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹ Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death.”

⁵² The Judeans said to him, “Now we know for sure that you have a demon! Avraham died, and so did the prophets; yet you say, ‘Whoever obeys my teaching will never taste death.’ ⁵³ Avraham avinu died; you aren’t greater than he, are you? And the prophets also died. Who do you think you are?” ⁵⁴ Yeshua answered, “If I praise myself, my praise counts for nothing. The One who is praising me is my Father, the very one about whom you keep saying, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵ Now you have not known him, but I do know him; indeed, if I were to say that I don’t know him, I would be a liar like you! But I do know him, and I obey his word. ⁵⁶ Avraham, your father, was glad that he would see my day; then he saw it and was overjoyed.”

⁵⁷ “Why, you’re not yet fifty years old,” the Judeans replied, “and you have seen Avraham?” ⁵⁸ Yeshua said to them, “Yes, indeed! Before Avraham came into being, I AM!” ⁵⁹ At this, they picked up stones to throw at him; but Yeshua was hidden and left the Temple grounds.

9 As Yeshua passed along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His talmidim asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned — this man or his parents — to cause him to be born blind?” ³ Yeshua answered, “His blindness is due neither to his sin nor to that of his parents; it happened so that God’s power might be seen at work in him. ⁴ As long as it is day, we must keep doing the work of the One who sent me; the night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, put the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash off in the Pool of Shiloach!” (The name means “sent.”) So he went and washed and came away seeing.

⁸ His neighbors and those who previously had seen him begging said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹ Some said, “Yes, he’s the one”; while others said, “No, but he looks like him.” However, he himself said, “I’m the one.” ¹⁰ “How were your eyes opened?” they asked him. ¹¹ He answered, “The man called Yeshua made mud, put it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Shiloach and wash!’ So I went; and as soon as I had washed, I could see.” ¹² They said to him, “Where is he?” and he replied, “I don’t know.”

¹³ They took the man who had been blind to the P’rushim. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Yeshua had made the mud and opened his eyes was Shabbat. ¹⁵ So the P’rushim asked him again how he had become able to see; and he told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.” ¹⁶ At this, some of the P’rushim said, “This man is not from God, because he doesn’t keep Shabbat.” But others said, “How could a man who is a sinner do miracles like these?” And there was a split among them. ¹⁷ So once more they spoke to the blind man: “Since you’re the one whose eyes he opened, what do you say about him?” He replied: “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸ The Judeans, however, were unwilling to believe that he had formerly been blind, but now could see, until they had summoned the man’s parents. ¹⁹ They asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” ²⁰ His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind; ²¹ but how it is that he can see now, we don’t know; nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him — he’s old enough, he can speak for himself!” ²² The parents said this because they were afraid of the Judeans, for the Judeans had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged Yeshua as the Messiah would be banned from the synagogue. ²³ This is why his parents said, “He’s old enough, ask him.”

²⁴ So a second time they called the man who had been blind; and they said to him, “Swear to God that you will tell the truth! We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵ He answered, “Whether he’s a sinner or not I don’t know. One thing I do know: I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶ So they said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷ “I already told you,” he answered, “and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Maybe you too want to become his talmidim?” ²⁸ Then they railed at him. “You may be his talmid,” they said, “but we are talmidim of Moshe! ²⁹ We know that God has spoken to Moshe, but as for this fellow — we don’t know where he’s from!” ³⁰ “What a strange thing,” the man answered, “that you don’t know where he’s from — considering that he opened my eyes! ³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners; but if anyone fears God and does his will, God does listen to him. ³² In all history no one has ever heard of someone’s opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing!” ³⁴ “Why, you mamzer!” they retorted, “Are you lecturing us?” And they threw him out.

³⁵ Yeshua heard that they had thrown the man out. He found him and said, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?” ³⁶ “Sir,” he answered, “tell me who he is, so that I can trust in him.” ³⁷ Yeshua said to him, “You have seen him. In fact, he’s the one speaking with you now.” ³⁸ “Lord, I trust!” he said, and he kneeled down in front of him.

³⁹ Yeshua said, “It is to judge that I came into this world, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” ⁴⁰ Some of the P’rushim nearby heard this and said to him, “So we’re blind too, are we?” ⁴¹ Yeshua answered them, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin. But since you still say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.

10 “Yes, indeed! I tell you, the person who doesn’t enter the sheep-pen through the door, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. ² But the one who goes in through the gate is the sheep’s own shepherd. ³ This is the one the gate-keeper admits, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep, each one by name, and leads them out. ⁴ After taking out all that are his own, he goes on ahead of them; and the sheep follow him because they recognize his voice. ⁵ They never follow a stranger but will run away from him, because strangers’ voices are unfamiliar to them.”

⁶ Yeshua used this indirect manner of speaking with them, but they didn’t understand what he was talking to them about. ⁷ So Yeshua said to them again, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸ All those who have come before me have been thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them. ⁹ I am the gate; if someone enters through me, he will be safe and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only in order to steal, kill and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, life in its fullest measure.

¹¹ “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand, since he isn’t a shepherd and the sheep aren’t his own, sees the wolf coming, abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf drags them off and scatters them. ¹³ The hired worker behaves like this because that’s all he is, a hired worker; so it doesn’t matter to him what happens to the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd; I know my own, and my own know me — ¹⁵ just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father — and I lay down my life on behalf of the sheep. ¹⁶ Also I have other sheep which are not from this pen; I need to bring them, and they will hear my voice; and there will be one flock, one shepherd.

¹⁷ “This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life — in order to take it up again! ¹⁸ No one takes it away from me; on the contrary, I lay it down of my own free will. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it up again. This is what my Father commanded me to do.”

¹⁹ Again there was a split among the Judeans because of what he said. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon!” and “He’s meshugga! Why do you listen to him?” ²¹ Others said, “These are not the deeds of a man who is demonized — how can a demon open blind people’s eyes?”

²² Then came Hanukkah in Yerushalayim. It was winter, ²³ and Yeshua was walking around inside the Temple area, in Shlomo’s Colonnade. ²⁴ So the Judeans surrounded him and said to him, “How much longer are you going to keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us publicly!” ²⁵ Yeshua answered them, “I have already told you, and you don’t trust me. The works I do in my Father’s name testify on my behalf, ²⁶ but the reason you don’t trust is that you are not included among my sheep. ²⁷ My sheep listen to my voice, I recognize them, they follow me, ²⁸ and I give them eternal life. They will absolutely never be destroyed, and no one will snatch them from my hands. ²⁹ My Father, who gave them to me, is greater than all; and no one can snatch them from the Father’s hands. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

³¹ Once again the Judeans picked up rocks in order to stone him. ³² Yeshua answered them, “You have seen me do many good deeds that reflect the Father’s power; for which one of these deeds are you stoning me?” ³³ The Judeans replied, “We are not stoning you for any good deed, but for blasphemy — because you, who are only a man, are making yourself out to be God ^[g].” ³⁴ Yeshua answered them, “Isn’t it written in your Torah, ‘I have said, “You people are Elohim’ ”?^{[h] 35} If he called ‘elohim’ the people to whom the word of Elohim was addressed (and the Tanakh cannot be broken), ³⁶ then are you telling the one whom the Father set apart as holy and sent into the world, ‘You are committing blasphemy,’ just because I said, ‘I am a son of Elohim’?

³⁷ “If I am not doing deeds that reflect my Father’s power, don’t trust me. ³⁸ But if I am, then, even if you don’t trust me, trust the deeds; so that you may understand once and for all that the Father is united with me, and I am united with the Father.” ³⁹ One more time they tried to arrest him, but he slipped out of their hands.

⁴⁰ He went off again beyond the Yarden, where Yochanan had been immersing at first, and stayed there. ⁴¹ Many people came to him and said, “Yochanan performed no miracles, but everything Yochanan said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many people there put their trust in him.

11 There was a man who had fallen sick. His name was El‘azar, and he came from Beit-Anyah, the village where Miryam and her sister Marta lived. ² (This Miryam, whose brother El‘azar had become sick, is the one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) ³ So the sisters sent a message to Yeshua, “Lord, the man you love is sick.” ⁴ On hearing it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may receive glory through it.”

⁵ Yeshua loved Marta and her sister and El‘azar; ⁶ so when he heard he was sick, first he stayed where he was two more days; ⁷ then, after this, he said to the talmidim, “Let’s go back to Y’hudah.” ⁸ The talmidim replied, “Rabbi! Just a short while ago the Judeans were out to stone you — and you want to go back there?” ⁹ Yeshua answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a person walks during daylight, he doesn’t stumble; because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if a person walks at night, he does stumble; because he has no light with him.”

¹¹ Yeshua said these things, and afterwards he said to the talmidim, “Our friend El‘azar has gone to sleep; but I am going in order to wake him up.” ¹² The talmidim said to him, “Lord, if he has gone to sleep, he will get better.” ¹³ Now Yeshua had used the phrase to speak about El‘azar’s death, but they thought he had been talking literally about sleep. ¹⁴ So Yeshua told them in plain language, “El‘azar has died. ¹⁵ And for your sakes, I am glad that I wasn’t there, so that you may come to trust. But let’s go to him.” ¹⁶ Then T’oma (the name means “twin”) said to his fellow talmidim, “Yes, we should go, so that we can die with him!”

¹⁷ On arrival, Yeshua found that El‘azar had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸ Now Beit-Anyah was about two miles from Yerushalayim, ¹⁹ and many of the Judeans had come to Marta and Miryam in order to comfort them at the loss of their brother. ²⁰ So when Marta heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him; but Miryam continued sitting shiv‘ah in the house.

²¹ Marta said to Yeshua, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” ²³ Yeshua said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Marta said, “I know that he will rise again at the Resurrection on the Last Day.” ²⁵ Yeshua said to her, “I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies; ²⁶ and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

²⁸ After saying this, she went off and secretly called Miryam, her sister: “The Rabbi is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ When she heard this, she jumped up and went to him. ³⁰ Yeshua had not yet come into the village but was still where Marta had met him; ³¹ so when the Judeans who had been with Miryam in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³² When Miryam came to where Yeshua was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ When Yeshua saw her crying, and also the Judeans who came with her crying, he was deeply moved and also troubled. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you buried him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Yeshua cried; ³⁶ so the Judeans there said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “He opened the blind man’s eyes. Couldn’t he have kept this one from dying?”

³⁸ Yeshua, again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying in front of the entrance. ³⁹ Yeshua said, “Take the stone away!” Marta, the sister of the dead man, said to Yeshua, “By now his body must smell, for it has been four days since he died!” ⁴⁰ Yeshua said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you keep trusting, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they removed the stone. Yeshua looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I myself know that you always hear me, but I say this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you have sent me.” ⁴³ Having said this, he shouted, “El‘azar! Come out!” ⁴⁴ The man who had been dead came out, his hands and feet wrapped in strips of linen and his face covered with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, “Unwrap him, and let him go!” ⁴⁵ At this, many of the Judeans who had come to visit Miryam, and had seen what Yeshua had done, trusted in him.

⁴⁶ But some of them went off to the P’rushim and told them what he had done. ⁴⁷ So the head cohanim and the P’rushim called a meeting of the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we going to do? — for this man is performing many miracles. ⁴⁸ If we let him keep going on this way, everyone will trust in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both the Temple and the nation.” ⁴⁹ But one of them, Kayafa, who was cohen gadol that year, said to them, “You people don’t know anything! ⁵⁰ You don’t see that it’s better for you if one man dies on behalf of the people, so that the whole nation won’t be destroyed.” ⁵¹ Now he didn’t speak this way on his own initiative; rather, since he was cohen gadol that year, he was prophesying that Yeshua was about to die on behalf of the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation alone, but so that he might gather into one the scattered children of God.

⁵³ From that day on, they made plans to have him put to death. ⁵⁴ Therefore Yeshua no longer walked around openly among the Judeans but went away from there into the region near the desert, to a town called Efrayim, and stayed there with his talmidim.

⁵⁵ The Judean festival of Pesach was near, and many people went up from the country to Yerushalayim to perform the purification ceremony prior to Pesach. ⁵⁶ They were looking for Yeshua, and as they stood in the Temple courts they said to each other, “What do you think? that he simply won’t come to the festival?” ⁵⁷ Moreover, the head cohanim and the P’rushim had given orders that anyone knowing Yeshua’s whereabouts should inform them, so that they could have him arrested.

12 Six days before Pesach, Yeshua came to Beit-Anyah, where El‘azar lived, the man Yeshua had raised from the dead; ² so they gave a dinner there in his honor. Marta served the meal, and El‘azar was among those at the table with him. ³ Miryam took a whole pint of pure oil of spikenard, which is very expensive, poured it on Yeshua’s feet and wiped his feet with her hair, so that the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴ But one of the talmidim, Y’hudah from K’riot, the one who was about to betray him, said, ⁵ “This perfume is worth a year’s wages! Why wasn’t it sold and the money given to the poor?” ⁶ Now he said this not out of concern for the poor, but because he was a thief — he was in charge of the common purse and used to steal from it. ⁷ Yeshua said, “Leave her alone! She kept this for the day of my burial. ⁸ You always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

⁹ A large crowd of Judeans learned that he was there; and they came not only because of Yeshua, but also so that they could see El‘azar, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰ The head cohanim then decided to do away with El‘azar too, ¹¹ since it was because of him that large numbers of the Judeans were leaving their leaders and putting their trust in Yeshua.

¹² The next day, the large crowd that had come for the festival heard that Yeshua was on his way into Yerushalayim. ¹³ They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,

¹⁶ His talmidim did not understand this at first; but after Yeshua had been glorified, then they remembered that the Tanakh said this about him, and that they had done this for him. ¹⁷ The group that had been with him when he called El‘azar out of the tomb and raised him from the dead had been telling about it. ¹⁸ It was because of this too that the crowd came out to meet him — they had heard that he had performed this miracle. ¹⁹ The P’rushim said to each other, “Look, you’re getting nowhere! Why, the whole world has gone after him!”

²⁰ Among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greek-speaking Jews. ²¹ They approached Philip, the one from Beit-Tzaidah in the Galil, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Yeshua.” ²² Philip came and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Yeshua. ²³ Yeshua gave them this answer: “The time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ Yes, indeed! I tell you that unless a grain of wheat that falls to the ground dies, it stays just a grain; but if it dies, it produces a big harvest. ²⁵ He who loves his life loses it, but he who hates his life in this world will keep it safe right on into eternal life! ²⁶ If someone is serving me, let him follow me; wherever I am, my servant will be there too. My Father will honor anyone who serves me.

²⁷ “Now I am in turmoil. What can I say — ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason that I have come to this hour. I will say this: ²⁸ ‘Father, glorify your name!’” At this a bat-kol came out of heaven, “I have glorified it before, and I will glorify it again!” ²⁹ The crowd standing there and hearing it said that it had thundered; others said, “An angel spoke to him.” ³⁰ Yeshua answered, “This bat-kol did not come for my sake but for yours. ³¹ Now is the time for this world to be judged, now the ruler of this world will be expelled. ³² As for me, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” ³³ He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die.

³⁴ The crowd answered, “We have learned from the Torah that the Messiah remains forever. How is it that you say the Son of Man has to be ‘lifted up’? Who is this ‘Son of Man’?” ³⁵ Yeshua said to them, “The light will be with you only a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, or the dark will overtake you; he who walks in the dark doesn’t know where he’s going. ³⁶ While you have the light, put your trust in the light, so that you may become people of light.” Yeshua said these things, then went off and kept himself hidden from them.

³⁷ Even though he had performed so many miracles in their presence, they still did not put their trust in him, ³⁸ in order that what Yesha‘yahu the prophet had said might be fulfilled,

³⁹ The reason they could not believe was — as Yesha‘yahu said elsewhere —

⁴¹ (Yesha‘yahu said these things because he saw the Sh’khinah of Yeshua and spoke about him.) ⁴² Nevertheless, many of the leaders did trust in him; but because of the P’rushim they did not say so openly, out of fear of being banned from the synagogue; ⁴³ for they loved praise from other people more than praise from God.

⁴⁴ Yeshua declared publicly, “Those who put their trust in me are trusting not merely in me, but in the One who sent me. ⁴⁵ Also those who see me see the One who sent me. ⁴⁶ I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who trusts in me might not remain in the dark. ⁴⁷ If anyone hears what I am saying and does not observe it, I don’t judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸ Those who reject me and don’t accept what I say have a judge — the word which I have spoken will judge them on the Last Day. ⁴⁹ For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰ And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say.”

13 It was just before the festival of Pesach, and Yeshua knew that the time had come for him to pass from this world to the Father. Having loved his own people in the world, he loved them to the end. ² They were at supper, and the Adversary had already put the desire to betray him into the heart of Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on from K’riot. ³ Yeshua was aware that the Father had put everything in his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God. ⁴ So he rose from the table, removed his outer garments and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the talmidim and wipe them off with the towel wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Shim‘on Kefa, who said to him, “Lord! You are washing my feet?” ⁷ Yeshua answered him, “You don’t understand yet what I am doing, but in time you will understand.” ⁸ “No!” said Kefa, “You will never wash my feet!” Yeshua answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹ “Lord,” Shim‘on Kefa replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and head too!” ¹⁰ Yeshua said to him, “A man who has had a bath doesn’t need to wash, except his feet — his body is already clean. And you people are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ (He knew who was betraying him; this is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”)

¹² After he had washed their feet, taken back his clothes and returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³ You call me ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because I am. ¹⁴ Now if I, the Lord and Rabbi, have washed your feet, you also should wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ For I have set you an example, so that you may do as I have done to you. ¹⁶ Yes, indeed! I tell you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is an emissary greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

¹⁸ “I’m not talking to all of you — I know which ones I have chosen. But the words of the Tanakh must be fulfilled that say, ‘The one eating my bread has turned against me.’^{[n] 19} I’m telling you now, before it happens; so that when it does happen, you may believe that I AM [who I say I am]. ²⁰ Yes, indeed! I tell you that a person who receives someone I send receives me, and that anyone who receives me receives the One who sent me.”

²¹ After saying this, Yeshua, in deep anguish of spirit, declared, “Yes, indeed! I tell you that one of you will betray me.” ²² The talmidim stared at one another, totally mystified — whom could he mean? ²³ One of his talmidim, the one Yeshua particularly loved, was reclining close beside him. ²⁴ So Shim‘on Kefa motioned to him and said, “Ask which one he’s talking about.” ²⁵ Leaning against Yeshua’s chest, he asked Yeshua, “Lord, who is it?” ²⁶ Yeshua answered, “It’s the one to whom I give this piece of matzah after I dip it in the dish.” So he dipped the piece of matzah and gave it to Y’hudah Ben-Shim‘on from K’riot. ²⁷ As soon as Y’hudah took the piece of matzah, the Adversary went into him. “What you are doing, do quickly!” Yeshua said to him. ²⁸ But no one at the table understood why he had said this to him. ²⁹ Some thought that since Y’hudah was in charge of the common purse, Yeshua was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or telling him to give something to the poor. ³⁰ As soon as he had taken the piece of matzah, Y’hudah went out, and it was night.

³¹ After Y’hudah had left, Yeshua said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. ³² If the Son has glorified God, God will himself glorify the Son, and will do so without delay. ³³ Little children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and, as I said to the Judeans, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ now I say it to you as well.

³⁴ “I am giving you a new command: that you keep on loving each other. In the same way that I have loved you, you are also to keep on loving each other. ³⁵ Everyone will know that you are my talmidim by the fact that you have love for each other.”

³⁶ Shim‘on Kefa said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Yeshua answered, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow later.” ³⁷ “Lord,” Kefa said to him, “why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” ³⁸ Yeshua answered, “You will lay down your life for me? Yes, indeed! I tell you, before the rooster crows you will disown me three times.