The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³ So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,^[a] ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’ ⁴ But when Jesus heard it, he said, ‘This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’ ⁵ Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ after having heard that Lazarus^[b] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, ‘Let us go to Judea again.’ ⁸ The disciples said to him, ‘Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?’ ⁹ Jesus answered, ‘Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.’ ¹¹ After saying this, he told them, ‘Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.’ ¹² The disciples said to him, ‘Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.’ ¹³ Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, ‘Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.’ ¹⁶ Thomas, who was called the Twin,^[c] said to his fellow-disciples, ‘Let us also go, that we may die with him.’

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus^[d] had already been in the tomb for four days.

¹¹ For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.

¹⁴ I saw all the deeds that are done under the sun; and see, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.^[a]

²¹ So let no one boast about human leaders. For all things are yours, ²² whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all belong to you,

²⁵ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.^[a] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’

¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

²⁵ ‘Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again.