The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of (A)Mary and her sister Martha. (B)It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, (C)he whom you love is ill.” 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.”

Now (F)Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when he heard that Lazarus[a] was ill, (G)he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the disciples, (H)“Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples said to him, (I)“Rabbi, (J)the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?” 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.”

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Footnotes

  1. John 11:6 Greek he; also verse 17
  2. John 11:16 Greek Didymus

Lazarus is ill

11 A certain man, Lazarus, was ill. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This was the Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was ill.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, “Lord, the one whom you love is ill.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This illness isn’t fatal. It’s for the glory of God so that God’s Son can be glorified through it.” Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. When he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was. After two days, he said to his disciples, “Let’s return to Judea again.”

The disciples replied, “Rabbi, the Jewish opposition wants to stone you, but you want to go back?”

Jesus answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours in the day? Whoever walks in the day doesn’t stumble because they see the light of the world. 10 But whoever walks in the night does stumble because the light isn’t in them.”

11 He continued, “Our friend Lazarus is sleeping, but I am going in order to wake him up.”

12 The disciples said, “Lord, if he’s sleeping, he will get well.” 13 They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was in a deep sleep, but Jesus had spoken about Lazarus’ death.

14 Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15 For your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there so that you can believe. Let’s go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other disciples, “Let us go too so that we may die with Jesus.”

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