Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a man from the Pharisees^(A) named Nicodemus,^(B) a ruler^(C) of the Jews. ² This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi,^(D) we know that you are a teacher^(E) who has come from God,^(F) for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”^(G)

³ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again,^[a](H) he cannot see the kingdom of God.”^(I)

⁴ “How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born^(J) of water and the Spirit,^(K) he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ Whatever is born of the flesh^(L) is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit^(M) is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born^(N) again. ⁸ The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.^(O) So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^(P)

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

¹⁰ “Are you a teacher^[b] of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. ¹¹ “Truly I tell you,^(Q) we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended^(R) into heaven^(S) except the one who descended from heaven^(T) —the Son of Man.^[c](U)

¹⁴ “Just as Moses^(V) lifted up the snake in the wilderness,^(W) so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who believes in him may^[d] have eternal life.^{(X) 16} For God loved^(Y) the world in this way:^[e] He gave^[f] his one and only^(Z) Son,^(AA) so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.^{(AB) 17} For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn^(AC) the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned,^(AD) because he has not believed in the name^(AE) of the one and only Son^(AF) of God. ¹⁹ This is the judgment: The light^(AG) has come into the world,^(AH) and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil hates^(AI) the light and avoids it,^[g] so that his deeds^(AJ) may not be exposed. ²¹ But anyone who lives by^[h] the truth comes to the light, so that his works^(AK) may be shown to be accomplished by God.”

Canaanite King Defeated

21 When the Canaanite king of Arad,^(A) who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming on the Atharim road, he fought against Israel and captured some prisoners. ² Then Israel made a vow to the Lord, “If you will hand this people over to us, we will completely destroy their cities.”^{(B) 3} The Lord listened to Israel’s request and handed the Canaanites over to them, and Israel completely destroyed them and their cities. So they named the place Hormah.^[a](C)

The Bronze Snake

⁴ Then they set out from Mount Hor by way of the Red Sea to bypass the land of Edom, but the people became impatient because of the journey. ⁵ The people spoke against God and Moses: “Why have you led us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” ⁶ Then the Lord sent poisonous^[b] snakes among the people, and they bit them so that many Israelites died.^(D)

⁷ The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that he will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”^{(E) 9} So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.

Debate over Jesus’s Claims

⁴⁵ Then the servants^(A) came to the chief priests^(B) and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him?”

⁴⁶ The servants answered, “No man ever spoke like this!” ^[a](C)

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees responded to them, “Are you fooled^(D) too? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers^(E) or Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd, which doesn’t know the law, is accursed.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus^(F)—the one who came to him previously and who was one of them—said to them, ⁵¹ “Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he’s doing, does it?” ^(G)

⁵² “You aren’t from Galilee^(H) too, are you?” they replied. “Investigate and you will see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”^(I)

Jesus’s Burial

³⁸ After^(A) this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus—but secretly because of his fear of the Jews—asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus’s body.^(B) Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away. ³⁹ Nicodemus^(C) (who had previously come to him at night) also came, bringing a mixture of about seventy-five pounds^[a] of myrrh and aloes. ⁴⁰ They took Jesus’s body^(D) and wrapped it in linen cloths^(E) with the fragrant spices, according to the burial^(F) custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ There was a garden in the place where he was crucified. A new tomb was in the garden; no one had yet been placed in it. ⁴² They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.