John 3:9-17

Expanded Bible

⁹ Nicodemus ·asked [replied], “How can this ·happen [be]?”

¹⁰ Jesus ·said [replied; answered], “You are ·an important teacher in Israel [^Lthe teacher of Israel], and you don’t ·understand [know] these things? ¹¹ ·I tell you the truth [^LTruly, truly I say to you], we talk about what we know, and we ·tell [testify; bear witness] about what we have seen, but you don’t ·accept what we tell you [^Lreceive our testimony/witness]. ¹² I have told you about things here on earth [^Cthe teaching about being born again], and you do not believe me. ·So you will not [^LSo how will you…?] believe me if I tell you about things of heaven. ¹³ ·The only one who has ever gone up to heaven is [^LNo one has gone up into heaven except] the One who came down from heaven—the Son of Man^[a] [^Ca title for the Messiah; Dan. 7:13–14].

¹⁴ “Just as Moses lifted up the ·snake [^Tserpent] in the ·desert [wilderness; ^CMoses put a bronze snake statue on a pole, and those who looked at it were healed of snake bites; Num. 21:4–9], the Son of Man must also be lifted up [^Can allusion to the cross and resurrection]. ¹⁵ So that everyone who ·believes can have eternal life in him [or believes in him can have eternal life].

¹⁶ “[^LFor] God loved the world so much that he gave his ·one and only [only; unique; ^Tonly begotten; 1:14, 18] Son so that whoever believes in him may not ·be lost [^Tperish], but have eternal life. ¹⁷ [^LFor; Indeed] God did not send his Son into the world to ·judge the world guilty [condemn the world], but to save the world through him.