John 3

Contemporary English Version

Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. ²One night he went to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you.”

³Jesus replied, “I tell you for certain that you must be born from above^[a] before you can see God's kingdom!”

⁴Nicodemus asked, “How can a grown man ever be born a second time?”

⁵Jesus answered:

I tell you for certain that before you can get into God's kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. ⁶Humans give life to their children. Yet only God's Spirit can change you into a child of God. ⁷Don't be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. ⁸Only God's Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going.

⁹“How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰Jesus replied:

How can you be a teacher of Israel and not know these things? ¹¹I tell you for certain we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say. ¹²^(A) If you don't believe when I talk to you about things on earth, how can you possibly believe if I talk to you about things in heaven?

¹³^(B) No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there. ¹⁴^(C) And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as the metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert.^[b] ¹⁵Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.

¹⁶God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. ¹⁷God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! ¹⁸No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.

¹⁹The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. ²⁰People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. ²¹But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.

Jesus and John the Baptist

²²Later, Jesus and his disciples went to Judea, where he stayed with them for a while and was baptizing people.

^23-24^(D) John had not yet been put in jail. He was at Aenon near Salim, where there was a lot of water, and people were coming there for John to baptize them.

²⁵John's followers got into an argument with a Jewish man^[c] about a ceremony of washing.^[d] ²⁶They went to John and said, “Rabbi, you spoke about a man when you were with him east of the Jordan. He is now baptizing people, and everyone is going to him.”

²⁷John replied:

No one can do anything unless God in heaven allows it. ²⁸^(E) You surely remember how I told you that I am not the Messiah. I am only the one sent ahead of him.

²⁹At a wedding the groom is the one who gets married. The best man is glad just to be there and to hear the groom's voice. That's why I am so glad. ³⁰Jesus must become more important, while I become less important.

The One Who Comes from Heaven

³¹God's Son comes from heaven and is above all others. Everyone who comes from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all others. ³²He speaks about what he has seen and heard, and yet no one believes him. ³³But everyone who does believe him has shown that God is truthful. ³⁴The Son was sent to speak God's message, and he has been given the full power of God's Spirit.

³⁵^(F) The Father loves the Son and has given him everything. ³⁶Everyone who has faith in the Son has eternal life. But no one who rejects him will ever share in that life, and God will be angry with them forever.

Footnotes

3.3 from above: Or “in a new way.” The same Greek word is used in verses 7,31.
3.14 just as the metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert: When the Lord punished the people of Israel by sending snakes to bite them, he told Moses to hold a metal snake up on a pole. Everyone who looked at the snake was cured of the snake bites (see Numbers 21.4-9).
3.25 a Jewish man: Some manuscripts have “some Jewish men.”
3.25 about a ceremony of washing: The Jewish people had many rules about washing themselves and their dishes, in order to make themselves fit to worship God.

Juan 3

Reina-Valera Antigua

3 Y HABIA un hombre de los Fariseos que se llamaba Nicodemo, príncipe de los Judíos.

²Este vino á Jesús de noche, y díjole: Rabbí, sabemos que has venido de Dios por maestro; porque nadie puede hacer estas señales que tú haces, si no fuere Dios con él.

³Respondió Jesús, y díjole: De cierto, de cierto te digo, que el que no naciere otra vez, no puede ver el reino de Dios.

⁴Dícele Nicodemo: ¿Cómo puede el hombre nacer siendo viejo? ¿puede entrar otra vez en el vientre de su madre, y nacer?

⁵Respondió Jesús: De cierto, de cierto te digo, que el que no naciere de agua y del Espíritu, no puede entrar en el reino de Dios.

⁶Lo que es nacido de la carne, carne es; y lo que es nacido del Espíritu, espíritu es.

⁷No te maravilles de que te dije: Os es necesario nacer otra vez.

⁸El viento de donde quiere sopla, y oyes su sonido; mas ni sabes de dónde viene, ni á dónde vaya: así es todo aquel que es nacido del Espíritu.

⁹Respondió Nicodemo, y díjole: ¿Cómo puede esto hacerse?

¹⁰Respondió Jesús, y díjole: ¿Tú eres el maestro de Israel, y no sabes esto?

¹¹De cierto, de cierto te digo, que lo que sabemos hablamos, y lo que hemos visto, testificamos; y no recibís nuestro testimonio.

¹²Si os he dicho cosas terrenas, y no creéis, ¿cómo creeréis si os dijere las celestiales?

¹³Y nadie subió al cielo, sino el que descendió del cielo, el Hijo del hombre, que está en el cielo.

¹⁴Y como Moisés levantó la serpiente en el desierto, así es necesario que el Hijo del hombre sea levantado;

¹⁵Para que todo aquel que en él creyere, no se pierda, sino que tenga vida eterna.

¹⁶Porque de tal manera amó Dios al mundo, que ha dado á su Hijo unigénito, para que todo aquel que en él cree, no se pierda, mas tenga vida eterna.

¹⁷Porque no envió Dios á su Hijo al mundo, para que condene al mundo, mas para que el mundo sea salvo por él.

¹⁸El que en él cree, no es condenado; mas el que no cree, ya es condenado, porque no creyó en el nombre del unigénito Hijo de Dios.

¹⁹Y esta es la condenación: porque la luz vino al mundo, y los hombres amaron más las tinieblas que la luz; porque sus obras eran malas.

²⁰Porque todo aquel que hace lo malo, aborrece la luz y no viene á la luz, porque sus obras no sean redargüidas.

²¹Mas el que obra verdad, viene á la luz, para que sus obras sean manifestadas que son hechas en Dios.

²²Pasado esto, vino Jesús con sus discípulos á la tierra de Judea; y estaba allí con ellos, y bautizaba.

²³Y bautizaba también Juan en Enón junto á Salim, porque había allí muchas aguas; y venían, y eran bautizados.

²⁴Porque Juan, no había sido aún puesto en la carcel.

²⁵Y hubo cuestión entre los discípulos de Juan y los Judíos acerca de la purificación.

²⁶Y vinieron á Juan, y dijéronle: Rabbí, el que estaba contigo de la otra parte del Jordán, del cual tú diste testimonio, he aquí bautiza, y todos vienen á él.

²⁷Respondió Juan, y dijo: No puede el hombre recibir algo, si no le fuere dado del cielo.

²⁸Vosotros mismos me sois testigos que dije: Yo no soy el Cristo, sino que soy enviado delante de él.

²⁹El que tiene la esposa, es el esposo; mas el amigo del esposo, que está en pie y le oye, se goza grandemente de la voz del esposo; así pues, este mi gozo es cumplido.

³⁰A él conviene crecer, mas á mí menguar.

³¹El que de arriba viene, sobre todos es: el que es de la tierra, terreno es, y cosas terrenas habla: el que viene del cielo, sobre todos es.

³²Y lo que vió y oyó, esto testifica: y nadie recibe su testimonio.

³³El que recibe su testimonio, éste signó que Dios es verdadero.

³⁴Porque el que Dios envió, las palabras de Dios habla: porque no da Dios el Espíritu por medida.

³⁵El Padre ama al Hijo, y todas las cosas dió en su mano.

³⁶El que cree en el Hijo, tiene vida eterna; mas el que es incrédulo al Hijo, no verá la vida, sino que la ira de Dios está sobre él.

John 3

New King James Version

The New Birth

3 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²^(A)This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for ^(B)no one can do these signs that You do unless ^(C)God is with him.”

³Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(D)unless one is born ^[a]again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(E)unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is ^(F)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ⁸^(G)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ^(H)“How can these things be?”

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? ¹¹^(I)Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and ^(J)you do not receive Our witness. ¹²If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³^(K)No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man ^[b]who is in heaven. ¹⁴^(L)And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so ^(M)must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever ^(N)believes in Him should ^[c]not perish but ^(O)have eternal life. ¹⁶^(P)For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten ^(Q)Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ¹⁷^(R)For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

¹⁸^(S)“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, ^(T)that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For ^(U)everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been ^(V)done in God.”

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

²²After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them ^(W)and baptized. ²³Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near ^(X)Salim, because there was much water there. ^(Y)And they came and were baptized. ²⁴For ^(Z)John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, ^(AA)to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all ^(AB)are coming to Him!”

²⁷John answered and said, ^(AC)“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ^(AD)‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ^(AE)‘I have been sent before Him.’ ²⁹^(AF)He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but ^(AG)the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. ³⁰^(AH)He must increase, but I must decrease. ³¹^(AI)He who comes from above ^(AJ)is above all; ^(AK)he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. ^(AL)He who comes from heaven is above all. ³²And ^(AM)what He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. ³³He who has received His testimony ^(AN)has certified that God is true. ³⁴^(AO)For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit ^(AP)by measure. ³⁵^(AQ)The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. ³⁶^(AR)He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the ^(AS)wrath of God abides on him.”

Footnotes

John 3:3 Or from above
John 3:13 NU omits who is in heaven
John 3:15 NU omits not perish but

Contemporary English Version (CEV)

Reina-Valera Antigua (RVA)

by Public Domain

New King James Version (NKJV)

John 3

Contemporary English Version

Jesus and Nicodemus

Jesus and John the Baptist

The One Who Comes from Heaven

Footnotes

Cross references

Juan 3

Reina-Valera Antigua

John 3

New King James Version

The New Birth

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

Footnotes

Cross references

John 3 Contemporary English Version

Jesus and Nicodemus

Jesus and John the Baptist

The One Who Comes from Heaven

Footnotes

Cross references

Juan 3 Reina-Valera Antigua

John 3 New King James Version

The New Birth

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

Footnotes

Cross references

John 3

Contemporary English Version

Juan 3

Reina-Valera Antigua

John 3

New King James Version