John 3
Worldwide English (New Testament)
3 There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a ruler and leader of the Jews.
2 One night Nicodemus came to Jesus. He said, `Master, we know you are a teacher sent by God. We know this because no person could do the big works you are doing if God did not help him.'
3 Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. No person can see God's kingdom if he is not born again.'
4 Nicodemus said, `How can a man be born when he is old? Can he go inside of his mother again and be born?'
5 Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. This new birth is by water and by the Spirit. No person can enter God's kingdom if he has not been born that way.
6 That which is born of a person is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 You must not be surprised when I say, "You must be born again."
8 The wind blows where it wants to blow. You can hear the sound of it. But you do not know where it comes from, and you do not know where it goes. It is the same way with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'
9 Nicodemus asked Jesus, `How can such things be?
10 Jesus answered, `Are you a teacher of the people of Israel and you do not know this?
11 I tell you the truth. We know what we are talking about. We talk about the things we have seen. But you will not believe what we tell you.
12 You do not believe what I have told you about things on earth. So how will you believe if I tell you about things in heaven?
13 No one has ever gone up to heaven - only the One who came down from heaven. That One is the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 Moses lifted up a snake on a piece of wood in the desert. So the Son of Man must be lifted up.
15 Then everyone who believes in him will not die, but will live for ever.
16 `God loved the world so very, very much that he gave his only Son. Because he did that, everyone who believes in him will not lose his life, but will live for ever.
17 God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world. He sent him to save the world.
18 `Everyone who believes in the Son will not be judged. But everyone who does not believe in him is judged already, because he does not believe in the name of God's only Son.
19 Light came into the world. But people wanted to be in the dark because they did wrong things. They did not want the light. That is why they are judged.
20 Everyone who does wrong things hates light. He does not come to the light because he is afraid people will see what he does and will say it is bad.
21 But everyone who does what is right comes to the light. He wants people to see that God helps him to do what is right.'
22 After this, Jesus and his disciples came into the country of Judea. Jesus stayed there with them and baptized people.
23 John was also baptizing people in the river at Aenon, near the town of Salim. There was much water. People came to him and were baptized.
24 This was before John was put in prison.
25 John's disciples and the leaders of the Jews were talking about how to be clean, the way God wants us to be clean.
26 They came to John and said, `Teacher, there was a man with you on the other side of the Jordan River. You were telling people about him. Now he himself is baptizing and all the people are going to him.'
27 John answered, `A man cannot get anything unless God in heaven gives it to him.
28 You yourselves heard what I said. I am not the Christ but I have been sent ahead of the Christ.
29 The wife belongs to the man who has married her. The man's best friend may stand and listen. And when he hears what that man says, he is very glad for him. So what I hear makes me very glad in the same way.
30 He must become more and more great, but I must become less and less great.
31 `The one who comes from heaven is greater than all other people. The one who is of the earth talks about things on earth. So the one who comes from heaven is greater than all.
32 He tells what he has seen and heard, but no one wants to believe what he says.
33 If a person believes what the one from heaven says, then he also says God is true.
34 The one God sent speaks the words of God. God does not give him the Spirit little by little, but he gives the Spirit in full.
35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his hand.
36 He who believes in the Son will live for ever. He who does not believe in the Son will not live. God will be very angry with him for ever.'
John 3
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
3 Now there was a certain man among the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler (a leader, an authority) among the Jews,
2 Who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, Rabbi, we know and are certain that You have come from God [as] a Teacher; for no one can do these signs (these wonderworks, these miracles—and produce the proofs) that You do unless God is with him.
3 Jesus answered him, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see (know, be acquainted with, and experience) the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus said to Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb again and be born?
5 Jesus answered, I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, unless a man is born of water and [[a]even] the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God.(A)
6 What is born of [from] the flesh is flesh [of the physical is physical]; and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not [do not be surprised, astonished] at My telling you, You must all be born anew (from above).
8 The wind blows (breathes) where it wills; and though you hear its sound, yet you neither know where it comes from nor where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus answered by asking, How can all this be possible?
10 Jesus replied, Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet do not know nor understand these things? [Are they strange to you?]
11 I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, We speak only of what we know [we know absolutely what we are talking about]; we have actually seen what we are testifying to [we were eyewitnesses of it]. And still you do not receive our testimony [you reject and refuse our evidence—that of Myself and of all those who are born of the Spirit].
12 If I have told you of things that happen right here on the earth and yet none of you believes Me, how can you believe (trust Me, adhere to Me, rely on Me) if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And yet no one has ever gone up to heaven, but there is One Who has come down from heaven—the Son of Man [Himself], [b]Who is (dwells, has His home) in heaven.
14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must [so it is necessary that] the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],(B)
15 In order that everyone who believes in Him [who cleaves to Him, trusts Him, and relies on Him] may [c]not perish, but have eternal life and [actually] live forever!
16 For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ([d]unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.
17 For God did not send the Son into the world in order to judge (to reject, to condemn, to pass sentence on) the world, but that the world might find salvation and be made safe and sound through Him.
18 He who believes in Him [who clings to, trusts in, relies on Him] is not judged [he who trusts in Him never comes up for judgment; for him there is no rejection, no condemnation—he incurs no damnation]; but he who does not believe (cleave to, rely on, trust in Him) is judged already [he has already been convicted and has already received his sentence] because he has not believed in and trusted in the name of the only begotten Son of God. [He is condemned for refusing to let his trust rest in Christ’s name.]
19 The [basis of the] judgment (indictment, the test by which men are judged, the ground for the sentence) lies in this: the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than and more than the Light, for their works (deeds) were evil.(C)
20 For every wrongdoer hates (loathes, detests) the Light, and will not come out into the Light but shrinks from it, lest his works (his deeds, his activities, his conduct) be exposed and reproved.
21 But he who practices truth [who does what is right] comes out into the Light; so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—wrought with God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence upon Him].
22 After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the land (the countryside) of Judea, where He remained with them, and baptized.
23 But John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, for there was an abundance of water there, and the people kept coming and being baptized.
24 For John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Therefore there arose a controversy between some of John’s disciples and a Jew in regard to purification.
26 So they came to John and reported to him, Rabbi, the Man Who was with you on the other side of the Jordan [[e]at the Jordan crossing]—and to Whom you yourself have borne testimony—notice, here He is baptizing too, and everybody is flocking to Him!
27 John answered, A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing, he can [f]take unto himself nothing] except as it has been granted to him from heaven. [A man must be content to receive the gift which is given him from heaven; there is no other source.]
28 You yourselves are my witnesses [you personally bear me out] that I stated, I am not the Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), but I have [only] been sent before Him [in advance of Him, to be His appointed forerunner, His messenger, His announcer].(D)
29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the groomsman who stands by and listens to him rejoices greatly and heartily on account of the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my pleasure and joy, and it is now complete.(E)
30 He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.](F)
31 He Who comes from above (heaven) is [far] above all [others]; he who comes from the earth belongs to the earth, and talks the language of earth [his words are from an earthly standpoint]. He Who comes from heaven is [far] above all others [far superior to all others in prominence and in excellence].
32 It is to what He has [actually] seen and heard that He bears testimony, and yet no one accepts His testimony [no one receives His evidence as true].
33 Whoever receives His testimony has set his seal of approval to this: God is true. [That man has definitely certified, acknowledged, declared once and for all, and is himself assured that it is divine truth that God cannot lie].
34 For since He Whom God has sent speaks the words of God [proclaims God’s own message], God does not give Him His Spirit sparingly or by measure, but boundless is the gift God makes of His Spirit!(G)
35 The Father loves the Son and has given (entrusted, committed) everything into His hand.(H)
36 And he who believes in (has faith in, clings to, relies on) the Son has (now possesses) eternal life. But whoever disobeys (is unbelieving toward, refuses to trust in, disregards, is not subject to) the Son will never see (experience) life, but [instead] the wrath of God abides on him. [God’s displeasure remains on him; His indignation hangs over him continually.](I)
Footnotes
- John 3:5 The Greek “kai” (“and”) may be rendered “even.”
- John 3:13 Some manuscripts add this phrase.
- John 3:15 Some manuscripts add this phrase.
- John 3:16 James Moulton and George Milligan, The Vocabulary.
- John 3:26 George M. Lamsa, The New Testament.
- John 3:27 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament.
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