The Healing at the Pool

5 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate^(A) a pool, which in Aramaic^(B) is called Bethesda^[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ^{[4] [b] 5} One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”^{(C) 9} At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,^{(D) 10} and so the Jewish leaders^(E) said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”^(F)

¹¹ But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹² So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴ Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning^(G) or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jewish leaders^(H) that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁶ So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷ In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father^(I) is always at his work^(J) to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason they tried all the more to kill him;^(K) not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.^(L)

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself;^(M) he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son^(N) and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these,^(O) so that you will be amazed. ²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,^(P) even so the Son gives life^(Q) to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,^{(R) 23} that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.^(S)

²⁴ “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me^(T) has eternal life^(U) and will not be judged^(V) but has crossed over from death to life.^{(W) 25} Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come^(X) when the dead will hear^(Y) the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life^(Z) in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge^(AA) because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸ “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming^(AB) when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.^{(AC) 30} By myself I can do nothing;^(AD) I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just,^(AE) for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.^(AF)

Testimonies About Jesus

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.^{(AG) 32} There is another who testifies in my favor,^(AH) and I know that his testimony about me is true.

³³ “You have sent to John and he has testified^(AI) to the truth. ³⁴ Not that I accept human testimony;^(AJ) but I mention it that you may be saved.^{(AK) 35} John was a lamp that burned and gave light,^(AL) and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

³⁶ “I have testimony weightier than that of John.^(AM) For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing^(AN)—testify that the Father has sent me.^{(AO) 37} And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me.^(AP) You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,^{(AQ) 38} nor does his word dwell in you,^(AR) for you do not believe^(AS) the one he sent.^{(AT) 39} You study^[c] the Scriptures^(AU) diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life.^(AV) These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,^{(AW) 40} yet you refuse to come to me^(AX) to have life.

⁴¹ “I do not accept glory from human beings,^{(AY) 42} but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. ⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God^[d]?^(AZ)

⁴⁵ “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses,^(BA) on whom your hopes are set.^{(BB) 46} If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.^{(BC) 47} But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”^(BD)

Jesus Goes to the Festival of Tabernacles

7 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want^[a] to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders^(A) there were looking for a way to kill him.^{(B) 2} But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles^(C) was near, ³ Jesus’ brothers^(D) said to him, “Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. ⁴ No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” ⁵ For even his own brothers did not believe in him.^(E)

⁶ Therefore Jesus told them, “My time^(F) is not yet here; for you any time will do. ⁷ The world cannot hate you, but it hates me^(G) because I testify that its works are evil.^{(H) 8} You go to the festival. I am not^[b] going up to this festival, because my time^(I) has not yet fully come.” ⁹ After he had said this, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰ However, after his brothers had left for the festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. ¹¹ Now at the festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus^(J) and asking, “Where is he?”

¹² Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.”

Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”^{(K) 13} But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders.^(L)

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

¹⁴ Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.^{(M) 15} The Jews^(N) there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning^(O) without having been taught?”^(P)

¹⁶ Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.^{(Q) 17} Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out^(R) whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸ Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,^(S) but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹ Has not Moses given you the law?^(T) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”^(U)

²⁰ “You are demon-possessed,”^(V) the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹ Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,^(W) and you are all amazed. ²² Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision^(X) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),^(Y) you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³ Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴ Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”^(Z)

Division Over Who Jesus Is

²⁵ At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?^{(AA) 26} Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities^(AB) really concluded that he is the Messiah?^{(AC) 27} But we know where this man is from;^(AD) when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,^(AE) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.^(AF) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.^(AG) You do not know him, ²⁹ but I know him^(AH) because I am from him and he sent me.”^(AI)

³⁰ At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,^(AJ) because his hour had not yet come.^{(AK) 31} Still, many in the crowd believed in him.^(AL) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs^(AM) than this man?”

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

³³ Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time,^(AN) and then I am going to the one who sent me.^{(AO) 34} You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(AP)

³⁵ The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered^(AQ) among the Greeks,^(AR) and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”^(AS)

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the festival,^(AT) Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.^{(AU) 38} Whoever believes^(AV) in me, as Scripture has said,^(AW) rivers of living water^(AX) will flow from within them.”^{[c](AY) 39} By this he meant the Spirit,^(AZ) whom those who believed in him were later to receive.^(BA) Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.^(BB)

⁴⁰ On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”^(BC)

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the Messiah.”

Still others asked, “How can the Messiah come from Galilee?^{(BD) 42} Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David’s descendants^(BE) and from Bethlehem,^(BF) the town where David lived?” ⁴³ Thus the people were divided^(BG) because of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.^(BH)

Unbelief of the Jewish Leaders

⁴⁵ Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

⁴⁶ “No one ever spoke the way this man does,”^(BI) the guards replied.

⁴⁷ “You mean he has deceived you also?”^(BJ) the Pharisees retorted. ⁴⁸ “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?^{(BK) 49} No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus,^(BL) who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?”

⁵² They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”^(BM)

[The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John 7:53—8:11. A few manuscripts include these verses, wholly or in part, after John 7:36, John 21:25, Luke 21:38 or Luke 24:53.]

⁵³ Then they all went home,