John 5
Christian Standard Bible
The Third Sign: Healing the Sick
5 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(A) 2 By the Sheep Gate(B) in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda[a] in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.[b]
5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time,(C) he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,”(D) the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”
8 “Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
Now that day was the Sabbath,(E) 10 and so the Jews(F) said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath.(G) The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”
11 He replied, “The man who made me well(H) told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12 “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was,(I) because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.[c]
14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple(J) and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” 15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.(K) 16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting(L) Jesus[d] because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.(M)
Honoring the Father and the Son
17 Jesus responded to them, “My Father(N) is still working, and I am working also.” 18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him:(O) Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
19 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[e] does, the Son likewise does these things.(P) 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works(Q) than these so that you will be amazed. 21 And just as the Father raises(R) the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants.(S) 22 The Father,(T) in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.(U) Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.(V)
Life and Judgment
24 “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life(W) and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here,(X) when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.(Y) 26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son(Z) to have life in himself. 27 And he has granted him the right to pass judgment,(AA) because he is the Son of Man.(AB) 28 Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.
30 “I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment(AC) is just,(AD) because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.(AE)
Witnesses to Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.(AF) 33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.(AG) 34 I don’t receive human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 John[f](AH) was a burning and shining lamp,(AI) and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.(AJ)
36 “But I have a greater testimony than John’s because of the works that the Father has given me to accomplish.(AK) These very works I am doing testify about me that the Father has sent(AL) me. 37 The Father who sent me has himself testified(AM) about me. You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven’t seen his form.(AN) 38 You don’t have his word residing in you, because you don’t believe the one he sent. 39 You pore over the Scriptures(AO) because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.(AP) 40 But you are not willing(AQ) to come to me(AR) so that you may have life.
41 “I do not accept glory(AS) from people, 42 but I know you—that you have no love for God(AT) within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name,(AU) and yet you don’t accept me.(AV) 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 don’t seek the glory that comes from the only(AW) God?(AX) 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses,(AY) on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe what he wrote,(AZ) how will you believe my words?”(BA)
Footnotes
- 5:2 Some mss read Bethzatha; other mss read Bethsaida
- 5:3 Some mss include vv. 3b-4:—waiting for the moving of the water, 4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.
- 5:13 Lit slipped away, there being a crowd in that place
- 5:16 Other mss add and trying to kill him
- 5:19 Lit whatever that one
- 5:35 Lit That man
John 5
The Message
Even on the Sabbath
5 1-6 Soon another Feast came around and Jesus was back in Jerusalem. Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves. Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him stretched out by the pool and knew how long he had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
7 The sick man said, “Sir, when the water is stirred, I don’t have anybody to put me in the pool. By the time I get there, somebody else is already in.”
8-9 Jesus said, “Get up, take your bedroll, start walking.” The man was healed on the spot. He picked up his bedroll and walked off.
9-10 That day happened to be the Sabbath. The Jews stopped the healed man and said, “It’s the Sabbath. You can’t carry your bedroll around. It’s against the rules.”
11 But he told them, “The man who made me well told me to. He said, ‘Take your bedroll and start walking.’”
12-13 They asked, “Who gave you the order to take it up and start walking?” But the healed man didn’t know, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd.
14 A little later Jesus found him in the Temple and said, “You look wonderful! You’re well! Don’t return to a sinning life or something worse might happen.”
15-16 The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. That is why the Jews were out to get Jesus—because he did this kind of thing on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus defended himself. “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”
18 That really set them off. The Jews were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God.
What the Father Does, the Son Does
19-20 So Jesus explained himself at length. “I’m telling you this straight. The Son can’t independently do a thing, only what he sees the Father doing. What the Father does, the Son does. The Father loves the Son and includes him in everything he is doing.
20-23 “But you haven’t seen the half of it yet, for in the same way that the Father raises the dead and creates life, so does the Son. The Son gives life to anyone he chooses. Neither he nor the Father shuts anyone out. The Father handed all authority to judge over to the Son so that the Son will be honored equally with the Father. Anyone who dishonors the Son, dishonors the Father, for it was the Father’s decision to put the Son in the place of honor.
24 “It’s urgent that you listen carefully to this: Anyone here who believes what I am saying right now and aligns himself with the Father, who has in fact put me in charge, has at this very moment the real, lasting life and is no longer condemned to be an outsider. This person has taken a giant step from the world of the dead to the world of the living.
25-27 “It’s urgent that you get this right: The time has arrived—I mean right now!—when dead men and women will hear the voice of the Son of God and, hearing, will come alive. Just as the Father has life in himself, he has conferred on the Son life in himself. And he has given him the authority, simply because he is the Son of Man, to decide and carry out matters of Judgment.
28-29 “Don’t act so surprised at all this. The time is coming when everyone dead and buried will hear his voice. Those who have lived the right way will walk out into a resurrection Life; those who have lived the wrong way, into a resurrection Judgment.
30-33 “I can’t do a solitary thing on my own: I listen, then I decide. You can trust my decision because I’m not out to get my own way but only to carry out orders. If I were simply speaking on my own account, it would be an empty, self-serving witness. But an independent witness confirms me, the most reliable Witness of all. Furthermore, you all saw and heard John, and he gave expert and reliable testimony about me, didn’t he?
34-38 “But my purpose is not to get your vote, and not to appeal to mere human testimony. I’m speaking to you this way so that you will be saved. John was a torch, blazing and bright, and you were glad enough to dance for an hour or so in his bright light. But the witness that really confirms me far exceeds John’s witness. It’s the work the Father gave me to complete. These very tasks, as I go about completing them, confirm that the Father, in fact, sent me. The Father who sent me, confirmed me. And you missed it. You never heard his voice, you never saw his appearance. There is nothing left in your memory of his Message because you do not take his Messenger seriously.
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39-40 “You have your heads in your Bibles constantly because you think you’ll find eternal life there. But you miss the forest for the trees. These Scriptures are all about me! And here I am, standing right before you, and you aren’t willing to receive from me the life you say you want.
41-44 “I’m not interested in crowd approval. And do you know why? Because I know you and your crowds. I know that love, especially God’s love, is not on your working agenda. I came with the authority of my Father, and you either dismiss me or avoid me. If another came, acting self-important, you would welcome him with open arms. How do you expect to get anywhere with God when you spend all your time jockeying for position with each other, ranking your rivals and ignoring God?
45-47 “But don’t think I’m going to accuse you before my Father. Moses, in whom you put so much stock, is your accuser. If you believed, really believed, what Moses said, you would believe me. He wrote of me. If you won’t take seriously what he wrote, how can I expect you to take seriously what I speak?”
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Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson