The Third Sign: Healing the Sick

After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.(A) By the Sheep Gate(B) in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda[a] in Hebrew, which has five colonnades.[b] Within these lay a large number of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed [—waiting for the moving of the water, 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].[c]

One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time,(C) He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

“Sir,”(D) the sick man answered, “I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

“Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk!” Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath,(E) 10 so the Jews(F) said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath!(G) It’s illegal for you to pick 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 cured did not know who it was,(I) because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.[d]

14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex(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)

Honoring the Father and the Son

16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting(L) Jesus[e] because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.(M) 17 But 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 with God.

19 Then Jesus replied, “I assure you: The Son is not able to do anything on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[f] does, the Son also does these things in the same way.(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 anyone He wants to.(S) 22 The Father,(T) in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 so that all people will 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 “I assure 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 “I assure 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 judgment.

30 “I can do nothing on My own. I judge only as I hear, and My judgment(AC) is righteous,(AD) because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.(AE)

Four Witnesses to Jesus

31 “If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.[g] 32 There is Another who testifies about Me, and I know that the testimony He gives about Me is valid.[h](AF) 33 You have sent messengers to John, and he has testified to the truth.(AG) 34 I don’t receive man’s testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 John[i](AH) was a burning and shining lamp,(AI) and for a time you were willing to enjoy 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 living in you, because you don’t believe the One He sent. 39 You pore over[j] the Scriptures(AO) because you think you have eternal life in them, yet they testify about Me.(AP) 40 And you are not willing(AQ) to come to Me(AR) so that you may have life.

41 “I do not accept glory(AS) from men, 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) yet you don’t accept Me.(AV) If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe? While accepting glory from one another, you 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 his writings,(AZ) how will you believe My words?”(BA)

Footnotes

  1. John 5:2 Other mss read Bethzatha; other mss read Bethsaida
  2. John 5:2 Rows of columns supporting a roof
  3. John 5:4 Other mss omit bracketed text
  4. John 5:13 Lit slipped away, there being a crowd in that place
  5. John 5:16 Other mss add and trying to kill Him
  6. John 5:19 Lit whatever that One
  7. John 5:31 Or not true
  8. John 5:32 Or true
  9. John 5:35 Lit That man
  10. John 5:39 In Gk this could be a command: Pore over . . .

2 One lying at the pool, 5 is healed of Christ on the Sabbath. 10 The Jews that rashly find fault with that his deed, 17 he convinceth with the authority of his Father,  19, 20 He proveth his divine power by many reasons, 45 and with Moses’ testimony.

After (A)that, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went to Jerusalem.

[a]And there is at Jerusalem by the place of the sheep, a [b]pool called in Hebrew [c]Bethesda, having five porches:

In the which lay a great multitude of sick folk, of blind, halt, and withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

For an Angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first, after the stirring of the water, stepped in, was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

And a certain man was there, which had been diseased eight and thirty years.

When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he now long time had been diseased, he said unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

Jesus said unto him, Rise: take up thy bed, and walk.

And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and the same day was the Sabbath.

10 [d]The Jews therefore said to him that was made whole, It is the Sabbath day: (B)it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

11 He answered them, He that made me whole he said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

12 Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

13 And he that was healed, knew not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away from the multitude that was in that place.

14 And after that, Jesus found him in the Temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

15 ¶ The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had made him whole.

16 And therefore the Jews did persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.

17 [e]But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto, and I work.

18 (C)Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him: not only because he had broken the Sabbath: but said also that God was [f]his Father, and made himself equal with God.

19 Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing [g]of himself, save that he [h]seeth the Father do: for whatsoever things he doeth, the same things doeth the Son [i]in like manner.

20 For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things, whatsoever he himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these, that ye should marvel.

21 [j]For likewise as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

22 For the Father [k]judgeth [l]no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,

23 Because that all men should honor the Son, as they honor the Father: he that honoreth not the Son, the same honoreth not the Father which hath sent him.

24 [m]Verily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but hath passed from death to life.

25 [n]Verily, verily I say unto you, the hour shall come, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear it shall live.

26 For as the Father hath life in himself, so likewise hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.

27 And hath given him [o]power also to execute judgment, in that he is the [p]Son of man.

28 [q]Marvel not at this: for the hour shall come, in the which all that are in the graves, shall hear his voice.

29 [r]And they shall come [s]forth, (D)that have done good, unto the [t]resurrection of life: but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of condemnation.

30 [u]I can [v]do nothing of mine own self: [w]as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent me.

31 If I (E)should bear witness of myself, my witness were not [x]true.

32 (F)There is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness, which he beareth of me, is true.

33 (G)[y]Ye sent unto John, and he bore witness unto the truth.

34 But I receive not the record of man: nevertheless these things I say, that ye might be saved.

35 He was a burning and a shining candle: and ye would for [z]a season have rejoiced in his light.

36 But I have greater witness than the witness of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father sent me.

37 And the (H)Father himself, which hath sent me, beareth witness of me. Ye have not heard his voice at any time, (I)neither have ye seen his shape.

38 And his word have you not abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believed not.

39 (J)Search the Scriptures: for in them ye think to have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me.

40 But ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

41 I receive not the praise of men.

42 But I know you, that ye have not the [aa]love of God in you.

43 I am come in my Father’s Name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him will ye receive.

44 How can ye believe, which receive (K)honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh of God alone?

45 [ab]Do not think that I will accuse you to my Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.

46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he (L)wrote of me.

47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words.

Footnotes

  1. John 5:2 There is no disease so old, which Christ cannot heal.
  2. John 5:2 Whereof cattle drank, and used to be plunged in; whereof there could not be but great store at Jerusalem.
  3. John 5:2 That is to say, the house of pouring out, because great store of water was poured out into that place.
  4. John 5:10 True religion is no more cruelly assaulted by any means, than by the pretence of religion itself.
  5. John 5:17 The work of God was never the breach of the Sabbath: but the works of Christ are the works of the Father, both because they are one God, and also because the Father doth not work but in the Son.
  6. John 5:18 That is, his only and no man’s else, which they gather by that, that he saith, (And I work) applying this word (work) to himself, which is proper to God, and therefore maketh himself equal to God.
  7. John 5:19 Not only without his Father’s authority, but also without his mighty working and power.
  8. John 5:19 This must be understood of Christ’s person, which consisteth of two natures, and not simply of his Godhead: so then he saith that his Father moveth and governeth him in all things, but yet notwithstanding, when he saith he worketh with his Father, he voucheth his Godhead.
  9. John 5:19 In like sort, jointly and together. Not for that the Father doeth some things, and then the son worketh after him, and doeth the like, but because the might and power of the Father and the Son do work equally and jointly together.
  10. John 5:21 The Father maketh no man partaker of everlasting life, but in Christ, in whom only also he is truly worshipped.
  11. John 5:22 This word (judgeth) is taken by the figure Synecdoche, for all government.
  12. John 5:22 These words are not so to be taken, as though they simply denied that God governeth the world, but as the Jews imagined it, which separate the Father from the Son, whereas indeed, the Father doth not govern the world but only in the person of his Son, being made manifest in the flesh: so saith he afterward, verse 30, that he came not to do his own will: that his doctrine is not his own, John 7:16, that the blind man and his parents sinned not, etc., John 9:3.
  13. John 5:24 The Father is not worshipped but by his Son’s word apprehended by faith, which is the only way that leadeth to eternal life.
  14. John 5:25 We are all dead in sin and cannot be quickened by any other means, than by the word of Christ apprehended by faith.
  15. John 5:27 That is, high and sovereign power to rule and govern all things, insomuch that he hath power of life and death.
  16. John 5:27 That is, he shall not only judge the world as he is God, but also as he is man, he received this of his Father to be judge of the world.
  17. John 5:28 All shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ at length to be judged.
  18. John 5:29 Faith and infidelity shall be judged by their fruits.
  19. John 5:29 Of their graves.
  20. John 5:29 To that resurrection which had life everlasting following it: against which is set the resurrection of condemnation: that is, which condemnation followeth.
  21. John 5:30 The father is the author and approver of all things which Christ doeth.
  22. John 5:30 See verse 22.
  23. John 5:30 As my father directeth me, who dwelleth in me.
  24. John 5:31 Faithful, that is, worthy to be credited, see John 8:14.
  25. John 5:33 Christ is declared to be the only Savior by John’s voice, and infinite miracles, and by the testimonies of all the Prophets. But the world notwithstanding being addicted to false prophets, and desirous to seem religious, seeth none of all these things.
  26. John 5:35 A little while.
  27. John 5:42 Love toward God.
  28. John 5:45 This denial doth not put away that which is here said, but correcteth it, as if Christ said, the Jews shall have no sorer an accuser than Moses.