Add parallel Print Page Options

Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool

Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish feast. In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language[a] it is called Bethzatha.[b] This pool is near the Sheep Gate. Many sick people were lying on the porches beside the pool. Some were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed [and they waited for the water to move. Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and stirred up the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had].[c] There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. Jesus saw the man and knew that he had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked him, “Do you want to be well?”

The sick man answered, “Sir, there is no one to help me get into the pool when the water starts moving. I try to be the first one into the water. But when I try, someone else always goes in before I can.”

Then Jesus said, “Stand up. Pick up your mat and walk.” And immediately the man was well. He picked up his mat and began to walk.

The day all this happened was a Sabbath day. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your mat on the Sabbath day.”

11 But he answered, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’

12 Then they asked him, “Who is the man who told you to pick up your mat and walk?”

13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left.

14 Later, Jesus found the man at the Temple. Jesus said to him, “See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!”

15 Then the man left and went back to the Jews. He told them that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

16 Jesus was doing this on the Sabbath day. So the Jews began to do bad things to him. 17 But Jesus said to them, “My Father never stops working. And so I work, too.”

18 This made the Jews try harder to kill him. They said, “First Jesus was breaking the law about the Sabbath day. Then he said that God is his own Father! He is making himself equal with God!”

Jesus Has God’s Authority

19 But Jesus said, “I tell you the truth. The Son can do nothing alone. The Son does only what he sees his Father doing. The Son does whatever the Father does. 20 The Father loves the Son, and the Father shows the Son all the things he himself does. But the Father will show the Son greater things than this to do. Then you will all be amazed. 21 The Father raises the dead and gives them life. In the same way, the Son gives life to those he wants to. 22 Also, the Father judges no one. But the Father has given the Son power to do all the judging. 23 God did this so that all people will respect the Son the same way they respect the Father. He who does not respect the Son does not respect the Father. The Father is the One who sent the Son.

24 “I tell you the truth. Whoever hears what I say and believes in the One who sent me has eternal life. He will not be judged guilty. He has already left death and has entered into life. 25 I tell you the truth. The time is coming and is already here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God. And those who hear will have life. 26 Life comes from the Father himself. So the Father has allowed the Son to give life. 27 And the Father has given the Son the approval to judge because he is the Son of Man. 28 Don’t be surprised at this. A time is coming when all who are dead and in their graves will hear his voice. 29 Then they will come out of their graves. Those who did good will rise and have life forever. But those who did evil will rise to be judged guilty.

Jesus Is God’s Son

30 “I can do nothing alone. I judge only the way I am told, so my judgment is right. I don’t try to please myself. I try to please the One who sent me.

31 “If I tell people about myself, then they will not accept what I say about myself. 32 But there is another who tells about me. And I know that the things he says about me are true.

33 “You have sent men to John. And he has told you about the truth. 34 But I don’t need a man to tell about me. I tell you this so that you can be saved. 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp. And you were happy to enjoy his light for a while.

36 “But I have a proof about myself that is greater than that of John. The things I do are my proof. These are the things my Father gave me to do. They show that the Father sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has given proof about me himself. You have never heard his voice. You have never seen what he looks like. 38 His teaching does not live in you because you don’t believe in the One that the Father sent. 39 You carefully study the Scriptures because you think that they give you eternal life. Those are the same Scriptures that tell about me! 40 But you refuse to come to me to have that life.

41 “I don’t want praise from men. 42 But I know you—I know that you don’t have God’s love in you. 43 I have come from my Father—I speak for him. But you don’t accept me. But when another person comes, speaking only for himself, you will accept him. 44 You like to have praise from each other. But you never try to get the praise that comes from the only God. So how can you believe? 45 Don’t think that I will stand before the Father and say that you are wrong. Moses is the one who says that you are wrong. And he is the one that you hoped would save you. 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me because Moses wrote about me. 47 But you don’t believe what Moses wrote. So how can you believe what I say?”

Footnotes

  1. 5:2 Jewish language Aramaic, the language of the Jews in the first century.
  2. 5:2 Bethzatha Also called Bethsaida or Bethesda, a pool of water north of the Temple in Jerusalem.
  3. 5:3-4 and . . . had Some Greek copies do not contain all or most of the bracketed text.

After these things, there was a Chag (Feast) in Yehudah and Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach went up to Yerushalayim.

Now there is in Yerushalayim at the Sha’ar HaTzon (Sheepgate) [NECHEMYAH 3:1,32; 12:39] a pool, the one being called in Aramaic, Beit-Zata, having chamasha colonnades.

In these lay a multitude of invalids‖ivrim (blind men), pisechim (lame persons), paralyzed.

[For a malach Hashem from time to time descended into the berekhah (pool) and agitated the mayim; therefore, he who entered first after the agitation of the mayim, became whole, whatever choli (disease, sickness) he was held by.]

And there was a certain man there SHELOSHIM U’SHEMONEH SHANAH [DEVARIM 2:14] having been in his machla (illness).

Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, seeing this man lying there, and having da’as that the man had been in this condition for a long time already, says to him, Do you want to have refu’ah [YESHAYAH 53:5]?

In reply, the choleh (sick one) said, Adoni, I have no one, when the mayim is disturbed, to put me into the pool. While I am coming, someone steps into the pool ahead of me.

Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach says to him, Rise up, take your mat and walk.

And immediately the man received his refu’ah (healing) and took his mat and was walking around. And that day was Shabbos.

10 So those of Yehudah were saying to the one having been granted refu’ah (healing), It is Shabbos, so it is asur (prohibited), it is chillul Shabbos [desecration of Shabbat] for you to carry your mat. [NECHEMYAH 13:15 22; YIRMEYAH 17:21]

11 But the man in reply said to them, The one having given me refu’ah, that one said to me, Take up your mat and walk!

12 They asked him, Who is haIsh (the man) telling you to take up your mat and walk?

13 But the one having been granted refu’ah (healing) did not have da’as who it is, for Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach slipped away, there being a multitude in the place.

14 After these things Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach finds him in the Beis Hamikdash, and said to him, Hinei, you have received your refu’ah. No longer commit averos, for fear that something worse happen to you.

15 The man went away and reported to the Yehudim that Yehoshua is the one having granted him his refu’ah,

16 And, because of this, those of Yehudah brought redifah (persecution) upon Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, because these things he was doing on Shabbos.

17 But Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach in reply, said to them, Avi until now is working and I am working. [BERESHIS 2:3]

18 Because of this, therefore, those of Yehudah were seeking all the more to kill Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, because not only was he not Shomer Shabbos, but also Rebbe was saying that his own Av was Hashem, thereby making himself equal with Elohim [Yochanan 1:1].

19 In reply, therefore, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach was saying to them, Omein, omein, I say to you, HaBen is not able to do anything from himself except what he sees HaAv doing, for what things that One is doing, these things also HaBen likewise is doing.

20 For HaAv has ahavah for HaBen and all things He shows to him which He does and ma’asim gedolim (greater works) than these He will show him that you may marvel.

21 For just as HaAv raises the Mesim (dead ones) and makes them alive, so also HaBen makes alive whom he wills. [DEVARIM 32:39; SHMUEL ALEF 2:6; MELACHIM BAIS 5:7; HOSHEA 6:2; RUTH 4:5]

22 For not even HaAv judges anyone, but all Mishpat Hashem has given to HaBen [BERESHIS 18:25; SHOFETIM 11:27; DANIEL 7:10,13-14]

23 That kol Bnei Adam may honor HaBen as they honor HaAv. The one not honoring HaBen does not honor HaAv who sent him [Dan 7:13-14].

24 Omein, omein, I say to you, that the one, hearing my dvar and having emunah in the One who sent me, has Chayyei Olam and does not come into the Mishpat Hashem, but has been transferred out of mavet (death) into Chayyim (Life).

25 Omein, omein, I say to you, that a sha’ah (hour) is coming and now is, when the Mesim (dead ones) will hear the kol (voice) of the Ben HaElohim and the ones having heard will live.

26 For just as HaAv has Chayyim (Life) in himself [DEVARIM 30:20; IYOV 10:12; 33:4; TEHILLIM 36:10 (9)], so also HaBen He gave to have Chayyim (Life) in himself.

27 And samchut (authority) He gave to him to make mishpat (judgment) because he is the Ben HaAdam [DANIEL 7:13-14].

28 Do not marvel at this. For a sha’ah (hour, time) is coming in which all the ones in the kevarim (graves) will hear the kol of Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, [YESHAYAH 26:19; YECHEZKEL 37:12]

29 And will come out, the ones having practiced HaTov to a Techiyas HaMesim of Chayyim (Life), the ones having practiced HaRah to a Techiyas HaMesim of Mishpat (Judgment). [DANIEL 12:2]

30 I am not able to do from myself anything. As I hear I judge, and mine is mishpat tzedek [YESHAYAH 28:6], because I do not seek my own ratzon (will) but the ratzon (will) of the One having sent me. [BAMIDBAR 16:28]

31 If I give solemn edut (testimony) about myself, the edut of mine is not ne’emanah (reliable).

32 There is Another giving solemn edut about me, however, and I have da’as that the edut He testifies about me is ne’emanah (reliable).

33 You (pl.) have sent to Yochanan and he has given solemn edut (testimony) to HaEmes (the Truth).

34 Not that I accept edut from Bnei Adam, but I say these things that you may come to Yeshu’at Eloheinu.

35 He [Yochanan] was a menorah burning and shining and you chose to exult for a time in his Ohr (Light); [TEHILLIM 132:16; DANIEL 12:3]

36 but l have edut (testimony) greater than Yochanan’s. For the ma’asim (works) which HaAv has given to me that I should accomplish, these ma’asim which I do give solemn edut (testimony) about me, that HaAv has sent me.

37 And HaAv who sent me has Himself given solemn edut (testimony) about me. You have neither heard His kol (voice) nor the mareh of Hashem have you seen [DEVARIM 4:12],

38 and the dvar Hashem you do not have abiding and dwelling in you, because you have no bitachon (trust), no emunah (faith) in the one whom Hashem has sent. [YESHAYAH 26:10; 53:1; YIRMEYAH 8:8]

39 You search the Kitvei Hakodesh because you think in them you have Chayyei Olam. And those are the ones giving solemn edut about me.

40 And you do not want to come to me that you may have Chayyim.

41 I do not accept kavod (glory) from Bnei Adam.

42 But I have had da’as of you, that the ahavas Hashem (the love of G-d) you do not have in yourselves.

43 I have come b’Shem Avi and you do not accept me. If another comes in his own name, him you will accept.

44 How are you able to have emunah, when you receive kavod from one another, and the kavod from the only Elohim HaEchad you do not seek? [MELACHIM BAIS 19:15,19; YESHAYAH 37:20; DANIEL 3:45 TARGUM HASHIVIM]

45 Do not think that I will accuse you before HaAv; however, there is one accusing you: Moshe, in whom you have set your tikvah. [Dt 31:26-27]

46 For if you were having emunah in Moshe, you would have had emunah in me, for he himself wrote concerning me. [BERESHIS 3:15; 45:4-9; DEVARIM 18:15]

47 But if in the Kitvei Hakodesh of that one you lack emunah, how will you have emunah in my dvar?