John 9:1-17

New Testament for Everyone

The man born blind

9 As Jesus was going along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.

² “Teacher,” his disciples asked him, “whose sin was it that caused this man to be born blind? Did he sin, or did his parents?”

³ “He didn’t sin,” replied Jesus, “nor did his parents. It happened so that God’s works could be seen in him. ⁴ We must work the works of the one who sent me as long as it’s still daytime. The night is coming, and nobody can work then! ⁵ As long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world.”

⁶ With these words, he spat on the ground, and made some mud out of his spittle. He spread the mud on the man’s eyes.

⁷ “Off you go,” he said to him, “and wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “sent”). So he went off and washed. When he came back, he could see.

⁸ His neighbors, and the people who used to see him begging, remarked on this.

“Isn’t this the man,” they said, “who used to sit here and beg?”

⁹ “Yes, it’s him!” said some of them.

“No, it isn’t!” said some others. “It’s somebody like him.”

But the man himself spoke.

“Yes, it’s me,” he said.

¹⁰ “Well, then,” they said to him, “how did your eyes get opened?”

¹¹ “It was the man called Jesus!” he replied. “He made some mud, then he spread it on my eyes, and told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went, and washed, and I could see!”

¹² “Where is he?” they asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied.

The blind man’s parents

¹³ They took the man who had been blind and brought him to the Pharisees. ¹⁴ (The day Jesus had made the mud, and opened his eyes, was a sabbath.) ¹⁵ So the Pharisees began to ask him again how he had come to see.

“He put some mud on my eyes,” he said, “and I washed, and now I can see!”

¹⁶ “The man can’t be from God,” some of the Pharisees began to say. “He doesn’t keep the sabbath!”

“Well, but,” replied some of the others, “how can a man who is a sinner do signs like these?”

And they were divided.

¹⁷ So they spoke to the blind man again.

“What have you got to say about him?” they asked. “He opened your eyes, after all.”

“He’s a prophet,” he replied.