John 9:1-17

New International Reader's Version

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As Jesus went along, he saw a man who was blind. He had been blind since he was born. ² Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned? Was this man born blind because he sinned? Or did his parents sin?”

³ “It isn’t because this man sinned,” said Jesus. “It isn’t because his parents sinned. He was born blind so that God’s power could be shown by what’s going to happen. ⁴ While it is still day, we must do the works of the one who sent me. Night is coming. Then no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶ After he said this, he spit on the ground. He made some mud with the spit. Then he put the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him. “Wash in the Pool of Siloam.” Siloam means Sent. So the man went and washed. And he came home able to see.

⁸ His neighbors and people who had seen him earlier begging asked questions. “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” they asked. ⁹ Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No. He only looks like him.”

But the man who had been blind kept saying, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “Then how were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed. Then I could see.”

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Want to Know How the Blind Man Was Healed

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ The day Jesus made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath day. ¹⁵ So the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied. “Then I washed. And now I can see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “Jesus has not come from God. He does not keep the Sabbath day.”

But others asked, “How can a sinner do such signs?” So the Pharisees did not agree with one another.

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man. “What do you have to say about him?” they asked. “It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”