Book of Common Prayer

¹⁴ We have a great high priest who has gone into heaven. He is Jesus, the Son of God. Because we have such a great high priest, let us hold on to the things we believe.

¹⁵ We have a high priest who can feel with us when we are weak. He has been tested in every way, just as we are. But he did not do anything wrong.

¹⁶ So let us trust him when we come to worship God. He is so good. He will be kind to us and help us when we need it.

5 Every high priest is chosen from among men. His work is to stand before God for people. He brings gifts and makes sacrifices to God for the wrong things people have done.

² Such a high priest can be kind to people who do not know what is right and who do wrong. He knows how to share in the suffering of others because he himself is weak.

³ Because he is weak himself, he must make sacrifices to God for the wrong things he has done, just as he does for the people.

⁴ No one chooses himself to be high priest. But God calls him, just as he called Aaron.

⁵ So Christ did not choose himself to be a high priest. But he was chosen by the One who said to him, `You are my Son, and I am your Father today.'

⁶ In another place in the holy writings God said, `You are a priest for ever like Melchizedek.'

²³ Many people believed in Jesus' name when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast. They believed in him because they saw the big works he did.

²⁴ But Jesus would not trust himself to them.

²⁵ He knew what all people are like. He did not need anyone to tell him about any person, because he knew what was in a person's heart.

3 There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a Pharisee, a ruler and leader of the Jews.

² One night Nicodemus came to Jesus. He said, `Master, we know you are a teacher sent by God. We know this because no person could do the big works you are doing if God did not help him.'

³ Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. No person can see God's kingdom if he is not born again.'

⁴ Nicodemus said, `How can a man be born when he is old? Can he go inside of his mother again and be born?'

⁵ Jesus said, `I tell you the truth. This new birth is by water and by the Spirit. No person can enter God's kingdom if he has not been born that way.

⁶ That which is born of a person is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ You must not be surprised when I say, "You must be born again."

⁸ The wind blows where it wants to blow. You can hear the sound of it. But you do not know where it comes from, and you do not know where it goes. It is the same way with everyone who is born of the Spirit.'

⁹ Nicodemus asked Jesus, `How can such things be?

¹⁰ Jesus answered, `Are you a teacher of the people of Israel and you do not know this?

¹¹ I tell you the truth. We know what we are talking about. We talk about the things we have seen. But you will not believe what we tell you.

¹² You do not believe what I have told you about things on earth. So how will you believe if I tell you about things in heaven?

¹³ No one has ever gone up to heaven - only the One who came down from heaven. That One is the Son of Man who is in heaven.

¹⁴ Moses lifted up a snake on a piece of wood in the desert. So the Son of Man must be lifted up.

¹⁵ Then everyone who believes in him will not die, but will live for ever.