Book of Common Prayer

²⁸ They did not want to know God. So he left them to their wrong thoughts and to do things that are not right.

²⁹ They were very bad. They did every kind of wrong thing. They were greedy. They hated people. They were very jealous. They killed many people. They fought. They fooled people. They told lies about people. They carried stories from one person to another.

³⁰ They said wrong things about people. They hated God. They did not respect people. They were proud. They talked big. They even thought of new wrong things to do. They did not obey their parents.

³¹ .They were foolish. They did not do what they said they would do. They did not love people. They were not kind.

³² They know that God says that people who do such things should die. Even so, they not only do them, but they praise other people who do them.

2 Do you judge another people? You your-selves have done wrong things. So when you judge others, you judge yourselves, because you do the same things. You judge them and yet you do the same things.

² We know that God judges people who do such things. And he judges them by what is true.

³ Man, you judge people who do such things and yet you do them yourself. Do you think that God will not judge you?

⁴ Or do you not respect him for being kind, very patient, and for waiting a long time? Do you not know that God is kind, and he wants to lead you away from doing wrong things?

⁵ But your hearts are hard. You will not stop. That is why God will be angry with you. He will be angry on the day when people will see that he judges in the right way.

⁶ He will pay every man for what he has done.

⁷ He will give life for ever to people who keep on doing good. These people want to have glory and honour from God, and to live for ever.

⁸ But God will be very angry with the people who think of themselves first before others. They do not obey what is right. They do wrong things.

⁹ Every one who does what is wrong will have much trouble and a hard time. This will happen to the Jews first, then to those who are not Jews.

¹⁰ And every one who does what is good, will be made great. He will have honour and peace. This will happen to the Jews first and then to those who are not Jews.

¹¹ God does not love some people more than others.

5 After that, the Jews had a feast and Jesus went to Jerusalem.

² In Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a wide water hole. The Jews called this water hole Bethesda. It had five places with roofs for people to stand under.

³ Many sick people were lying on these places. Some of them were blind. Some were lame. Some were very thin and stiff so that they could not move by themselves. All of them were waiting for the water to move.

⁴ An angel came down into the water at a certain time and made it move. The first person who stepped into the water when it moved was healed of any sickness that he had.

⁵ A man was there who had been sick for thirty eight years.

⁶ Jesus saw the man lying there. He knew that he had been sick for a long time. He said to him, `Do you want to be healed?'

⁷ The sick man said to him, `Sir, I have no man to put me into the water when it moves. While I am trying to get in, some other person comes and gets in before me.'

⁸ Jesus said, `Get up. Take up your bed and walk!'

⁹ The man was healed right away. He took up his bed and walked. This happened on the Sabbath day.

¹⁰ So the leaders of the Jews talked to the man who was healed. They said, `It is the Sabbath day. It is not right for you to carry your bed.'

¹¹ But he answered them, `The man who healed me said to me, "Take up your bed and walk." '

¹² They asked him, `Who is the man who told you to take up your bed and walk?'

¹³ The man who was healed said, `I do not know who he is.' Many people were at the place and Jesus had gone away.

¹⁴ After that, Jesus saw the man in the temple. He said to him, `See, you are healed. Do no more wrong things. If you do, something worse may happen to you.'

¹⁵ The man went away and told the leaders of the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

¹⁶ The Jewish leaders made trouble for Jesus because he did this on the Sabbath day.

¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, `My Father is still working and I am working also.'

¹⁸ This was why the leaders of the Jews tried much more to kill Jesus. He had broken the law of the Sabbath day. And also he called God his Father. In that way, he was making himself equal with God.