Book of Common Prayer

¹⁹ Seeing, brethren, that by the means of the blood of Jesus we may be bold to enter into that holy place, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he has prepared for us through the veil (that is to say, by his flesh), ²¹ and seeing also that we have a high priest who is ruler over the house of God, ²² let us draw near with a true heart, in full faith, sprinkled in our hearts from an evil conscience, and washed in our bodies with pure water. ²³ And let us keep the profession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider one another, to encourage to love and to good works. ²⁵ And let us not forsake the fellowship that we have among ourselves, as the manner of some is, but let us exhort one another, and that so much the more because you see that the day draws near.

²⁶ For if we sin willingly after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but a fearful looking for judgment and violent fire, which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸ He who despises Moses’ law dies without mercy under two or three witnesses: ²⁹ of how much sorer punishment do you suppose that person will be counted deserving who treads under foot the Son of God, and counts as an unholy thing the blood of the testament by which he was sanctified, and does dishonour to the Spirit of Grace? ³⁰ For we know him who has said: Vengeance belongs to me; I will recompense, says the Lord. And again: The Lord shall judge his people. ³¹ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

² And there is at Jerusalem, by the slaughterhouse, a pool called in the Hebrew tongue Bethseda, having five porches, ³ in which lay a great number of sick folk, of the blind, lame, and paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. ⁴ For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water. Whoever then first after the stirring of the water stepped in, was made whole of whatever disease he had.

⁵ And a certain man was there who had been diseased 38 years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that for a long time now he had been diseased, he said to him, Do you want to be made whole? ⁷ The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. But in the meantime, when I am about to come, another steps down before me. ⁸ And Jesus said to him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk. ⁹ And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked.

And that day was the Sabbath day. ¹⁰ The Jews therefore said to him who had been healed, It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed. ¹¹ He answered them, The man who made me whole said to me, Take up your bed and walk. ¹² Then they asked him, What man is it that said to you, Take up your bed and walk? ¹³ But the man that was healed did not know who it was. For Jesus had gotten himself away, because there was a press of people in the place.

¹⁴ And after that, Jesus found the man in the temple and said to him, Behold, you are made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to you. ¹⁵ The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. ¹⁶ And therefore the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought means to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.

¹⁷ And Jesus told them, My Father works until now, and I work.

¹⁸ Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, not only because he had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, and made himself equal with God.