Old/New Testament

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.

¹⁹ Jesus said to them, `l tell you the truth. The Son cannot do anything alone. He sees what his Father is doing and he does the same.

²⁰ My Father loves his Son. He shows him all that he himself is doing. He will show his Son bigger works than these so that you may be surprised.

²¹ My Father raises people who were dead, and gives them life. So his Son gives life to anyone he wants to.

²² My Father judges no one, but he has made his Son to be the judge of everything.

²³ He did this so that all people would respect the Son, just as they respect his Father. My Father has sent his Son. Anyone who does not respect his Son does not respect the Father.

²⁴ `I tell you the truth. The person who hears what I say and believes in him that sent me will live for ever. He will not be judged. He has already passed from death to life.