John 5 - 6 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Healing at Bethesda

5After these things there was ^aa feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now there is in Jerusalem by ^athe sheep gate a pool, which is called ^bin ¹Hebrew ²Bethesda, having five porticoes. ³In these lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered, ¹[waiting for the moving of the waters; ⁴for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred up the water; whoever then first, after the stirring up of the water, stepped in was made well from whatever sickness with which he was afflicted.] ⁵And a man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been sick a long time, He *said to him, “Do you wish to get well?” ⁷The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when ^athe water is stirred up, but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” ⁸Jesus *said to him, “^aGet up, pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹And immediately the man became well, and picked up his mat and began to walk. ^aNow it was the Sabbath on that day. ¹⁰So ^athe Jews were saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and ^bit is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” ¹¹But he answered them, “He who made me well was the one who said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” ¹²They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” ¹³But the man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away while there was a crowd in that place. ¹⁴Afterward Jesus *found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well; do not ^asin anymore, ^bso that nothing worse happens to you.” ¹⁵The man went away, and disclosed to ^athe Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶And for this reason ^athe Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”

Jesus’ Equality with the Father

¹⁸For this reason therefore ^athe Jews ^bwere seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, ^cmaking Himself equal with God.

¹⁹Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ^athe Son can do nothing from Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever ¹the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same manner. ²⁰“^aFor the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him ^bgreater works than these, so that you will marvel. ²¹“For just as the Father raises the dead and ^agives them life, even so ^bthe Son also gives life to whom He wishes. ²²“For not even the Father judges anyone, but ^aHe has given all judgment to the Son, ²³so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. ^aHe who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and ^abelieves Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and ^bdoes not come into judgment, but has ^cpassed out of death into life.

Two Resurrections

²⁵“Truly, truly, I say to you, ^aan hour is coming and now is, when ^bthe dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who ^chear will live. ²⁶“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He ^agave to the Son also to have life in Himself; ²⁷and He gave Him authority to ^aexecute judgment, because He is ¹the Son of Man. ²⁸“Do not marvel at this; for ^aan hour is coming, in which ^ball who are in the tombs will hear His voice, ²⁹and will come forth; ^athose who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

³⁰“^aI can do nothing from Myself. As I hear, I judge; and ^bMy judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but ^cthe will of Him who sent Me.

³¹“^aIf I alone bear witness about Myself, My witness is not ¹true. ³²“There is ^aanother who bears witness about Me, and I know that the witness which He gives about Me is true.

Witnesses to Jesus: The Father and the Scriptures

³³“You have sent to John, and he ^ahas borne witness to the truth. ³⁴“But ^athe witness I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵“He was ^athe lamp that was burning and shining and you ^bwere willing to rejoice for ¹a while in his light. ³⁶“But the witness I have is greater than the witness of John; for ^athe works which the Father has given Me ^bto finish—the very works that I do—bear witness about Me, that the Father ^chas sent Me. ³⁷“And the Father who sent Me, ^aHe has borne witness about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. ³⁸“And you do not have ^aHis word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He ^bsent. ³⁹“¹^,^aYou search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is ^bthese that bear witness about Me; ⁴⁰and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. ⁴¹“^aI do not receive glory from men; ⁴²but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; ^aif another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴“How can you believe, when you ^areceive ¹glory from one another and you do not seek ^bthe ²glory that is from ^cthe only God? ⁴⁵“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; the one who accuses you is ^aMoses, in whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for ^ahe wrote about Me. ⁴⁷“But ^aif you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

6After these things ^aJesus went away to the other side of ^bthe Sea of Galilee (or ^cTiberias). ²Now a large crowd was following Him, because they were seeing the ¹^,^asigns which He was doing on those who were sick. ³Then ^aJesus went up on the mountain, and there He was sitting down with His disciples. ⁴Now ^athe Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. ⁵Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, *said to ^aPhilip, “Where should we buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶And this He was saying to ^atest him, for He Himself knew what He was going to do. ⁷^aPhilip answered Him, “^bTwo hundred ¹denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.” ⁸One of His ^adisciples, ^bAndrew, Simon Peter’s brother, *said to Him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two ^afish, but what are these for so many people?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people ¹sit down.” Now there was ^amuch grass in the place. So the men ²sat down, in number about ^bfive thousand. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and ^ahaving given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated; likewise also of the ^bfish, as much as they wanted. ¹²And when they were filled, He *said to His ^adisciples, “Gather up the leftover pieces so that nothing will be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up, and filled twelve ^abaskets with pieces of the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten. ¹⁴Therefore when the people saw the ¹sign which He had done, they were saying, “This is truly the ^aProphet who is to come into the world.”

Jesus Walks on the Sea

¹⁵So Jesus, knowing that they were going to come and take Him by force ^ato make Him king, ^bwithdrew again to ^cthe mountain by Himself alone.

¹⁶Now when evening came, His ^adisciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷and after getting into a boat, they began to cross the sea ^ato Capernaum. It had already become dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸And the sea *was stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹Then, when they had rowed about ¹twenty-five or thirty stadia, they *saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat; and they were frightened. ²⁰But He *said to them, ¹“It is I; ²^,^ado not be afraid.” ²¹So they were willing to receive Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going.

²²On the next day, ^athe crowd which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other small boat there, except one, and that Jesus ^bhad not entered with His disciples into the boat, but that His disciples had gone away alone. ²³Other small boats came from ^aTiberias near to the place where they ate the bread after the ^bLord ^chad given thanks. ²⁴So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves got into the small boats, and ^acame to Capernaum seeking Jesus. ²⁵And when they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “^aRabbi, when did You come here?”

I Am the Bread of Life

²⁶Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you ^aseek Me, not because you saw ^bsigns, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. ²⁷“Do not ^awork for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to ^beternal life, which ^cthe Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, ^dset His seal.” ²⁸Therefore they said to Him, “What should we do, so that we may work the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered and said to them, “This is ^athe work of God, that you believe in Him whom He ^bhas sent.” ³⁰So they said to Him, “^aWhat then do You do for a ^bsign so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? ³¹“^aOur fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘^bHe gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³“For the bread of God is ¹that which ^acomes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴Then they said to Him, “Lord, always ^agive us this bread.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “^aI am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never hunger, and he who believes in Me ^bwill never thirst. ³⁶“But ^aI said to you that you have seen Me, and yet do not believe. ³⁷“^aAll that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out. ³⁸“For ^aI have come down from heaven, ^bnot to do My own will, but ^cthe will of Him who ^dsent Me. ³⁹“Now this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of ^aall that He has given Me I ^blose nothing, but ^craise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰“For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who ^asees the Son and ^bbelieves in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will ^craise him up on the last day.”

Words to the Jews

⁴¹^aTherefore the Jews were grumbling about Him, because He said, “I am the bread that ^bcame down from heaven.” ⁴²They were saying, “^aIs not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother ^bwe know? How does He now say, ‘^cI have come down from heaven’?” ⁴³Jesus answered and said to them, “Stop grumbling among yourselves. ⁴⁴“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me ^adraws him; and I will ^braise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵“It is written ^ain the prophets, ‘^bAnd they shall all be ^ctaught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. ⁴⁶“^aNot that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes ^ahas eternal life. ⁴⁸“^aI am the bread of life. ⁴⁹“^aYour fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰“This is the bread which ^acomes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and ^bnot die. ⁵¹“^aI am the living bread that ^bcame down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, ^che will live forever; and also the bread which I will give ^dfor the life of the world is ^eMy flesh.”

⁵²^aThen the Jews ^bbegan to argue with one another, saying, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of ^athe Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves. ⁵⁴“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will ^araise him up on the last day. ⁵⁵“For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. ⁵⁶“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood ^aabides in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷“As the ^aliving Father ^bsent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also will live because of Me. ⁵⁸“This is the bread which ^acame down out of heaven, not as ^bthe fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread ^cwill live forever.”

Words to the Disciples

⁵⁹These things He said ^ain the synagogue as He taught ^bin Capernaum.

⁶⁰Therefore many of His ^adisciples, when they heard this said, “^bThis is a difficult statement; who can listen to it?” ⁶¹But Jesus, ^aknowing in Himself that His disciples were grumbling at this, said to them, “Does this ^bcause you to stumble? ⁶²“What then if you see ^athe Son of Man ^bascending to where He was before? ⁶³“^aThe Spirit is the One who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; ^bthe words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁶⁴“But there are ^asome of you who do not believe.” For Jesus ^bknew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and ^cwho it was that would ¹betray Him. ⁶⁵And He was saying, “For this reason I have ^asaid to you, that no one can come to Me unless ^bit has been granted him from the Father.”

Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ

⁶⁶As a result of this many of His ^adisciples ¹^,^bwent away and were not walking with Him anymore. ⁶⁷So Jesus said to ^athe twelve, “Do you also want to go?” ⁶⁸^aSimon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have ^bwords of eternal life. ⁶⁹“And we have believed and have come to know that You are ^athe Holy One of God.” ⁷⁰Jesus answered them, “^aDid I Myself not choose you, ^bthe twelve, and yet one of you is ^ca devil?” ⁷¹Now He was speaking of Judas ^athe son of Simon Iscariot, for he, ^bone of ^cthe twelve, ¹was going to betray Him.