Read the Bible

The Third Sign: Healing the Sick

¹ After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(C1) 2} By the Sheep Gate^(C1) in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda^(F1) in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. ³ Within these lay a large number of the disabled—blind, lame, and paralyzed.^(F1)

⁵ One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time,^(C1) he said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷ “Sir,”^(C1) the disabled man answered, “I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

⁸ “Get up,”⁹ Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath,^{(C1) 10} and so the Jews^(C1) said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath.^(C2) The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”

¹¹ He replied, “The man who made me well^(C1) told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’

¹² “Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’¹³ But the man who was healed did not know who it was,^(C1) because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.^(F1)

¹⁴ After this, Jesus found him in the temple^(C1) and said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.”¹⁵ The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.^{(C1) 16} Therefore, the Jews began persecuting^(C1) Jesus^(F1) because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.^(C2)

Honoring the Father and the Son

¹⁷ Jesus responded to them, “My Father¹⁸ This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him:^(C1) Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

¹⁹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works²¹ And just as the Father raises²² The Father,²³ so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

Life and Judgment

²⁴ “Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life

²⁵ “Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here,²⁶ For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son²⁷ And he has granted him the right to pass judgment,²⁸ Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice²⁹ and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

³⁰ “I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment

Witnesses to Jesus

³¹ “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.³² There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.³³ You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.³⁴ I don’t receive human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.³⁵ John

³⁶ “But I have a greater testimony than John’s because of the works that the Father has given me to accomplish.³⁷ The Father who sent me has himself testified³⁸ You don’t have his word residing in you, because you don’t believe the one he sent.³⁹ You pore over the Scriptures⁴⁰ But you are not willing

⁴¹ “I do not accept glory⁴² but I know you—that you have no love for God⁴³ I have come in my Father’s name,⁴⁴ How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don’t seek the glory that comes from the only⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses,⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.⁴⁷ But if you don’t believe what he wrote,