Read the Bible

¹ NOW there was a man who was sick, Lazarus of the town of Bethany, the brother of Mary and Martha.² This is the Mary who anointed the feet of Jesus with perfume and wiped them with her hair. Lazarus who was sick, was her brother.³ His two sisters therefore sent to Jesus, saying, Our Lord, behold, the one whom you love is sick.⁴ Jesus said, This is not a sickness of death, but for the sake of the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified on his account.⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus.⁶ When he heard he was sick, he remained two days in the place where he was.⁷ After that he said to his disciples, Come, let us go again to Judaea.⁸ His disciples said to him, Teacher, not long ago the Jews wanted to stone you, and yet are you going there again?⁹ Jesus said to them, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walks by day time, he will not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.¹⁰ But if a man travels at night time, he will stumble, because there is no light in it.¹¹ Jesus said these things; and after that he said to them, Our friend Lazarus is asleep; but I am going to awake him.¹² His disciples said to him, Our Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get well.¹³ But Jesus spoke of his death; and they thought that what he said was sleeping in bed.¹⁴ Then Jesus said to them, plainly, Lazarus is dead.¹⁵ And I am glad I was not there, for your sakes, so that you may believe; but let us walk there.¹⁶ Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us also go, and die with him.

¹⁷ So Jesus came to Bethany, and he found that he had been four days in the tomb.¹⁸ Now Bethany was towards Jerusalem, a distance of about two miles.¹⁹ And many Jews kept coming to Martha and Mary, to comfort their hearts concerning their brother.²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus had come, she went out to meet him; but Mary sat in the house.²¹ Then Martha said to Jesus, My Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.²² But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, he will give you.²³ Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise up.²⁴ Martha said to him, I know he will rise up in the resurrection at the last day.²⁵ Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even though he die, he shall live.²⁶ And whoever is alive and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?²⁷ She said to him, Yes, my Lord; I do believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come to the world.²⁸ And when she had said these things, she went away and called her sister Mary secretly, and said to her, Our teacher has come, and he is calling you.²⁹ When Mary heard it, she rose up quickly and came to him.³⁰ Jesus had not yet come into the town, but he was still at the same place where Martha met him.³¹ The Jews also who were with her in the house, comforting her, when they saw Mary rise up quickly and go out, followed her, for they thought she was going to the tomb to weep.³² When Mary came where Jesus was, and saw him, she threw herself at his feet, and said to him, My Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping, who had come with her, he was moved in his spirit, and was greatly disturbed.³⁴ And he said, Where have you laid him? They said to him, Our Lord, come and see.³⁵ And Jesus was in tears.³⁶ The Jews then said, Look, how much he loved him!³⁷ Some of them said, Could not this man, who opened the eyes of that blind man, have also kept this man from dying?³⁸ As Jesus was disturbed in himself because of them, he came to the tomb. That tomb was a cave, and a stone was placed at the entrance.³⁹ Jesus said, Take away this stone. Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, My Lord, he is already disfigured, for he is dead four days.⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, Did not I say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted his eyes upwards, and said, O Father, I thank you for you have heard me,⁴² And I know that you always hear me; but I say these things just because of this people who stand around, so that they may believe that you have sent me.⁴³ And when he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come outside.⁴⁴ And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with burial clothes; and his face bound with a burial napkin. Jesus said to them, Loose him and let him go.

⁴⁵ Many of the Jews who had come to Mary, when they saw what Jesus had done, believed in him.⁴⁶ And some of them went to the Pharisees, and told them everything Jesus had done.⁴⁷ So the high priests and the Pharisees gathered together and said, What shall we do? for this man does many miracles?⁴⁸ If we allow him to continue like this, all men will believe in him; and the Romans will come and take over both our country and our people.⁴⁹ But one of them, called Caiaphas, who was the high priest for that year, said to them, You know nothing;⁵⁰ Nor do you reason that it is much better for us that one man should die instead of the people, and not all the people perish.⁵¹ He did not say this of himself; but because he was the high priest for that year, he prophesied that Jesus had to die for the sake of the people;⁵² And not only for the sake of the people, but also to gather together the children of God who are scattered abroad.⁵³ And from that very day, they decided to kill him.⁵⁴ Jesus therefore did not walk openly among the Jews, but went away thence to a place which is close to the wilderness, in the province of Ephraim; and he remained there with his disciples.⁵⁵ Now the Jewish passover was at hand; and many went up from the towns to Jerusalem, before the feast, to purify themselves.⁵⁶ And they were looking for Jesus, and at the temple they kept saying to one another, What do you think, will he not come to the feast?⁵⁷ But the high priests and the Pharisees had already commanded, that if any man should know where he is, to let them know, so that they might seize him.