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Lazarus Dies

¹ Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) ³ So the sisters sent word^[a] to him, saying, "Lord, behold, the one whom you love is sick." ⁴ And when he^[b] heard it,^[c] Jesus said, "This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, in order that the Son of God may be glorified through it." ⁵ (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.) ⁶ So when he heard that he was sick, then he remained in the place where^[d] he was two days.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." ⁸ The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were seeking just now to stone you, and are you going there again?" ⁹ Jesus replied, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks around in the daylight, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks around in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him. ¹¹ He said these things, and after this he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I can awaken him." ¹² So the disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well." ¹³ (Now Jesus had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was speaking about real sleep.^[e]) ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, "Lazarus has died, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sake^[f] that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." ¹⁶ Then Thomas (the one who is called Didymus)^[g] said to his fellow disciples, "Let us go also, so that we may die with him."

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ So when he^[h] arrived, Jesus found he had already been four days in the tomb. ¹⁸ (Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia.^{[i] 19} So many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary in order to console them concerning their^[j] brother.) ²⁰ Now Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house. ²¹ So Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even^[k] now I know that whatever you ask God, God will grant you." ²³ Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." ²⁴ Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." ²⁵ Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die forever.^[l] Do you believe this?" ²⁷ She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world."

Jesus Weeps

²⁸ And when she^[m] had said this, she went and called her sister Mary privately, saying, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." ²⁹ So that one, when she heard it,^[n] got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ (Now Jesus has not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha went to meet him.) ³¹ So the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they^[o] saw Mary—that she stood up quickly and went out—followed her, because they^[p] thought that she was going to the tomb in order to weep there.

³² Then Mary, when she came where Jesus was and^[q] saw him, fell at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." ³³ Then Jesus, when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within himself. ³⁴ And he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." ³⁵ Jesus wept. ³⁶ So the Jews were saying, "See how he loved him!" ³⁷ But some of them said, "Was not this man who opened the eyes of the blind able to do something^[r] so that this man also would not have died?"

Lazarus Is Raised

³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved within himself again, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying on it. ³⁹ Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the one who had died, said to him, "Lord, he is stinking already, because it has been four days." ⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" ⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his^[s] eyes above and said, "Father, I give thanks to you that you hear me. ⁴² And I know that you always hear me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it,^[t] so that they may believe that you sent me." ⁴³ And when he^[u] had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" ⁴⁴ The one who had died came out, his^[v] feet and his^[w] hands bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped with a facecloth. Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go."

The Jewish Leaders Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Then many of the Jews who had come with Mary and saw the things which he did believed in him. ⁴⁶ But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees called together the Sanhedrin and said, "What are we doing? For this man is performing many signs! ⁴⁸ If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place^[x] and our^[y] nation."

⁴⁹ But a certain one of them, Caiaphas (who was high priest in that year), said to them, "You do not know anything at all! ⁵⁰ Nor do you consider that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and the whole nation not perish." ⁵¹ (Now he did not say this from himself, but being high priest in that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, ⁵² and not for the nation only, but also that the children of God who are scattered would be gathered into one.) ⁵³ So from that day they resolved that they should kill him. ⁵⁴ So Jesus was no longer walking openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.

⁵⁵ Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the surrounding country before the Passover, so that they could purify themselves. ⁵⁶ So they were looking for Jesus, and were speaking with one another while^[z] standing in the temple courts,^[aa] "What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?" ⁵⁷ (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, they should report it,^[ab] in order that they could arrest him.)