章 |
5:1 |
Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.
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5:2 |
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.
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5:3 |
Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.
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5:4 |
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5:5 |
One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
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5:6 |
When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
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5:7 |
"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."
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5:8 |
Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
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5:9 |
At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
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5:10 |
and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
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5:11 |
But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, `Pick up your mat and walk.' "
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5:12 |
So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
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5:13 |
The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
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5:14 |
Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
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5:15 |
The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
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5:16 |
So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.
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5:17 |
Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."
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5:18 |
For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
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5:19 |
Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
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5:20 |
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
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5:21 |
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
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5:22 |
Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
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5:23 |
that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
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5:24 |
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
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5:25 |
I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
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5:26 |
For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
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5:27 |
And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
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5:28 |
"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice
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5:29 |
and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
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5:30 |
By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
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5:31 |
"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.
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5:32 |
There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.
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5:33 |
"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.
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5:34 |
Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.
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5:35 |
John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
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5:36 |
"I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.
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5:37 |
And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,
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5:38 |
nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.
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5:39 |
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,
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5:40 |
yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
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5:41 |
"I do not accept praise from men,
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5:42 |
but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.
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5:43 |
I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.
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5:44 |
How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
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5:45 |
"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.
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5:46 |
If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.
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5:47 |
But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"
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