John
Chapter 3
1 A Pharisee named Nicodemus was a Jewish leader.
2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Teacher, we know you have come from God because no one can do the miracles you do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Truly, I tell you, unless a person is born again, they cannot see God’s kingdom.”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can an old man be born again? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?”
5 Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, they cannot enter God’s kingdom.”
6 What comes from the body is body; and what comes from the Spirit is spirit.
7 Don’t be surprised when I tell you, you must be born again.
8 The wind blows where it wants, and you hear the sound of it, but you can’t tell where it comes from or where it goes: so it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
9 Nicodemus replied and asked him, “How can this happen?”
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel and don’t know these things?”
11 Truly, truly, I tell you, we talk about what we know and share what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony.
12 If I have spoken to you about things of this world and you do not believe, how will you believe if I speak to you about things of heaven?
13 No one has gone up to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, the Son of Man must also be lifted up.
15 Everyone who believes in him will not die but have forever life.
16 God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not die but have eternal life.
17 God did not send his Son into the world to judge it, but to save the world through him.
18 Whoever believes in him is not judged, but whoever does not believe is already judged, because they have not believed in the name of God’s only Son.
19 This is the judgment: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness more than light because their actions were bad.
20 Everyone who does bad things hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, so their actions won’t be criticized.
21 But the person who does what is true comes to the light, so that it can be clearly seen that their actions have been done through God.
22 After this, Jesus and his followers went to the area of Judea; there he stayed with them and performed baptisms.
23 John was also baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; so people came and were baptized.
24 John had not yet been put in prison.
25 A dispute about how to purify oneself arose between some of John’s followers and the Jewish people.
26 They went to John and said, “Teacher, the one you talked about on the other side of the Jordan River is now baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
27 John replied, “A person can only get what is given to them from heaven.”
28 You can testify that I said I am not the Christ, but I am sent ahead of him.
29 The one with the bride is the groom; but the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens, is very happy to hear the groom’s voice. So my happiness is complete.
30 He must become greater, but I must become less.
31 The one who comes from above is greater than all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is greater than all.
32 What he has seen and heard, he tells; but no one accepts what he says.
33 The one who accepts what he has said shows that God is truthful.
34 The one God sends speaks God’s words because God gives the Spirit without limit to him.
35 God loves the Son and has given everything into his control.
36 Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life; but anyone who doesn’t believe in the Son won’t have life, and God’s anger stays on them.