John 21:1–23

Jesus Appears to Seven Disciples

21After this Jesus ^brevealed himself ^cagain to the disciples by ^dthe Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way. ²Simon Peter, ^eThomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of ^fCana in Galilee, ^gthe sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together. ³Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but ^hthat night they caught nothing.

⁴Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples ⁱdid not know that it was Jesus. ^5jJesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” ^6kHe said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. ⁷That disciple ^lwhom Jesus loved therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, ^mhe put on his outer garment, for he was ⁿstripped for work, and ^othrew himself into the sea. ⁸The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards¹ off.

⁹When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.” ¹¹So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. ¹²Jesus said to them, ^p“Come and ^qhave breakfast.” Now ^rnone of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus came and ^stook the bread and gave it to them, and so with the fish. ^14tThis was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus and Peter

¹⁵When they had ^ufinished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ^v“Simon, ^wson of John, ^xdo you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed ^ymy lambs.” ¹⁶He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, ^z“Tend ^ymy sheep.” ¹⁷He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him ^athe third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, ^byou know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed ^cmy sheep. ^18dTruly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, ^eyou used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹(This he said to show ^fby what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, ^g“Follow me.”

Jesus and the Beloved Apostle

²⁰Peter turned and saw ^hthe disciple whom Jesus loved following them, ⁱthe one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” ²¹When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” ²²Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain ^juntil ^kI come, what is that to you? ^lYou follow me!” ²³So the saying spread abroad among ^mthe brothers² that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”