John 21:15–25

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?”

²⁴This is the disciple ⁿwho is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and ^owe know ^pthat his testimony is true.

²⁵Now ^qthere are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that ^rthe world itself could not contain the books that would be written.