John 2–4

The Wedding in Cana

2Two days later there was a wedding in the town of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³When the wine had given out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine left.”

⁴“You must not tell me what to do,” Jesus replied. “My time has not yet come.”

⁵Jesus’ mother then told the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶The Jews have rules about ritual washing, and for this purpose six stone water jars were there, each one large enough to hold about a hundred litres. ⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill these jars with water.” They filled them to the brim, ⁸and then he told them, “Now draw some water out and take it to the man in charge of the feast.” They took him the water, ⁹which now had turned into wine, and he tasted it. He did not know where this wine had come from (but, of course, the servants who had drawn out the water knew); so he called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone else serves the best wine first, and after the guests have had plenty to drink, he serves the ordinary wine. But you have kept the best wine until now!”

¹¹Jesus performed this first miracle in Cana in Galilee; there he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

^12*After this, Jesus and his mother, brothers, and disciples went to Capernaum and stayed there a few days.

Jesus Goes to the Temple

^13*It was almost time for the Passover Festival, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴There in the Temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons, and also the moneychangers sitting at their tables. ¹⁵So he made a whip from cords and drove all the animals out of the Temple, both the sheep and the cattle; he overturned the tables of the moneychangers and scattered their coins; ¹⁶and he ordered those who sold the pigeons, “Take them out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market place!” ^17*His disciples remembered that the scripture says, “My devotion to your house, O God, burns in me like a fire.”

¹⁸The Jewish authorities replied with a question, “What miracle can you perform to show us that you have the right to do this?”

^19*Jesus answered, “Tear down this Temple, and in three days I will build it again.”

²⁰“Are you going to build it again in three days?” they asked him. “It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple!”

²¹But the temple Jesus was speaking about was his body. ²²So when he was raised from death, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and what Jesus had said.

Jesus’ Knowledge of Human Nature

²³While Jesus was in Jerusalem during the Passover Festival, many believed in him as they saw the miracles he performed. ²⁴But Jesus did not trust himself to them, because he knew them all. ²⁵There was no need for anyone to tell him about them, because he himself knew what was in their hearts.

Jesus and Nicodemus

3There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. ²One night he went to Jesus and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him.” ³Jesus answered, “I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again.”^d

⁴“How can a grown man be born again?” Nicodemus asked. “He certainly cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time!” ⁵“I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus. “No one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. ⁷Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again.^{e 8}The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹“How can this be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰Jesus answered, “You are a great teacher in Israel, and you don’t know this? ¹¹I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message. ¹²You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven? ¹³And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven.”^f

^14*As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its saviour.

¹⁸Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. ¹⁹This is how the judgement works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. ²⁰All those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.

Jesus and John

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went to the province of Judea, where he spent some time with them and baptized. ²³John also was baptizing in Aenon, not far from Salim, because there was plenty of water in that place. People were going to him, and he was baptizing them. ^24*(This was before John had been put in prison.)

²⁵Some of John’s disciples began arguing with a Jew^g about the matter of ritual washing. ²⁶So they went to John and said, “Teacher, you remember the man who was with you on the east side of the Jordan, the one you spoke about? Well, he is baptizing now, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷John answered, “No one can have anything unless God gives it to him. ^28*You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.’ ²⁹The bridegroom is the one to whom the bride belongs; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands by and listens, is glad when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This is how my own happiness is made complete. ³⁰He must become more important while I become less important.”

He Who Comes from Heaven

³¹He who comes from above is greater than all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly matters, but he who comes from heaven is above all. ³²He tells what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his message. ³³But whoever accepts his message confirms by this that God is truthful. ³⁴The one whom God has sent speaks God’s words, because God gives him the fullness of his Spirit. ^35*The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his power. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not have life, but will remain under God’s punishment.

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4The Pharisees heard that Jesus was winning and baptizing more disciples than John. ²(Actually, Jesus himself did not baptize anyone; only his disciples did.) ³So when Jesus heard what was being said, he left Judea and went back to Galilee; ⁴on his way there he had to go through Samaria.

^5*In Samaria he came to a town named Sychar, which was not far from the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw some water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into town to buy food.)

^9*The woman answered, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan—so how can you ask me for a drink?” (Jews will not use the same cups and bowls that Samaritans use.)^h

¹⁰Jesus answered, “If only you knew what God gives and who it is that is asking you for a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you life-giving water.”

¹¹“Sir,” the woman said, “you haven’t got a bucket, and the well is deep. Where would you get that life-giving water? ¹²It was our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well; he and his sons and his flocks all drank from it. You don’t claim to be greater than Jacob, do you?”

¹³Jesus answered, “All those who drink this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring which will provide him with life-giving water and give him eternal life.”

¹⁵“Sir,” the woman said, “give me that water! Then I will never be thirsty again, nor will I have to come here to draw water.” ¹⁶“Go and call your husband,” Jesus told her, “and come back.”

¹⁷“I haven’t got a husband,” she answered.

Jesus replied, “You are right when you say you haven’t got a husband. ¹⁸You have been married to five men, and the man you live with now is not really your husband. You have told me the truth.”

¹⁹“I see you are a prophet, sir,” the woman said. ²⁰“My Samaritan ancestors worshipped God on this mountain, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where we should worship God.”

²¹Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans do not really know whom you worship; but we Jews know whom we worship, because it is from the Jews that salvation comes. ²³But the time is coming and is already here, when by the power of God’s Spirit people will worship the Father as he really is, offering him the true worship that he wants. ²⁴God is Spirit, and only by the power of his Spirit can people worship him as he really is.”

²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything.”

²⁶Jesus answered, “I am he, I who am talking with you.”

²⁷At that moment Jesus’ disciples returned, and they were greatly…