John 2–4

2ND CHAPTER

Jesus Changes Water into Wine

¹Three days later a wedding took place in the city of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. ²Jesus and his disciples had been invited too. 

³When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They’re out of wine.” 

⁴Jesus said to her, “Why did you come to me? My time has not yet come.” 

⁵His mother told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” 

⁶Six stone water jars were there. They were used for Jewish purification rituals. Each jar held 18 to 27 gallons. 

⁷Jesus told the servers, “Fill the jars with water.” The servers filled the jars to the brim. ⁸Jesus said to them, “Pour some, and take it to the person in charge.” The servers did as they were told. 

⁹The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now.” 

¹¹Cana in Galilee was the place where Jesus began to perform miracles. He made his glory public there, and his disciples believed in him. 

¹²After this, Jesus, his mother, brothers, and disciples went to the city of Capernaum and stayed there for a few days. 

Jesus Throws Merchants and Moneychangers out of the Temple Courtyard

¹³The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. ¹⁵He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables. 

¹⁶He told those who sold pigeons, “Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 

¹⁷His disciples remembered that Scripture said, “Devotion for your house will consume me.” 

¹⁸The Jews reacted by asking Jesus, “What miracle can you show us to justify what you’re doing?” 

¹⁹Jesus replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.” 

²⁰The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” 

²¹But the temple Jesus spoke about was his own body. ²²After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Jesus had made. 

²³While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles that he performed. ²⁴Jesus, however, was wary of these believers. He understood people ²⁵and didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature. He knew what people were really like. 

3RD CHAPTER

A Conversation with Nicodemus

¹Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish council. ²He came to Jesus one night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that God has sent you as a teacher. No one can perform the miracles you perform unless God is with him.” 

³Jesus replied to Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one can see God’s kingdom without being born from above.”^a

⁴Nicodemus asked him, “How can anyone be born when he’s an old man? He can’t go back inside his mother a second time to be born, can he?” 

⁵Jesus answered Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter God’s kingdom without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual. ⁷Don’t be surprised when I tell you that all of you must be born from above. ⁸The wind^bblows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it’s going. That’s the way it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 

⁹Nicodemus replied, “How can that be?” 

¹⁰Jesus told Nicodemus, “You’re a well-known teacher of Israel. Can’t you understand this? ¹¹I can guarantee this truth: We know what we’re talking about, and we confirm what we’ve seen. Yet, you don’t accept our message. ¹²If you don’t believe me when I tell you about things on earth, how will you believe me when I tell you about things in heaven? ¹³No one has gone to heaven except the Son of Man, who came from heaven. 

¹⁴“As Moses lifted up the snake ⸤on a pole⸥ in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. ¹⁵Then everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” 

¹⁶God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not die but will have eternal life. ¹⁷God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. ¹⁸Those who believe in him won’t be condemned. But those who don’t believe are already condemned because they don’t believe in God’s only Son. 

¹⁹This is why people are condemned: The light came into the world. Yet, people loved the dark rather than the light because their actions were evil. ²⁰People who do what is wrong hate the light and don’t come to the light. They don’t want their actions to be exposed. ²¹But people who do what is true come to the light so that the things they do for God may be clearly seen. 

John the Baptizer Talks about Christ

²²Later, Jesus and his disciples went to the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them and baptized people. ²³John was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim. Water was plentiful there. (People came to John to be baptized, ²⁴since John had not yet been put in prison.) 

²⁵Some of John’s disciples had an argument with a Jew about purification ceremonies. ²⁶So they went to John and asked him, “Rabbi, do you remember the man you spoke so favorably about when he was with you on the other side of the Jordan River? Well, he’s baptizing, and everyone is going to him!” 

²⁷John answered, “People can’t receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. ²⁸You are witnesses that I said, ‘I’m not the Messiah, but I’ve been sent ahead of him.’ 

²⁹“The groom is the person to whom the bride belongs. The best man, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed when the groom speaks. This is the joy that I feel. ³⁰He must increase in importance, while I must decrease in importance. 

³¹“The person who comes from above is superior to everyone. I, a person from the earth, know nothing but what is on earth, and that’s all I can talk about. The person who comes from heaven is superior to everyone ³²and tells what he has seen and heard. Yet, no one accepts what he says. ³³I have accepted what that person said, and I have affirmed that God is truthful. ³⁴The man whom God has sent speaks God’s message. After all, God gives him the Spirit without limit. ³⁵The Father loves his Son and has put everything in his power. ³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, he will see God’s constant anger.” 

4TH CHAPTER

A Samaritan Woman Meets Jesus at a Well

¹Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John. ²(Actually, Jesus was not baptizing people. His disciples were.) ³So he left the Judean countryside and went back to Galilee. 

⁴Jesus had to go through Samaria. ⁵He arrived at a city in Samaria called Sychar. Sychar was near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s Well was there. Jesus sat down by the well because he was tired from traveling. The time was about noon. 

⁷A Samaritan woman went to get some water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink of water.” ⁸(His disciples had gone into the city to buy some food.) 

⁹The Samaritan woman asked him, “How can a Jewish man like you ask a Samaritan woman like me for a drink of water?” (Jews, of course, don’t associate with Samaritans.) 

¹⁰Jesus replied to her, “If you only knew what God’s gift is and who is asking you for a drink, you would have asked him for a drink. He would have given you living water.” 

¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you don’t have anything to use to get water, and the well is deep. So where are you going to get this living water? ¹²You’re not more important than our ancestor Jacob, are you? He gave us this well. He and his sons and his animals drank water from it.” 

¹³Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will become thirsty again. ¹⁴But those who drink the water that I will give them will never become thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give them will become in them a spring that gushes up to eternal life.” 

¹⁵The woman told Jesus, “Sir, give me this water! Then I won’t get thirsty or have to come here to get water.” 

¹⁶Jesus told her, “Go to your husband, and bring him here.” 

¹⁷The woman replied, “I don’t have a husband.” 

Jesus told her, “You’re right when you say that you don’t have a husband. ¹⁸You’ve had five husbands, and the man you have now isn’t your husband. You’ve told the truth.” 

¹⁹The woman said to Jesus, “I see that you’re a prophet! ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that people must worship in Jerusalem.” 

²¹Jesus told her, “Believe me. A time is coming when you Samaritans won’t be worshiping the Father on this mountain or in Jerusalem. ²²You don’t know what you’re worshiping. We ⸤Jews⸥ know what we’re worshiping, because salvation comes from the Jews. ²³Indeed, the time is coming, and it is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. The Father is looking for people like that to worship him. ²⁴God is a spirit. Those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 

²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will tell us everything.” (Messiah is the one called Christ.) 

²⁶Jesus told her, “I am he, and I am speaking to you now.” 

²⁷At that time his disciples returned. They were surprised that he was talking to a woman. But none of them asked him, “What do you want from her?” or “Why are you talking to her?” 

²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back into the city. She…