John 2–4

The First Sign: Turning Water into Wine

2On the third day a wedding took place in Cana ⁱof Galilee. ^jJesus’ mother ^kwas there, and ²Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding as well. ³When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother told Him, “They don’t have any wine.”

⁴“What has this concern of yours to do with Me, ^lm•woman?” ⁿJesus asked. “My hour ^ohas not yet come.”

⁵“Do whatever He tells you,” His mother told the servants.

⁶Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. ^pEach contained 20 or 30 gallons. ^q

⁷“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. ⁸Then He said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the chief servant.” ^rAnd they did.

⁹When the chief servant tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom ¹⁰and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people have drunk freely, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.”

¹¹Jesus performed this first sign ^sin Cana ^tof Galilee. ^uHe displayed ^vHis glory, ^wand His disciples believed in Him.

¹²After this, He went down to Capernaum, ^xtogether with His mother, His brothers, ^yand His disciples, and they stayed there only a few days.

Cleansing the Temple Complex

¹³The Jewish Passover ^zwas near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ^a14In the temple complex ^bHe found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and He also found the money changers sitting there. ¹⁵After making a whip out of cords, ^cHe drove everyone out of the temple complex with their sheep ^dand oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning My Father’s ^ehouse ^finto a marketplace!” ^gh

¹⁷And His disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal ⁱfor Your house will consume ^jMe. ^kl

¹⁸So the Jews replied to Him, “What sign of authority will You show us for doing these things?”

¹⁹Jesus answered, “Destroy this sanctuary, ^mand I will raise it up in three days.” ⁿ

²⁰Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?” ^o

²¹But He was speaking about the sanctuary of His body. ^p22So when He was raised from the dead, ^qHis disciples remembered that He had said this. ^rAnd they believed the Scripture ^sand the statement Jesus had made.

²³While He was in Jerusalem ^tat the Passover Festival, ^umany trusted in His name ^vwhen they saw the signs He was doing. ²⁴Jesus, however, would not entrust Himself to them, since He knew them all ²⁵and because He did not need anyone to testify about man; for He Himself knew what was in man. ^w

Jesus and Nicodemus

3There was a man from the Pharisees ^xnamed Nicodemus, ^ya ruler ^zof the Jews. ²This man came to Him at night and said, “Rabbi, ^awe know that You have come from God ^bas a teacher, ^cfor no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him.” ^d

³Jesus replied, “^•I assure you: Unless someone is born again, ^efhe cannot see the kingdom of God.” ^g

⁴“But how can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked Him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “I assure you: Unless someone is born ^hof water and the Spirit, ^ijhe cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶Whatever is born of the flesh ^kis flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit ^lis spirit. ⁷Do not be amazed that I told you that you ^mmust be born ⁿagain. ⁸The wind ^oblows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. ^pSo it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” ^q

⁹“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰“Are you a teacher ^rof Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. ¹¹“I assure you: ^sWe speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you ^tdo not accept Our testimony. ^u12If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven? ¹³No one has ascended ^vinto heaven ^wexcept the One who descended from heaven ^x—the ^•Son of Man. ^yz14Just as Moses ^alifted up the snake in the wilderness, ^bso the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in Him will ^chave eternal life. ^d

¹⁶“For God loved ^ethe world ^•in this way: ^fHe gave His ^•One and Only ^gSon, ^hso that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. ⁱ¹⁷For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn ^jthe world, but that the world might be saved through Him. ¹⁸Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, ^kbecause he has not believed in the name ^lof the One and Only Son ^mof God.

¹⁹“This, then, is the judgment: The light ⁿhas come into the world, ^oand people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For everyone who practices wicked things hates ^pthe light and avoids it, ^qso that his deeds ^rmay not be exposed. ²¹But anyone who lives by ^sthe truth comes to the light, so that his works ^tmay be shown to be accomplished by God.” ^u

Jesus and John the Baptist

²²After this, Jesus and His disciples went to the Judean countryside, where He spent time with them and baptized. ²³John ^valso was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People were coming and being baptized, ²⁴since John had not yet been thrown into prison. ^w

²⁵Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples ^xand a Jew ^yabout purification. ^z26So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, ^athe One you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, ^bis baptizing—and everyone is flocking to Him.” ^c

²⁷John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah, ^dbut I’ve been sent ahead of Him.’ ^e29He who has the bride ^fis the groom. But the groom’s friend, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ^gat the groom’s voice. So this joy ^hof mine is complete. ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.”

The One from Heaven

³¹The One who comes from above ⁱis above all. The one who is from the earth is earthly and speaks in earthly terms. ^jThe One who comes from heaven is above all. ^k32He testifies ^lto what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony. ³³The one who has accepted His testimony has affirmed that God is true. ^m34For God sent Him, and He speaks God’s words, since He ⁿgives the Spirit ^owithout measure. ³⁵The Father loves the Son ^pand has given all things into His hands. ^q36The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who refuses to believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him. ^r

Jesus and the Samaritan Woman

4When Jesus ^sknew that the Pharisees ^theard He was making ^uand baptizing more disciples than John ^v2(though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, but His disciples were), ³He left Judea ^wand went again to Galilee. ^x4He had to travel through Samaria, ^y5so He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar near the property ^zthat Jacob ^ahad given his son Joseph. ^b6Jacob’s well ^cwas there, and Jesus, worn out from His journey, sat down at the well. It was about six in the evening. ^d

⁷A woman of Samaria came to draw water. ^e

“Give Me a drink,” Jesus said to her, ⁸for His disciples had gone into town to buy food.

⁹“How is it that You, a Jew, ^fask for a drink from me, a Samaritan ^gwoman?” she asked Him. For Jews do not associate with ^hSamaritans. ⁱ

¹⁰Jesus answered, “If you knew the gift of God, ^jand who is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would ask Him, and He would give you living water.” ^k

¹¹“Sir,” ^lsaid the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’? ¹²You aren’t greater than our father Jacob, ^mare You? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and livestock.”

¹³Jesus said, “Everyone who drinks from this water will get thirsty again. ¹⁴But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again—ever! ⁿIn fact, the water I will give him will become a well ^opof water springing up within him for eternal life.” ^q

¹⁵“Sir,” the woman said to Him, “give me this water so I won’t get thirsty and come here to draw water.”

¹⁶“Go call your husband,” He told her, “and come back here.”

¹⁷“I don’t have a husband,” she answered.

“You have correctly said, ‘I don’t have a husband,’ ” Jesus said. ¹⁸“For you’ve had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”

¹⁹“Sir,” the woman replied, “I see that You are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, ^rsyet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” ^t

²¹Jesus told her, “Believe Me, ^•woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You Samaritans ^uworship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. ^v23But an hour is coming, and is now here, ^wwhen the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. ²⁴God is spirit, ^xand those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” ^y

²⁵The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah ^zais coming” (who is called Christ ^b). “When He comes, He will explain everything to us.”

²⁶“I am He,” ^cJesus told her, “the One speaking to you.”

The Ripened Harvest

²⁷Just then His disciples arrived, and they were amazed that He was talking with a woman. Yet no one said, “What do You want?” or “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸Then the woman left her water jar, went into town, and told the men, ²⁹“Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could this be the Messiah?” ^d30They left the town and made their way to Him. ^e

³¹In the meantime the disciples kept urging Him, “Rabbi, ^feat something.”

³²But He…