John 5:1–18

The Third Sign: Healing the Sick

5After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ⁿ²By the Sheep Gate ^oin Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda ^pin Hebrew, which has five colonnades. ^q3Within these lay a large number of the sick—blind, lame, and paralyzed [—waiting for the moving of the water, ⁴because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had]. ^r

⁵One man was there who had been sick for 38 years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, ^sHe said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

⁷“Sir,” ^tthe sick man answered, “I don’t have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me.”

⁸“Get up,” Jesus told him, “pick up your mat and walk!” ⁹Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath, ^u10so the Jews ^vsaid to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath! ^wIt’s illegal for you to pick up your mat.”

¹¹He replied, “The man who made me well ^xtold me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹²“Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?” they asked. ¹³But the man who was cured did not know who it was, ^ybecause Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. ^z

¹⁴After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex ^aand said to him, “See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you.” ¹⁵The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ^b

Honoring the Father and the Son

¹⁶Therefore, the Jews began persecuting ^cJesus ^dbecause He was doing these things on the Sabbath. ^e17But Jesus responded to them, “My Father ^fis still working, and I am working also.” ¹⁸This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill Him: ^gNot only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.