3Now there was a man of the Pharisees whose name was^a Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to him at night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are^* a teacher who has come from God, for no one is able to perform these signs that you are performing unless God were with him.” ³Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born from above,^b he is not able to see the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is an old man? He is not able to enter into his mother’s womb for the second time and be born, can he?”^*

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless someone is born of water and spirit, he is not able to enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘It is necessary for you to be born from above.’^c ⁸The wind blows wherever it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to him, “How can these things be?”

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John 3:3: Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Footnotes

aLiterally “the name to him”
*Here both the pronoun and verb are understood in Greek and are supplied in the translation
bThe same Greek word can mean either “from above” or “again,” which allows for the misunderstanding by Nicodemus here; Jesus was speaking of new birth “from above,” while Nicodemus misunderstood him to mean a second physical birth
*The negative construction in Greek anticipates a negative answer here, indicated in the translation by the phrase “can he”
cThe same Greek word can mean either “from above” or “again” (see also v. 3)