John 2–4

Chapter 2

Miracle at Cana

¹On ^athe third day there was a wedding in ^bCana of Galilee, and the ^cmother of Jesus was there;

²and both Jesus and His ^adisciples were invited to the wedding.

³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.”

⁴And Jesus said to her, “^aWoman, ^1bwhat does that have to do with us? ^cMy hour has not yet come.”

⁵His ^amother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

⁶Now there were six stone waterpots set there ^afor the Jewish custom of purification, containing ¹twenty or thirty gallons each.

⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.

⁸And He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the ¹headwaiter.” So they took it to him.

⁹When the headwaiter tasted the water ^awhich had become wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom,

¹⁰and said to him, “Every man serves the good wine first, and when the people ^ahave ¹drunk freely, then he serves the poorer wine; but you have kept the good wine until now.”

¹¹This beginning of His ^1asigns Jesus did in Cana of ^bGalilee, and manifested His ^cglory, and His disciples believed in Him.

¹²After this He went down to ^aCapernaum, He and His ^bmother and His brothers and His ^cdisciples; and they stayed there a few days.

First Passover—Cleansing the Temple

^13aThe Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus ^bwent up to Jerusalem.

^14aAnd He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables.

¹⁵And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

¹⁶and to those who were selling ^athe doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making ^bMy Father’s house a ¹place of business.”

¹⁷His ^adisciples remembered that it was written, “^bZeal for Your house will consume me.”

^18aThe Jews then said to Him, “^bWhat sign do You show us ¹as your authority for doing these things?”

¹⁹Jesus answered them, “^aDestroy this ¹temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

^20aThe Jews then said, “It took ^bforty-six years to build this ¹temple, and will You raise it up in three days?”

²¹But He was speaking of ^athe ¹temple of His body.

²²So when He was raised from the dead, His ^adisciples ^bremembered that He said this; and they believed ^cthe Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

²³Now when He was in Jerusalem at ^athe Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, ^bobserving His signs which He was doing.

²⁴But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for ^aHe knew all men,

²⁵and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, ^afor He Himself knew what was in man.

Chapter 3

The New Birth

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named ^aNicodemus, a ^bruler of the Jews;

²this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “^aRabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these ^1bsigns that You do unless ^cGod is with him.”

³Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one ^ais born ¹again he cannot see ^bthe kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of ^awater and the Spirit he cannot enter into ^bthe kingdom of God.

⁶“^aThat which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born ¹again.’

⁸“^aThe wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?”

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you ^athe teacher of Israel and do not understand these things?

¹¹“Truly, truly, I say to you, ^awe speak of what we know and ^btestify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony.

¹²“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?

¹³“^aNo one has ascended into heaven, but ^bHe who descended from heaven: ^cthe Son of Man.

¹⁴“As ^aMoses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must ^bthe Son of Man ^cbe lifted up;

¹⁵so that whoever ¹believes will ^ain Him have eternal life.

¹⁶“For God so ^aloved the world, that He ^bgave His ^1conly begotten Son, that whoever ^dbelieves in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

¹⁷“For God ^adid not send the Son into the world ^bto judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

¹⁸“^aHe who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^bthe ¹only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹“This is the judgment, that ^athe Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for ^btheir deeds were evil.

²⁰“^aFor everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.

²¹“But he who ^apractices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”

John’s Last Testimony

²²After these things Jesus and His ^adisciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and ^bbaptizing.

²³John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized—

²⁴for ^aJohn had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about ^apurification.

²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “^aRabbi, He who was with you ^bbeyond the Jordan, to whom you ^chave testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.”

²⁷John answered and said, “^aA man can receive nothing unless it ^bhas been given him from heaven.

²⁸“You yourselves ¹are my witnesses that I said, ‘^aI am not the ²Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’

²⁹“He who has the bride is ^athe bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this ^bjoy of mine has been made full.

³⁰“He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹“^aHe who comes from above is above all, ^bhe who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

³²“What He has seen and heard, of that He ^atestifies; and no one receives His testimony.

³³“He who has received His testimony ^ahas set his seal to this, that God is true.

³⁴“For He whom God has ^asent speaks the words of God; ^1bfor He gives the Spirit without measure.

³⁵“^aThe Father loves the Son and ^bhas given all things into His hand.

³⁶“He who ^abelieves in the Son has eternal life; but he who ^bdoes not ¹obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

Chapter 4

Jesus Goes to Galilee

¹Therefore when ^athe Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and ^bbaptizing more disciples than John

²(although ^aJesus Himself was not baptizing, but His ^bdisciples were),

³He left ^aJudea and went away ^bagain into Galilee.

⁴And He had to pass through ^aSamaria.

⁵So He came to a city of ^aSamaria called Sychar, near ^bthe parcel of ground that ^cJacob gave to his son Joseph;

⁶and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, being wearied from His journey, was sitting thus by the well. It was about ¹the sixth hour.

The Woman of Samaria

⁷There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.”

⁸For His ^adisciples had gone away into ^bthe city to buy food.

⁹Therefore the ^aSamaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For ^bJews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you ^aliving water.”

¹¹She said to Him, “¹Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that ^aliving water?

¹²“You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who ^agave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?”

¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again;

¹⁴but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^ashall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to ^beternal life.”

¹⁵The woman said to Him, “¹Sir, ^agive me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.”

¹⁶He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.”

¹⁷The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’;

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.”

¹⁹The woman said to Him, “¹Sir, I perceive that You are ^aa prophet.

²⁰“^aOur fathers worshiped in ^bthis mountain, and you people say that ^cin Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.”

²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, ^aan hour is coming when ^bneither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

²²“^aYou worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for ^bsalvation is from the Jews.

²³“But ^aan hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^bin spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

²⁴“God is ¹spirit, and those who worship Him must worship ^ain spirit and truth.”

²⁵The woman said to Him, “I know that ^aMessiah is coming (^bHe who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.”

²⁶Jesus said to her, “^aI who speak to you am He.”

²⁷At this point His ^adisciples came, and they were amazed that He had been speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why do You speak with her?”

²⁸So the woman left…