John 9:1–23

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man who had been born blind. ²His followers asked him, “Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind—his own sin or his parents’ sin?”

³Jesus answered, “It is not this man’s sin or his parents’ sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God’s power could be shown in him. ⁴While it is daytime, we must continue doing the work of the One who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

⁶After Jesus said this, he spit on the ground and made some mud with it and put the mud on the man’s eyes. ⁷Then he told the man, “Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam.” (Siloam means Sent.) So the man went, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸The neighbors and some people who had earlier seen this man begging said, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some said, “He is the one,” but others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

The man himself said, “I am the man.”

¹⁰They asked, “How did you get your sight?”

¹¹He answered, “The man named Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. Then he told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

¹²They asked him, “Where is this man?”

“I don’t know,” he answered.

Pharisees Question the Healing

¹³Then the people took to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴The day Jesus had made mud and healed his eyes was a Sabbath day. ¹⁵So now the Pharisees asked the man, “How did you get your sight?”

He answered, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶So some of the Pharisees were saying, “This man does not keep the Sabbath day, so he is not from God.”

But others said, “A man who is a sinner can’t do miracles like these.” So they could not agree with each other.

¹⁷They asked the man again, “What do you say about him since it was your eyes he opened?”

The man answered, “He is a prophet.”

¹⁸These leaders did not believe that he had been blind and could now see again. So they sent for the man’s parents ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son who you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?”

²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. ²¹But we don’t know how he can now see. We don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough to speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the elders, who had already decided that anyone who said Jesus was the Christ would be avoided. ²³That is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”