John 5:9–18

⁹At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,^{x 10}and so the Jewish leaders^y said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”^z

¹¹But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

¹²So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

¹³The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

¹⁴Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning^a or something worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵The man went away and told the Jewish leaders^b that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁶So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. ¹⁷In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father^c is always at his work^d to this very day, and I too am working.” ¹⁸For this reason they tried all the more to kill him;^e not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.^f