John 11:38–53

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved,^f came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.^{g 39}“Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”^h

⁴⁰Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe,ⁱ you will see the glory of God?”^j

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up^k and said, “Father,^l I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here,^m that they may believe that you sent me.”ⁿ

⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”^{o 44}The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen,^p and a cloth around his face.^q

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary,^r and had seen what Jesus did,^s believed in him.^{t 46}But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees^u called a meeting^v of the Sanhedrin.^w

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs.^{x 48}If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹Then one of them, named Caiaphas,^y who was high priest that year,^z spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”^a

⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵²and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.^{b 53}So from that day on they plotted to take his life.^c