John 9:1–23

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi,^p who sinned,^q this man^r or his parents,^s that he was born blind?”

³“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.^{t 4}As long as it is day,^u we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”^v

⁶After saying this, he spit^w on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷“Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam”^x (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.^y

⁸His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”^{z 9}Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰“How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”^a

¹²“Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.^{b 15}Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.^c “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”^d

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?”^e So they were divided.^f

¹⁷Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”^g

¹⁸They^h still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹“Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰“We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,ⁱ who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out^j of the synagogue.^{k 23}That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”^l