John 11

The Death of Lazarus

11Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany,^s the village of Mary and her sister Martha.^{t 2}(This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)^{u 3}So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love^v is sick.”

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory^w so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, ⁷and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”^x

⁸“But Rabbi,”^y they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you,^z and yet you are going back?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.^{a 10}It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

¹¹After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend^b Lazarus has fallen asleep;^c but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹²His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.^d

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas^e (also known as Didymus^a) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

¹⁷On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.^{f 18}Now Bethany^g was less than two miles^b from Jerusalem, ¹⁹and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.^{h 20}When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.ⁱ

²¹“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.^{j 22}But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”^k

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection^l at the last day.”^m

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I amⁿ the resurrection and the life.^o The one who believes^p in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶and whoever lives by believing^q in me will never die.^r Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah,^s the Son of God,^t who is to come into the world.”^u

²⁸After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher^v is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.^{w 31}When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her,^x noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³²When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”^y

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved^z in spirit and troubled.^{a 34}“Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵Jesus wept.^b

³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”^c

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man^d have kept this man from dying?”^e

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

⁵⁴Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea.^d Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,^e many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing^f before the Passover. ⁵⁶They kept looking for Jesus,^g and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” ⁵⁷But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.