John 3–4

Christ Witnesses to Nicodemus

3There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ^2aThis man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for ^bno one can do these signs that You do unless ^cGod is with him.”

³Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^dunless one is born ¹again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

⁴Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, ^eunless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is ^fflesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ ^8gThe wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to Him, ^h“How can these things be?”

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? ¹¹ⁱMost assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and ^jyou do not receive Our witness. ¹²If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13kNo one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man ²who is in heaven. ^14lAnd as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so ^mmust the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever ⁿbelieves in Him should ³not perish but ^ohave eternal life. ^16pFor God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten ^qSon, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. ^17rFor God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

^18s“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the condemnation, ^tthat the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. ²⁰For ^ueveryone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. ²¹But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been ^vdone in God.”

John the Baptist Witnesses Concerning Christ

²²After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them ^wand baptized. ²³Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near ^xSalim, because there was much water there. ^yAnd they came and were baptized. ²⁴For ^zJohn had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, ^ato whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all ^bare coming to Him!”

²⁷John answered and said, ^c“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ^d‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ^e‘I have been sent before Him.’ ^29fHe who has the bride is the bridegroom; but ^gthe friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. ^30hHe must increase, but I must decrease. ³¹ⁱHe who comes from above ^jis above all; ^khe who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. ^lHe who comes from heaven is above all. ³²And ^mwhat He has seen and heard, that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. ³³He who has received His testimony ⁿhas certified that God is true. ^34oFor He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit ^pby measure. ^35qThe Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand. ^36rHe who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the ^swrath of God abides on him.”

Christ Witnesses to the Woman at the Well

4Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and ^abaptized more disciples than John ²(though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), ³He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. ⁴But He needed to go through Samaria.

⁵So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that ^bJacob ^cgave to his son Joseph. ⁶Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” ⁸For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.

⁹Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?” For ^dJews have no dealings with ^eSamaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the ^fgift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you ^gliving water.”

¹¹The woman said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? ¹²Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?”

¹³Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, ¹⁴but ^hwhoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him ⁱwill become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.”

^15jThe woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”

¹⁷The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

¹⁹The woman said to Him, “Sir, ^kI perceive that You are a prophet. ²⁰Our fathers worshiped on ^lthis mountain, and you Jews say that in ^mJerusalem is the place where one ought to worship.”

²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming ⁿwhen you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. ²²You worship ^owhat you do not know; we know what we worship, for ^psalvation is of the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will ^qworship the Father in ^rspirit ^sand truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. ^24tGod is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

²⁵The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah ^uis coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, ^vHe will tell us all things.”

²⁶Jesus said to her, ^w“I who speak to you am He.”

Christ Witnesses to the Disciples

²⁷And at this point His disciples came, and they marveled that He talked with a woman; yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You talking with her?”

²⁸The woman then left her waterpot, went her way into the city, and said to the men, ²⁹“Come, see a Man ^xwho told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” ³⁰Then they went out of the city and came to Him.

³¹In the meantime His disciples urged Him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”

³²But He said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.”

³³Therefore the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him anything to eat?”

³⁴Jesus said to them, ^y“My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to ^zfinish His work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are still four months and then comes ^athe harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, ^bfor they are already white for harvest! ^36cAnd he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that ^dboth he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. ³⁷For in this the saying is true: ^e‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; ^fothers have labored, and you have entered into their labors.”

Christ Witnesses to the Samaritans

³⁹And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him ^gbecause of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of His own ^hword.

⁴²Then they said to the woman, “Now we believe, not because of what you said, for ⁱwe ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed ¹the Christ, the Savior of the world.”

Christ is Received by the Galileans

⁴³Now after the two days He departed from there and went to Galilee. ⁴⁴For ^jJesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. ⁴⁵So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, ^khaving seen all the things He did in Jerusalem at the feast; ^lfor they also had gone to the feast.

Christ Heals the Nobleman’s Son

⁴⁶So Jesus came again to Cana of Galilee ^mwhere He had made the water wine. And there was a certain ²nobleman whose son was sick at Capernaum. ⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come out of Judea into Galilee, he went to Him and implored Him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸Then Jesus said to him, ⁿ“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.”

⁴⁹The nobleman said to Him, “Sir, come down before my child dies!”

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” So the man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went his way. ⁵¹And as he was now going down, his servants met him and told him, saying, “Your son lives!”

⁵²Then he inquired of them the hour when he got better. And they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.” ⁵³So the father knew that it was at the same hour in which Jesus said to him, “Your son lives.” And he himself…