³Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He came to Jesus^q by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”^* ³Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”^r^* ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.^* ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You^s must be born from above.’^t ⁸The wind^u blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”^* ⁹Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”^* ¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you^v do not receive our testimony.^* ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^w^* ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,^* ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.^x^*

¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.^*

¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.^* ¹⁸Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.^* ¹⁹And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.^* ²⁰For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.^* ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”^y^*

Read in Logos

John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Footnotes

qGk him
rOr born anew
sThe Greek word for you here is plural
tOr born anew
uThe same Greek word means both wind and spirit
vThe Greek word for you here and in 3:12 is plural
wOther ancient authorities add who is in heaven
xSome interpreters hold that the quotation concludes with 3:15
ySome interpreters hold that the quotation concludes with 3:15

Cross references

*Jn 9:16, 33; Acts 2:22; 10:38
*Titus 3:5; Jas 1:18; 1 Pet 1:23; 1 Jn 3:9
*Eph 5:26; Titus 3:5
*1 Cor 2:11
*Jn 6:52, 60
*Jn 7:16, 17
*Prov 30:4; Acts 2:34; Rom 10:6; Eph 4:9
*Num 21:9; Jn 8:28; 12:34
*v 36; Jn 20:31; 1 Jn 5:11–13
*Rom 5:8; 1 Jn 4:9
*Jn 5:36, 38; 8:15; 12:47; 1 Jn 4:14
*Jn 5:24; 1 Jn 4:9
*Jn 1:4; 8:12
*Eph 5:11, 13
*1 Jn 1:6