You Must Be Born Again

1Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; 2this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these [†]signs that You do unless God is with him.” 3Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born [†]again 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, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born [†]again.’ 8The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

9Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and bear witness of what we have seen, and you do not accept our witness. 12If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13And no one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

16“For God [†]so loved the world, that He gave His [†]only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the [†]only begotten Son of God. 19And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light lest his deeds be exposed. 21But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been done by God.”

John the Baptist’s Last Witness

22After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. 23And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized— 24for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

25Therefore there arose a debate between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification. 26And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” 27John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28You yourselves [†]are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the [†]Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ 29He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30He must increase, but I must decrease.

31“He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32What He has seen and heard, of that He bears witness; and no one receives His witness. 33He who has received His witness has set his seal to this, that God is true. 34For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; [†]for He gives the Spirit without measure. 35The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 36He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not [†]obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”