| New Living Translation | NET Bible |
| 1Afterward Jesus returned to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish holy days. | 1After this there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. |
| 2Inside the city, near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. | 2Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five covered walkways. |
| 3Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. | 3A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways. |
| 5One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. | 5Now a man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. |
| 6When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, “Would you like to get well?” | 6When Jesus saw him lying there and when he realized that the man had been disabled a long time already, he said to him, "Do you want to become well?" |
| 7“I can’t, sir,” the sick man said, “for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up. Someone else always gets there ahead of me.” | 7The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, someone else goes down there before me." |
| 8Jesus told him, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!” | 8Jesus said to him, "Stand up! Pick up your mat and walk." |
| 9Instantly, the man was healed! He rolled up his sleeping mat and began walking! But this miracle happened on the Sabbath, | 9Immediately the man was healed, and he picked up his mat and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.) |
| 10so the Jewish leaders objected. They said to the man who was cured, “You can’t work on the Sabbath! The law doesn’t allow you to carry that sleeping mat!” | 10So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat." |
| 11But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’” | 11But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'" |
| 12“Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. | 12They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Pick up your mat and walk'?" |
| 13The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. | 13But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place. |
| 14But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.” | 14After this Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "Look, you have become well. Don't sin any more, lest anything worse happen to you." |
| 15Then the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had healed him. Jesus Claims to Be the Son of God | 15The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well. |
| 16So the Jewish leaders began harassing Jesus for breaking the Sabbath rules. | 16Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him. |
| 17But Jesus replied, “My Father is always working, and so am I.” | 17So he told them, "My Father is working until now, and I too am working." |
| 18So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God. | 18For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God. |
| 19So Jesus explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. | 19So Jesus answered them, "I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. |
| 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished. | 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed. |
| 21 For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants. | 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. |
| 22 In addition, the Father judges no one. Instead, he has given the Son absolute authority to judge, | 22Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, |
| 23 so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him. | 23so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. |
| 24 “I tell you the truth, those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life. They will never be condemned for their sins, but they have already passed from death into life. | 24"I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life. |
| 25 “And I assure you that the time is coming, indeed it’s here now, when the dead will hear my voice—the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live. | 25I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming--and is now here--when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. |
| 26 The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son. | 26For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, |
| 27 And he has given him authority to judge everyone because he is the Son of Man. | 27and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. |
| 28 Don’t be so surprised! Indeed, the time is coming when all the dead in their graves will hear the voice of God’s Son, | 28"Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice |
| 29 and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment. | 29and will come out--the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation. |
| 30 I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will. Witnesses to Jesus | 30I can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. |
| 31 “If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid. | 31"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. |
| 32 But someone else is also testifying about me, and I assure you that everything he says about me is true. | 32There is another who testifies about me, and I know the testimony he testifies about me is true. |
| 33 In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true. | 33You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. |
| 34 Of course, I have no need of human witnesses, but I say these things so you might be saved. | 34(I do not accept human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.) |
| 35 John was like a burning and shining lamp, and you were excited for a while about his message. | 35He was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time in his light. |
| 36 But I have a greater witness than John—my teachings and my miracles. The Father gave me these works to accomplish, and they prove that he sent me. | 36"But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds that the Father has assigned me to complete--the deeds I am now doing--testify about me that the Father has sent me. |
| 37 And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face, | 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, |
| 38 and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you. | 38nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. |
| 39 “You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! | 39You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me, |
| 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life. | 40but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life. |
| 41 “Your approval means nothing to me, | 41"I do not accept praise from people, |
| 42 because I know you don’t have God’s love within you. | 42but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you. |
| 43 For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them. | 43I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me. If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. |
| 44 No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God. | 44How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don't seek the praise that comes from the only God? |
| 45 “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes. | 45"Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. |
| 46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. | 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. |
| 47 But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?” | 47But if you do not believe what Moses wrote, how will you believe my words?" |
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