1 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.  * 5:1 Mt 23:372 By the Sheep Gate  * 5:2 Neh 3:1,32; 12:39 in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda  * 5:2 Some mss read Bethzatha; other mss read Bethsaida in Aramaic, which has five colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of the disabled — blind, lame, and paralyzed.  * 5:3 Some mss include vv. 3b-4:— waiting for the moving of the water, 4because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.

5 One man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and realized he had already been there a long time,  * 5:6 Is 46:10; Zch 14:7; Jn 5:6; 6:6; 8:14; 9:3; 11:11–15; 13:1–3,11 he said to him, "Do you want to get well? "

7 "Sir,"  * 5:7 Lk 10:1 the disabled man answered, "I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I’m coming, someone goes down ahead of me."

8 "Get up," Jesus told him, "pick up your mat and walk."9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.

Now that day was the Sabbath,  * 5:9 Mk 2:2310 and so the Jews  * 5:10 Jn 11:36 said to the man who had been healed, "This is the Sabbath.  * 5:10 Lk 14:3 The law prohibits you from picking up your mat."

11 He replied, "The man who made me well  * 5:11 Ti 2:8 told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’  "

12 "Who is this man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’? " they asked. 13 But the man who was healed did not know who it was,  * 5:13 Jn 7:28 because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.  * 5:13 Lit slipped away, there being a crowd in that place

14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple  * 5:14 Ac 21:26 and said to him, "See, you are well. Do not sin anymore, so that something worse doesn’t happen to you."15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.  * 5:15 Ti 2:816 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting  * 5:16 Lk 6:28; 2Tm 3:12 Jesus  * 5:16 Other mss add and trying to kill him because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.  * 5:16 Lk 13:10

17 Jesus responded to them, "My Father* 5:17 Mt 5:16; 11:27; Jn 8:42is still working, and I am working also."18 This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him:  * 5:18 Mt 12:14; 26:4; 27:1; Mk 3:6; 14:1; Lk 6:11; Jn 7:1,19; 10:33; 11:53 Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

19 Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father* 5:19 Lit whatever that onedoes, the Son likewise does these things.* 5:19 Jn 3:35; 6:38; 7:16,28; 8:26–42; 10:18,30,36–38; 12:49–50; 14:9,24,31; 15:9–10; 16:15; 17:9–1020 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works* 5:20 Heb 3:9; Rv 15:3than these so that you will be amazed.21 And just as the Father raises* 5:21 Mk 9:27; Jn 2:19the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom he wants.* 5:21 Jn 11:25–2622 The Father,* 5:22 Mt 11:27in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,23 so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.* 5:23 Jn 15:23Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.* 5:23 Lk 10:16

24 "Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life* 5:24 Jn 6:53; 12:25; Ac 13:48; 1Jn 2:25and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

25 "Truly I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here,* 5:25 Jn 4:23when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.* 5:25 Php 1:2126 For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son* 5:26 Jn 5:19; Col 1:19to have life in himself.27 And he has granted him the right to pass judgment,* 5:27 2Th 1:5because he is the Son of Man.* 5:27 Mk 2:10; Heb 2:6; Rv 1:13; 14:1428 Do not be amazed at this, because a time is coming when all who are in the graves will hear his voice 29 and come out — those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

30 "I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment* 5:30 Mt 12:41; 2Th 1:5is just,* 5:30 Mt 6:33; Jn 8:16because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.* 5:30 Mt 26:39; Jn 4:34; 6:38; 7:16–18; 8:28; 14:10; Rm 8:27; Eph 1:9

31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.32 There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.* 5:32 1Jn 5:2033 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.* 5:33 Ps 119:142; Jn 14:634 I don’t receive human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved.35 John* 5:35 Lit That man,* 5:35 Mk 1:4was a burning and shining lamp,* 5:35 2Sm 21:17; Mt 5:14–15; Lk 12:35; 2Pt 1:19; Rv 21:23and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.* 5:35 Ps 36:9; Jn 12:46

36 "But I have a greater testimony than John’s because of the works that the Father has given me to accomplish.* 5:36 Jn 15:24These very works I am doing testify about me that the Father has sent* 5:36 Mk 9:37; Jn 1:6,33me.37 The Father who sent me has himself testified* 5:37 1Jn 5:9about me. You have not heard his voice at any time, and you haven’t seen his form.* 5:37 Ex 33:11; Dt 4:12; Is 6:1; Lk 3:22; Jn 1:18; 6:46–47; 14:9; 1Tm 1:1738 You don’t have his word residing in you, because you don’t believe the one he sent.39 You pore over the Scriptures* 5:39 Mt 26:54; 2Pt 1:20because you think you have eternal life in them, and yet they testify about me.* 5:39 Lk 24:27,44; Ac 13:2740 But you are not willing* 5:40 Lk 13:34to come to me* 5:40 Lk 14:26so that you may have life.

41 "I do not accept glory* 5:41 Jn 17:24; Php 3:19; 1Pt 5:4from people,42 but I know you — that you have no love for God* 5:42 Lk 10:27; 11:42; 1Jn 4:20within you.43 I have come in my Father’s name,* 5:43 Jn 10:25; 14:13; Ac 15:14; Rv 14:1and yet you don’t accept me.* 5:43 Mk 4:16; Jn 1:12; 12:48; 13:20; 17:8If someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.44 How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don’t seek the glory that comes from the only* 5:44 Dt 6:4; Jn 17:3; Rm 3:30; 16:27; 1Tm 1:17; 6:15–16; Jd 25; Rv 15:4God?* 5:44 1Th 2:445 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses,* 5:45 Ps 77:20; Mt 8:4; Heb 3:2on whom you have set your hope.46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.47 But if you don’t believe what he wrote,* 5:47 Mt 26:54; Rm 1:2how will you believe my words? "* 5:47 Lk 16:29–31