1 Um homem chamado Lázaro estava doente. Ele morava em Betânia com suas irmãs, Maria e Marta. 2 Foi Maria, a irmã de Lázaro, que mais tarde derramou perfume caro nos pés do Senhor e os enxugou com os cabelos. 3 As duas irmãs enviaram um recado a Jesus, dizendo: "Senhor, seu amigo querido está muito doente".

4 Quando Jesus ouviu isso, disse: "A doença de Lázaro não acabará em morte. Ela aconteceu para a glória de Deus, para que o Filho de Deus receba glória por meio dela". 5 Jesus amava Marta, Maria e Lázaro. 6 Ouvindo, portanto, que Lázaro estava doente, ficou mais dois dias onde estava. 7 Depois, disse a seus discípulos: "Vamos voltar para a Judeia".

8 Os discípulos se opuseram, dizendo: "Rabi, apenas alguns dias atrás o povo da Judeia tentou apedrejá-lo. Ainda assim, o senhor vai voltar para lá?".

9 Jesus respondeu: "Há doze horas de claridade todos os dias. Durante o dia, as pessoas podem andar com segurança. Conseguem enxergar, pois têm a luz deste mundo. 10 À noite, porém, correm o risco de tropeçar, pois não há luz". 11 E acrescentou: "Nosso amigo Lázaro adormeceu, mas agora vou despertá-lo".

12 Os discípulos disseram: "Senhor, se ele dorme é porque logo vai melhorar!". 13 Pensavam que Jesus falava apenas do repouso do sono, mas ele se referia à morte de Lázaro.

14 Então ele disse claramente: "Lázaro está morto. 15 E, por causa de vocês, eu me alegro por não ter estado lá, pois agora vocês vão crer de fato. Venham, vamos até ele".

16 Tomé, apelidado de Gêmeo, disse aos outros discípulos: "Vamos até lá também para morrer com Jesus".

17 Quando Jesus chegou a Betânia, disseram-lhe que Lázaro estava no túmulo havia quatro dias. 18 Betânia ficava a cerca de três quilômetros de Jerusalém, 19 e muitos moradores da região tinham vindo consolar Marta e Maria pela perda do irmão. 20 Quando Marta soube que Jesus estava chegando, foi ao seu encontro. Maria, porém, ficou em casa. 21 Marta disse a Jesus: "Se o Senhor estivesse aqui, meu irmão não teria morrido. 22 Mas sei que, mesmo agora, Deus lhe dará tudo que pedir".

23 Jesus lhe disse: "Seu irmão vai ressuscitar".

24 "Sim", respondeu Marta. "Ele vai ressuscitar quando todos ressuscitarem, no último dia."

25 Então Jesus disse: "Eu sou a ressurreição e a vida. Quem crê em mim viverá, mesmo depois de morrer. 26 Quem vive e crê em mim jamais morrerá. Você crê nisso, Marta?".

27 "Sim, Senhor", respondeu ela. "Eu creio que o senhor é o Cristo, o Filho de Deus, aquele que veio ao mundo da parte de Deus." 28 Em seguida, voltou para casa. Chamou Maria à parte e disse: "O Mestre está aqui e quer ver você". 29 Maria se levantou de imediato e foi até ele.

30 Jesus tinha ficado fora do povoado, no lugar onde Marta havia se encontrado com ele. 31 Quando as pessoas que estavam na casa viram Maria sair apressadamente, imaginaram que ela ia ao túmulo de Lázaro chorar e a seguiram. 32 Assim que chegou ao lugar onde Jesus estava e o viu, caiu a seus pés e disse: "Se o Senhor estivesse aqui, meu irmão não teria morrido".

33 Quando Jesus viu Maria chorar, e o povo também, sentiu profunda indignação e grande angústia. 34 "Onde vocês o colocaram?", perguntou.

Eles responderam: "Senhor, venha e veja". 35 Jesus chorou. 36 As pessoas que estavam por perto disseram: "Vejam como ele o amava!". 37 Outros, porém, disseram: "Este homem curou um cego. Não poderia ter impedido que Lázaro morresse?".

38 Jesus, sentindo-se novamente indignado, chegou ao túmulo, uma gruta com uma pedra fechando a entrada. 39 "Rolem a pedra para o lado", ordenou.

"Senhor, ele está morto há quatro dias", disse Marta, a irmã do falecido. "O mau cheiro será terrível."

40 Jesus respondeu: "Eu não lhe disse que, se você cresse, veria a glória de Deus?". 41 Então rolaram a pedra para o lado. Jesus olhou para o céu e disse: "Pai, eu te agradeço porque me ouviste. 42 Tu sempre me ouves, mas eu disse isso por causa de todas as pessoas que estão aqui, para que elas creiam que tu me enviaste". 43 Então Jesus gritou: "Lázaro, venha para fora!". 44 E o morto saiu, com as mãos e os pés presos com faixas e o rosto envolto num pano. Jesus disse: "Desamarrem as faixas e deixem-no ir!".

45 Muitos dos judeus que estavam com Maria creram em Jesus quando viram isso. 46 Alguns, no entanto, foram aos fariseus e contaram o que Jesus tinha feito. 47 Então os principais sacerdotes e fariseus reuniram o conselho dos líderes do povo. "Que vamos fazer?", perguntavam uns aos outros. "Sem dúvida, este homem realiza muitos sinais. 48 Se permitirmos que continue assim, logo todos crerão nele. Então o exército romano virá e destruirá nosso templo e nossa nação."

49 Caifás, o sumo sacerdote naquele ano, disse: "Vocês não sabem o que estão dizendo! 50 Não percebem que é melhor para vocês que um homem morra pelo povo em vez de a nação inteira ser destruída?".

51 Não disse isso por si mesmo, mas, sendo o sumo sacerdote naquele ano, profetizou que Jesus morreria pela nação inteira. 52 E não apenas por aquela nação, mas para reunir em um só corpo todos os filhos de Deus espalhados ao redor do mundo.

53 Daquele dia em diante, começaram a tramar a morte de Jesus. 54 Por essa razão, Jesus parou de andar no meio do povo. Foi para um lugar próximo do deserto, para o povoado de Efraim, onde permaneceu com seus discípulos.

55 Faltava pouco tempo para a festa judaica da Páscoa, e muita gente de toda a região chegou a Jerusalém para participar da cerimônia de purificação, antes que a Páscoa começasse. 56 Continuavam procurando Jesus e, estando eles no templo, perguntavam uns aos outros: "O que vocês acham? Será que ele virá para a Páscoa?". 57 Enquanto isso, os principais sacerdotes e fariseus deram ordem para que, se alguém soubesse onde Jesus estava, o denunciasse de imediato, a fim de que o prendessem.

1 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 Mary was the woman who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Lazarus was the one who was ill.

3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, saying, "Lord, the one whom you love is ill."

4 But when Jesus heard it, he said,"This illness is not meant to end in death. It is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it."

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

6 Yet, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed where he was for two days.

7 After this he said to the disciples,"Let's go back to Judea."

8 The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you to death, and you are going back there again?"

9 Jesus replied,"There are twelve hours in the day, aren't there? If anyone walks during the day he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if anyone walks at night he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

11 These were the things he said. Then after this he told them,"Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am leaving to wake him up."

12 So the disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well."

13 Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was speaking about resting or sleeping.

14 Then Jesus told them plainly,"Lazarus has died.

15 For your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let's go to him."

16 Then Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let's go, too, so that we may die with him!"

17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away,

19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.

20 As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home.

21 Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

22 But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give it to you."

23 Jesus told her,"Your brother will rise again."

24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."

25 Jesus said to her,"I am the resurrection and the life.The person who believes in me, even though he dies, will live.

26 Indeed, everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe that?"

27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who was to come into the world."

28 When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you!"

29 As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet arrived at the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him.

31 When the Jews who had been with her, consoling her in the house, saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, thinking that she had gone to the tomb to cry there.

32 As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was greatly troubled in spirit and deeply moved.

34 He said,"Where have you put him?"They said to him, "Lord, come and see."

35 Jesus burst into tears.

36 So the Jews said, "See how much he loved him!"

37 But some of them said, "Surely the one who opened the eyes of the blind man could have kept this man from dying, couldn't he?"

38 Groaning deeply again, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.

39 Jesus said,"Remove the stone."Martha, the dead man's sister, told him, "Lord, there must be a stench by now, because he's been dead for four days."

40 Jesus said to her,"I told you that if you believed you would see God's glory, didn't I?"

41 So they removed the stone.Then Jesus looked upward and said,"Father, I thank you for hearing me.

42 I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."

43 After saying this, he shouted with a loud voice,"Lazarus, come out!"

44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet tied with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a handkerchief. Jesus told them,"Untie him, and let him go."

45 Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and had observed what Jesus did believed in him.

46 Some of them, however, went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

47 So the high priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council and said, "What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs.

48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our temple and our nation."

49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, told them, "You don't know anything!

50 You don't realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed."

51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

52 and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

53 So from that day on they resolved to put him to death.

54 As a result, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews. Instead, he went from there to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness. There he remained with his disciples.

55 Now the Jewish Passover was approaching, and before the Passover many people from the countryside went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves.

56 They kept looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? Surely he won't come to the festival, will he?"

57 Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where he was should tell them so that they could arrest him.