who were born, not of blood [natural conception], nor of the will of the flesh [physical impulse], nor of the will of man [that of a natural father], but of God [that is, a divine and supernatural birth—they are born of God—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].

For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ.

This is the testimony of John [the Baptist] when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the [promised] Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

They asked him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John answered them, “I baptize [only] in water, but among you there stands One whom you do not recognize and of whom you know nothing.

And Jesus turned and saw them following Him, and asked them, “What do you want?” They answered Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”

Then He said to them, "Come, and you will see." So, they went and saw where He was staying and they stayed with Him that day. It was about ten o'clock in the morning. [Note: Hour designations in this book are being calculated by Roman time, but this would have been

Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).”

and he brought him to Jesus. Jesus looking on him, said: You are Simon, the son of Jonah; you shall be called Cephas (which, when translated, is Rock).

Nathaniel replied to him, "Can anything worthwhile come from Nazareth?" [Note: Nazareth had a bad reputation and Jewish writings made no prediction of a prophet coming from that area. See John 7:52]. Philip answered him, "Come and see."

Nathanael answered, “Rabbi (Teacher), You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.”

Jesus replied, "Woman, why are you saying this to me? My time has not yet come."

His mother saith unto them who are ministering - Whatsoever he may say to you, do!

and said to him, "{Everyone} serves the good wine first, and whenever they are drunk, the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!"

There in the Temple [area] He found people selling oxen, sheep and pigeons. [i.e., for use as sacrifices]. Also cashiers were sitting there. [Note: These people exchanged foreign coins so visitors to Jerusalem could make purchases and pay taxes].

Then Jesus made a whip out of strands of rope and drove all of the sheep and oxen out of the Temple [area], dumped out the cashiers' money and overturned their tables.

Then the Jews retorted, “What sign (attesting miracle) can You show us as [proof of] your authority for doing these things?”

Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?"

who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), we know [without any doubt] that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs [these wonders, these attesting miracles] that You do unless God is with him.”

Jesus said to him, "Truly, truly, I tell you, a person cannot see the kingdom of God [i.e., enter it. See verse 5], unless he is born from above [Note: The words "from above" are also used in verse 31, but in this place they could also mean "again," or "anew" and refer to the source of a person's second birth].

The wind goes where its pleasure takes it, and the sound of it comes to your ears, but you are unable to say where it comes from and where it goes: so it is with everyone whose birth is from the Spirit.

Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'How are these things able to happen?'

Jesus replied, “You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]?

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony.

If you have no belief when my words are about the things of earth, how will you have belief if my words are about the things of heaven?

This is the judgment [that is, the cause for indictment, the test by which people are judged, the basis for the sentence]: the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.

For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shewn as they are;

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

John [the Immerser] was also immersing people in Aenon, near Salem [Note: These locations are thought to have been in northeastern Judea, near the Jordan River], because there was a lot of water there; so people were coming to be immersed.

and they came unto John, and said to him, 'Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou didst testify, lo, this one is baptizing, and all are coming unto him.'

You yourselves are my witnesses that I stated, ‘I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ but, ‘I have [only] been sent ahead of Him [as His appointed forerunner and messenger to announce and proclaim His coming].’

He who has the bride is the husband: but the husband's friend, whose place is by his side and whose ears are open to him, is full of joy because of the husband's voice: such is my joy, and it is complete.

“He who comes from [heaven] above is above all others; he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks [about things] of the earth [his viewpoint and experience are earthly]. He who comes from heaven is above all.

Then the woman of Samaria said to him: How is it that you, who are a Jew, ask drink of me, who am a woman of Samaria? (For the Jews have no social intercourse with the Samaritans.)

The woman told him, "Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this living water?

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?”

The woman replied, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "Right you are when you said, 'I have no husband,'

for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your husband. You have said this truthfully.”

The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet.

You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews.

But the time is coming, and is even now here, when the true worshippers will give worship to the Father in the true way of the spirit, for these are the worshippers desired by the Father.

Just then His disciples came, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. However, no one said, “What are You asking about?” or, “Why are You talking to her?”

Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.

And they said to the woman, Now we have faith, but not because of your story: we ourselves have given ear to his words, and we are certain that he is truly the Saviour of the world.

In these lay a great multitude of those who are feeble, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the movement of the water.

When Jesus noticed him lying there [helpless], knowing that he had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”

So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat."

Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins—the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life.

Truly, truly, I tell you, the time is coming, and is now [actually] here, when those who are [spiritually] dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear [i.e., and heed His message] will have [spiritual] life.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

But the testimony which I have is far greater than the testimony of John; for the works that the Father has given Me to finish—the very same works [that is, the miracles and proofs of My deity] that I am [now] doing—testify about Me, [by providing evidence] that the Father has sent Me.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

and still you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

for this I know of you, that you are not possess'd with any love for God.

I have come in My Father’s name and with His power, and you do not receive Me [because your minds are closed]; but if another comes in his own name and with no authority or power except his own, you will receive him and give your approval to an imposter.

how are ye able -- ye -- to believe, glory from one another receiving, and the glory that is from God alone ye seek not?

Do not think that I [am the One who] will accuse you before the Father. There [already] is one who accuses you: Moses, [the very one] in whom you have placed your hope [for salvation].

If you had belief in Moses you would have belief in me; for his writings are about me.

But if you disbelieve his writings, how are you to believe my words?"

And a great multitude followed him because they saw his signs, which he did on those who are infirmed.

Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat?

Philip answered him, Loaves for two hundred denarii are not sufficient for them, that each may have some little portion.

There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was plenty of grass in that area, so they sat down, numbering about 5,000 men.

And when they had been filled, he says to his disciples, Gather together the fragments which are over and above, that nothing may be lost.

Jesus, therefore, having known that they are about to come, and to take him by force that they may make him king, retired again to the mountain himself alone.

Jesus answered, “I assure you: You are looking for Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled.

Then they asked Him, “What are we to do, so that we may habitually be doing the works of God?”

“What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?” they asked. “What are You going to perform?

All those will come to me who are the Father's gift to me, and never will I reject one of them;

and the will of him who sent me is that I lose none of those who are his gift to me, but that I raise them all up on the last day.

I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead:

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

And Jesus having known in himself that his disciples are murmuring about this, said to them, 'Doth this stumble you?

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.

Jesus, therefore, said unto the twelve - Are, ye also, wishing to withdraw?

Then Simon Peter gave this answer: Lord, to whom are we to go? you have the words of eternal life;

And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

So his brothers said to him, "Depart from here and go to Judea, so that your disciples also can see your works that you are doing.

For no one does anything in secret and [yet] he himself desires to be {publicly recognized}. If you are doing these [things], reveal yourself to the world!"

So Jesus replied, "My time has not yet arrived, but you are ready at any opportunity!

The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.

The Jews meanwhile kept looking for him at feast, and saying, "Where is he?" "I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own Name these whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are one.

But when it was already the middle of the feast, Jesus went up to the Temple and began to teach. "I have given them thy word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

In reply Jesus said to them; "My teaching is not mine, but is his who sent me. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world."

Moses gave you the Law, didn't he? Yet none of you is keeping the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?"

The crowd answered, “You have a demon [You are out of Your mind]! Who wants to kill You?”

Jesus replied, “I did one work, and you are all astounded.

"Consider, therefore, Moses has given you circumcision??ot that Moses originated it, but the fathers??nd you are accustomed to circumcise a child even on the Sabbath.

If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?

Do not form superficial judgements, but form the judgements that are just."

Certain, therefore, of the Jerusalemites said, 'Is not this he whom they are seeking to kill?

And behold, he is speaking openly and they are saying nothing to him! Can it be that the rulers truly know that this man is the Christ?

Jesus then pursuing his discourse in the temple, rais'd his voice, and said, you know both who I am, and whence I am: however, I am not come of my self, but he that sent me is worthy of belief, him you are unacquainted with.