John 11:1-16 - Lazarus Dies

¹ Now a man was sick; it was Lazarus who lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ² It was the Mary who poured the perfume upon the Lord and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ So the sisters sent this message to Jesus, "Lord, listen! the one you love so well is sick."

⁴ When Jesus received the message, He said, "This sickness is not to end in death but is to honor God, that the Son of God through it may be honored." ⁵ Now Jesus held in loving esteem Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ But when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed over for two days in the place where He was. ⁷ After that He said to His disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

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

⁹ Jesus answered, "Does not the day have twelve hours? If a man travels in the daytime, he does not stumble, for he can see the light of this world; ¹⁰ but if he travels in the nighttime, he does stumble, because he has no light." ¹¹ He said this, and after that He added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him."

¹² The disciples said to Him, "Lord, if he has merely fallen asleep, he will recover."

¹³ But Jesus had spoken about his death. However, they supposed that He was referring to falling into a natural sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then told them plainly: "Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sake that I was not there so that you may come to have real faith in me. But let us go to him."

¹⁶ Then Thomas the Twin said to his fellow-disciples, "Let us go too, and die with Him."