A great number of sick, blind, lame, and paralyzed people were lying in these walkways.

Now as Jesus was passing by, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.

His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man or his parents?"

Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that the acts of God may be revealed through what happens to him.

Having said this, he spat on the ground and made some mud with the saliva. He smeared the mud on the blind man's eyes

and said to him, "Go wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated "sent"). So the blind man went away and washed, and came back seeing.

They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.

So again they asked the man who used to be blind, "What do you say about him, since he caused you to see?" "He is a prophet," the man replied.

Now the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned the parents of the man who had become able to see.

They asked the parents, "Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? Then how does he now see?"

So his parents replied, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.

Then they summoned the man who used to be blind a second time and said to him, "Promise before God to tell the truth. We know that this man is a sinner."

He replied, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing -- that although I was blind, now I can see."

Never before has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see.

Jesus said,] "For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind."

Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked him, "We are not blind too, are we?"

Jesus replied, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, but now because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains."

Others said, "These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. A demon cannot cause the blind to see, can it?"

But some of them said, "This is the man who caused the blind man to see! Couldn't he have done something to keep Lazarus from dying?"

"He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn to me, and I would heal them."