As Jesus passed by, he saw a man who had been blind from his birth.

"Rabbi," asked his disciples, "who was it that sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

"Neither the man nor the parents," replied Jesus; "but he was born blind that the work of God should be made plain in him.

They took the man, who had been blind, to the Pharisees.

The Jews, however, refused to believe that he had been blind and had gained his sight, until they had called his parents and questioned them.

"Is this your son," they asked, "who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he can see now?"

"We know that this is our son," answered the parents, "and that he was born blind;

So the Jews again called the man who had been blind, and said to him: "Give God the praise; we know that this is a bad man."

"I know nothing about his being a bad man," he replied; "one thing I do know, that although I was blind, now I can see."

Since the world began, such a thing was never heard of as any one's giving sight to a person born blind.

And Jesus added: "It was to put men to the test that I came into this world, in order that those that cannot see should see, and that those that can see should become blind."

Hearing this, some of the Pharisees who were with him said: "Then are we blind too?"

"If you had been blind," replied Jesus, "you would have had no sin to answer for; but, as it is, you say 'We can see,' and so your sin remains.

Others said: "This is not the teaching of one who is possessed by a demon. Can a demon give sight to the blind?"

But some of them said: "Could not this man, who gave sight to the blind man, have also prevented Lazarus from dying?"

'He has blinded their eyes, and blunted their mind, so that they should not see with their eyes, and perceive with their mind, and turn--And I should heal them.'