PM if Jewish time were meant].

And this is John's testimony, when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

Now those who were sent [i.e., to question John] were Pharisees [i.e., a strict sect of the Jewish religion].

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."

Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained 20 or 30 gallons.

Now the Jewish Passover was approaching; so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

The Jewish leaders therefore answered him, "What sign do you show us, seeing that you do these things?"

The Jewish leaders therefore said, "Forty-six years was this temple in building, and will you raise it up in three days?"

But Jesus would not trust Himself to them [i.e., to the care of these Jewish leaders] because He knew all men,

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jewish people.

This man went to Jesus one night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we [i.e., speaking of himself and other Jewish leaders] know that you are a Teacher sent from God, for no one could perform these [miraculous] signs that you are doing unless God were with Him."

After these things Jesus and his disciples came into the Jewish land. And he remained there with them and immersed.

PM, if Jewish time were meant].

The Samaritan woman therefore says to him, How do thou, being Jewish, ask to drink from me, being a Samaritan woman, for Jews do not associate with Samaritans?

noon if Jewish time were meant].

You [Samaritans] do not [really] know what you worship; we [Jews] know what we worship because salvation is from the Jews [i.e., through Jewish prophets, Jewish Scriptures and a Jewish Messiah].

Just about then Jesus' disciples returned [from town], and were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. [Note: It was not customary for a Jewish male to engage a woman in extended conversation in that day, much less a stranger, and certainly not a Samaritan], yet no one said [to Him], "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking to her?"

After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

So the Jewish leaders said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat."

The man went away, and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

For this cause the Jewish leaders persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath.

For this cause therefore the Jewish leaders sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Then Jesus walked up the hills and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Jewish feast, the Passover, was at hand.

Now the Passover, the Jewish feast, was approaching.

The Jewish people therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, "I am the bread which came down out of heaven."

Then the Jewish leaders debated angrily with each other, asking, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

But there are some of you who do not believe [in me]." For Jesus knew from the beginning which ones would not believe [in Him] and which one would turn Him over [i.e., to the Jewish authorities].

Now He was speaking about Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was the one, out of the twelve, who was [soon] going to turn Jesus over [to the Jewish authorities].

After these things, Jesus was walking in Galilee, for he would not walk in Judea, because the Jewish leaders sought to kill him.

Now the Jewish feast of Dwelling in Tents was approaching.

The Jewish leaders therefore sought him at the feast, and said, "Where is he?"

Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jewish leaders.

Now the Jewish authorities were amazed, saying, "How can this man know so much, since he has never been educated?"

And look, he is speaking openly and they are not saying anything to him [about it]. Can it be that the [Jewish] authorities know that he really is the Messiah [i.e., the Christ, God's specially chosen one]?

Then the Jewish leaders tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.

The Pharisees [i.e., a strict sect of the Jewish religion] heard the crowd whispering these things about Him, so the leading priests and Pharisees sent some Temple guards to arrest Him.

The Jews [i.e., the authorities] were saying among themselves, "Where will this man go that we will not be able to find him? Will he go where the Jewish people are scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?

So, Jesus spoke to them again [i.e., to the Jewish authorities. See 7:45], saying, "I am the light of the world. The person who becomes my follower will never live in [spiritual] darkness, but have the light of [i.e., for his] life [i.e., followers of Jesus will not live in error and sin but in truth and righteousness]."

So, the Jewish authorities said to Him, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You people do not know me or my Father. If you [did] know me, you would know my Father also."

The Jewish leaders therefore said, "Will he kill himself, that he says, 'Where I am going, you cannot come?'"

The Jewish leaders replied to him, "Surely we're right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon, aren't we?"

Then the Jewish leaders told him, "Now we really know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, "If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'

Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "You are not even 50 years old, yet you have seen Abraham?"

The Jewish leaders therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight,

His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities who had already decided that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue.

So, they called the [former] blind man a second time, and said to him, "Give honor to God [Note: In Jewish idiom this phrase meant "Tell the truth." See Josh. 7:19]; we know this man is a sinner."

Therefore a division arose again among the Jewish people because of these words.

During the winter, when the Festival of Dedication was being held in Jerusalem [Note: This was the Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Temple in BC after its pagan desecration by Greeks. It is still observed today by Jews as "Hanukkah."],

Some Jewish [authorities] gathered around Him and asked, "How long will you hold us in suspense? If you [really] are the Christ, tell us plainly."

Therefore the Jewish leaders took up stones again to stone him.

The Jewish leaders answered him, "We do not stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God."

The disciples told him, "Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"

and many of Martha and Mary's Jewish friends had come to comfort them over [the loss of] their brother.

When Martha's Jewish friends, who had been comforting her at her house, saw Mary getting up quickly and leaving, they followed her, thinking she was going to the grave site to mourn.

When Jesus saw her and her Jewish friends, who had come with her, crying, He felt distressed in His spirit and [visibly] troubled [Note: This last word means to shake with emotion, and seems to have been caused by His deep sympathy for these grieving people],

[Some of] the Jewish friends then said, "Look how [much] he loved him!" [See verse 3].

[Immediately] the man who had died came out [of the cave] with his hands and feet [still] wrapped in bandages, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to his Jewish friends, "Unwrap him and let him go."

When many of Mary's Jewish friends, who had come to console her, saw what Jesus had done, they believed in Him.

So, the leading priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council [Note: This was the Jewish governing body called "the Sanhedrin"] and said, "What should we do, for this man is performing many [miraculous] signs?

(Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation,

And not just [die] for the [Jewish] nation, but also that He would assemble together into one body the children of God who were scattered [throughout the world].

So, from that day onward, the Jewish authorities began plotting [how] to kill Jesus.

The Jewish Passover was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country to purify themselves before the Passover.

But one of Jesus' disciples named Judas Iscariot, who later turned Him over [i.e., to the Jewish authorities], said,

because on account of him many of the Jewish people went away and believed in Jesus.

However, even many [Jewish] leaders believed in Him, but did not admit it, for fear of being expelled from the synagogue.

The devil had already filled the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, with the desire to turn Jesus over [i.e., to the Jewish authorities]. During the [Passover] meal,

After Jesus said this, He felt disturbed in His spirit and declared, "Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will turn me over [to the Jewish authorities]."

"I will be with you, [my dear] children, for only a little while [longer]. You people will look for me, but I am now telling you what I told the Jewish authorities, 'You will not be able to go where I will be.'

The Jewish authorities will expel you from their synagogues. In fact, the time will come when whoever kills you will think he is doing a service to God.

Now Judas, who [was soon to] turn Jesus over [to the Jewish authorities] also knew where this place was, for Jesus had frequently met there with His disciples.

They answered Him, "Jesus, from Nazareth." Jesus replied to them, "I am [He]." Judas, who was turning Him over [to the Jewish authorities] was standing there with them also.

Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish temple police arrested Jesus and tied Him up.

Now it was Caiaphas who advised the Jewish leaders that it was expedient that one man should perish for the people.

Jesus answered him, "I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple, where all the Jewish people come together. I said nothing in secret.

Then, early in the morning they led Jesus from Caiaphas to [governor Pilate's] headquarters. But the Jewish authorities would not enter it, because [if they had] they would have become ceremonially unclean, and could not eat the Passover meal. [Note: This was because they regarded a Gentile house as defiling].

The Jewish authorities answered Pilate, "If this man were not guilty of wrongdoing, we would not have turned him over to you."

Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law." Therefore the Jewish leaders said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,"

The Jewish leaders told him, "It is not legal for us to put anyone to death." This was to fulfill what Jesus had said when he indicated the kind of death he was to die.

Jesus answered, "My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I would not be delivered to the Jewish leaders. But now my Kingdom is not from here."

Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" When he had said this, he went out again to the Jewish leaders, and said to them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

Now Pilate went outside again and said to the Jewish authorities, "Look, I am bringing him out here to you, so you can know that I do not find him guilty of any crime."

So, Jesus came outside wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Then Pilate said to the [assembled] Jewish authorities, "Look, [here is] the man!"

The Jewish leaders answered him, "We have a law, and by that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God."

At this, Pilate was seeking to release him, but the Jewish leaders shouted, saying, "If you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

Now it was about six o'clock in the morning [Note: This was according to Roman time, but if Jewish time were meant, it would have been

Thus many of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the notice was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

So the Jewish high priests said to Pilate, "Do not write 'The king of the Jews,' but write 'He said, I am the king of the Jews.' "

Therefore the Jewish leaders, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away.

After these things, Joseph of Arimathaea, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jewish leaders, asked of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission. He came therefore and took away his body.

So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in bandages with the spices, in accordance with the Jewish custom of preparing a body for burial.

They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation and since the tomb was nearby.

So, when it was evening on that day, [which was] the first day of the week [i.e., Sunday] and the doors [of someone's house], where the disciples were gathered, were closed [i.e., probably locked] for fear of the Jewish authorities, Jesus came and stood among them. [Note: Probably Jesus passed through the closed door miraculously]. He said to them, "May there be peace in your hearts."

Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved [i.e., probably the apostle John] following [along behind him]. This was the same disciple who had leaned over close to Jesus at the [Passover] meal and asked Him, "Lord, who is it that will turn you over [to the Jewish authorities]?"