and they questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us [a law that] if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife and no children, his brother should marry the wife and raise children for his brother.

So in the [life after] resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had married her.”

and they cannot die again, because they are [immortal] like the angels (equal to, angel-like). And they are children of God, being participants in the resurrection.

Now He is not the God of the dead, but of the living [so these forefathers will be among the resurrected]; for all live [in a definite relationship] to Him.”

Some of the scribes replied, “Teacher, you have spoken well [so that there is no room for blame].”

And they did not dare to question Him further about anything [because of the wisdom He displayed in His answers].

For David himself says in the book of Psalms,

‘The Lord (the Father) said to my Lord (the Son, the Messiah),
“Sit at My right hand,

Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”’

for they all put in gifts from their abundance; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

“As for all these things which you see, the time will come when there will not be one stone left on another that will not be torn down.”

He said, “Be careful and see to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name [appropriating for themselves the name Messiah which belongs to Me alone], saying, ‘I am He,’ and, ‘The time is near!’ Do not follow them.

When you hear of wars and disturbances [civil unrest, revolts, uprisings], do not panic; for these things must take place first, but the end will not come immediately.”

“But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, turning you over to the synagogues and prisons, and bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.

This will be a time and an opportunity for you to testify [about Me].

for I will give you [skillful] words and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

and you will be continually hated by everyone because of [your association with] My name.

for these are days of vengeance [of rendering full justice or satisfaction], so that all things which are written will be fulfilled.

Woe to those women who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For great trouble and anguish will be on the land, and wrath and retribution on this people [Israel].

people fainting from fear and expectation of the [dreadful] things coming on the world; for the [very] powers of the heavens will be shaken.

as soon as they put out leaves, you see it and know for yourselves that summer is near.

for it will come upon all those who live on the face of all the earth.

The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Him to death; for they were afraid of the people [who listened devotedly to His teaching, and who respected His spiritual wisdom].

So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover meal for us, so that we may eat it.”

for I say to you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.”

And when He had taken bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant [ratified] in My blood.

For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined; but woe (judgment is coming) to that man by whom He is betrayed and handed over!”

For who is the greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.

but I have prayed [especially] for you [Peter], that your faith [and confidence in Me] may not fail; and you, once you have turned back again [to Me], strengthen and support your brothers [in the faith].”

For I tell you that this [Scripture] which is written must be completed and fulfilled in Me: ‘And He was counted with the criminals’; for that which refers to Me has its fulfillment [and is settled].”

After about an hour had passed, another man began to insist, “This man was with Him, for he is a Galilean too.”

Then they asked, “What further need of testimony do we have? For we ourselves have heard it from His own mouth.”

When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly pleased. He had wanted to see Him for a long time because of what he had heard about Him, and was hoping to see some [miraculous] sign [even something spectacular] done by Him.

No, nor has Herod, for he sent Him back to us; and indeed, He has done nothing to deserve death.

[Now he was obligated to release to them one prisoner at the Feast.]

(He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection that happened in the city, and for murder.)

And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he handed over Jesus to their will.

But Jesus, turning toward them, said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that have not given birth, and the breasts that have never nursed.’

For if they do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

And Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” And they cast lots, dividing His clothes among themselves.

Now there was also an inscription above Him: “THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

(he had not consented to the Council’s plan and action) a man from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, who was waiting for and expecting the kingdom of God;

this man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

And [after receiving permission] he took it down and wrapped it in a linen [burial] cloth and laid Him in a tomb cut into the rock, where no one had yet been laid.

It was the day of preparation [for the Sabbath], and the Sabbath was dawning.

and as the women were terrified and were bowing their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why are you looking for the living One among the dead?

But they urged Him [not to go on], saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening, and the day has just about ended.” So He went inside to stay with them.

Look at [the marks in] My hands and My feet, [and see] that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see; a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”

While they still did not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

John testified [repeatedly] about Him and has cried out [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’”

For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift].

For the Law was given through Moses, but grace [the unearned, undeserved favor of God] and truth came through Jesus Christ.

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?”

His disciples remembered that it is written [in the Scriptures], “Zeal (love, concern) for Your house [and its honor] will consume Me.”

But Jesus, for His part, did not entrust Himself to them, because He knew all people [and understood the superficiality and fickleness of human nature],

and He did not need anyone to testify concerning man [and human nature], for He Himself knew what was in man [in their hearts—in the very core of their being].

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.”

“For God so [greatly] loved and dearly prized the world, that He [even] gave His [One and] only begotten Son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him [as Savior] shall not perish, but have eternal life.

For God did not send the Son into the world to judge and condemn the world [that is, to initiate the final judgment of the world], but that the world might be saved through Him.

Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].

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 wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned.

Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and were being baptized—

for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

Whoever receives His testimony has set his seal [of approval] to this: God is true [and he knows that God cannot lie].

For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God [proclaiming the Father’s own message]; for God gives the [gift of the] Spirit without measure [generously and boundlessly]!

Now He had to go through Samaria.

For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food—

The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.)

But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”

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

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

But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers.

Do you not say, ‘It is still four months until the harvest comes?’ Look, I say to you, raise your eyes and look at the fields and see, they are white for harvest.

Already the reaper is receiving his wages and he is gathering fruit for eternal life; so that he who plants and he who reaps may rejoice together.

For in this case the saying is true, ‘One [person] sows and another reaps.’

I sent you to reap [a crop] for which you have not worked. Others have worked and you have been privileged to reap the results of their work.”

and they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; for [now] we have heard Him for ourselves and know [with confident assurance] that this One is truly the Savior of [all] the world.”

So when He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him, since they had seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they too came to the feast.

Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to meet Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.

Later on there was a Jewish feast (festival), and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

In these porticoes lay a great number of people who were sick, blind, lame, withered, [waiting for the stirring of the water;

for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.]

There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away [unnoticed] since there was a crowd in that place.

For this reason the Jews began to persecute Jesus continually because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

So Jesus answered them by saying, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself [of His own accord], unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, the Son [in His turn] also does in the same way.

For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment [that is, the prerogative of judging] to the Son [placing it entirely into His hands],

For just as the Father has life in Himself [and is self-existent], even so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself [and be self-existent].

Do not be surprised at this; for a time is coming when all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice,

and they will come out—those who did good things [will come out] to a resurrection of [new] life, but those who did evil things [will come out] to a resurrection of judgment [that is, to be sentenced].

John was the lamp that kept on burning and shining [to show you the way], and you were willing for a while to rejoice in his light.

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.

And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form [His majesty and greatness—what He is like].

I do not receive glory and approval from men;

How can you believe [in Me], when you [seek and] receive glory and approval from one another, and yet you do not seek the glory and approval which comes from the one and only God?

For if you believed and relied on [the Scriptures written by] Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me [personally].