Jesus answered them, "The work that God demands of you is this, to believe in the messenger whom He has sent."

for the bread that God gives is what comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world."

Then they said to Him, "Give us that bread always, sir!"

Jesus said to them, "I am the bread that gives life. Whoever comes to me will never get hungry, and whoever believes in me will never get thirsty.

But I have told you that, although you have seen me, yet you do not believe in me.

All that my Father gives to me will come to me, and I will never, no, never reject anyone who comes to me,

Now the will of Him who sent me is this, that I should lose none of all that He has given me, but should raise them to life on the last day.

For it is my Father's will that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him to life on the last day."

Then the Jews began to grumble about His saying, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."

Not that anyone has ever seen the Father, except Him who is from God; of course, He has seen the Father.

I am the bread that gives life.

But here is the bread that comes down out of heaven, so that anyone may eat it and never die.

I am this living bread that has come down out of heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my own flesh."

This is the bread that comes down out of heaven; not as your forefathers ate the manna, and yet died. Whoever continues to eat this bread will live forever."

But as Jesus naturally knew that His disciples were grumbling about this, He said to them, "Is this shocking to you?

The Spirit is what gives life; the flesh does not help at all. The truths that I have told you are spirit and life.

But there are some of you who do not trust in me." For Jesus knew from the start who they were that did not trust in Him, and who it was that was going to betray Him.

So He continued, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me, unless it is granted to him by my Father."

Simon Peter answered Him, "To whom can we go, Lord? You have the message that gives eternal life,

and we have come to believe, yes more, we know by experience, that you are the Holy One of God."

So His brothers said to Him, "You must leave here and go to Judea, to let your disciples also see the works that you are doing;

It is impossible for the world to hate you; it is I whom it hates, because I continue to testify that its works are wicked.

And there was a great deal of grumbling about Him among the crowds, some saying that He was a good man, and others that He was not, but was misleading the masses.

Did not Moses give you the law? And yet not one of you is keeping that law. If so, why are you trying to kill me?"

Then Moses gave you the rite of circumcision -- not that it had its origin with Moses but with your earlier forefathers -- and you circumcise a male child even on the Sabbath.

Just look! He is talking in public, and yet they do not say a word to Him! It cannot be that the authorities have really learned that He is the Christ, can it?

The Jews then said to one another, "Where is He about to go that we shall not find Him? He is not going to our people scattered among the Greeks, and going to teach the Greeks, is He?

By this He referred to the Spirit that those believing in Him were going to receive -- for the Spirit had not yet come, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Do not the Scriptures say that the Christ is to spring from David and to come from the village of Bethlehem where David lived?"

Then they answered him, "You are not from Galilee, too, are you? Search the record and see that no prophet has ever come from Galilee."

They were asking this to trap him so that they might have something to accuse him of. But Jesus stooped and began to write in the dirt with his finger.

Then Jesus again addressed them and said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever continues to follow me need never walk in darkness, but he will enjoy the light that means life."

Then the Jews began to say, "He is not going to kill Himself, is He? Is that why He said, 'Where I am going you can never come'?"

So I have told you that you would die under the curse of your sins, for unless you believe that I am the Christ, you will die under the curse of your sins."

They did not understand that He was speaking to them about the Father.

So Jesus said to them, "When you lift the Son of Man (on the cross), you will know that I am the Christ, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but that I say exactly what my Father has instructed me to say.

I know that you are Abraham's descendants, and yet you are trying to kill me, because there is no room in you for my teaching.

But right now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that He has learned from God. Abraham never did that.

Why is it that you misunderstand what I say? It is because you cannot listen to what I teach.

Then the Jews answered Him, "Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and are under the power of a demon?"

Then the Jews said to Him, "Now we know that you are under the power of a demon. Abraham is dead; the prophets too, and yet you say, 'If anyone follows my teaching, he will never experience death.'

Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, such glory amounts to nothing. It is the Father who glorifies me; and you claim that He is your God.

So His disciples asked Him, "Teacher, for whose sin was this man born blind, his own or that of his parents?"

Jesus answered, "It was neither for his own sin nor for that of his parents, but to show what God could do in his case.

Now his neighbors and those who saw that he was formerly blind, kept saying, "Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?"

But the Jews did not believe that he had really been blind and that he had come to see again, until they called the parents of the man who saw again,

and asked them, "Is this your son, and do you affirm that he was born blind? If so, how is it then that he now can see?"

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

But we do not know how it is that he now can see, or who it was that made his eyes to see. Ask him; he is of age; he can speak for himself."

His parents said this, because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone owned Jesus as the Christ, he should be shut out of the synagogues.

Then he answered, "I do not know whether He is a sinner. I do know one thing, that once I was blind but now I can see."

We do know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from."

We know that God does not listen to sinful men, but He does listen to anyone who worships God and lives to do His will.

It has never been heard of in this world that anyone ever made the eyes of a man who was born blind to see.

Jesus heard that they had turned the man out of the synagogue; so He found him and said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of Man yourself?"

He answered, "Who is He, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in Him."

Then Jesus said, "I have come into this world to judge people, so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind."

I have other sheep too that do not belong to this fold. I must lead them too, and they will listen to my voice, and all my sheep will become one flock with one shepherd.

At that time came the Feast of Rededication at Jerusalem. It was winter,

If I am not doing the things that my Father is doing, do not believe me.

But if I am doing so, even if you will not believe me, believe the deeds, that you may come to know and continue to know that the Father is in union with me and I am in union with the Father."

And so many of them at that place believed in Him.

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."

But when He heard that Lazarus was sick, He stayed over for two days in the place where He was.

After that He said to His disciples, "Let us go back to Judea."

He said this, and after that He added, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him."

But Jesus had spoken about his death. However, they supposed that He was referring to falling into a natural sleep.

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."

When Jesus reached there, He found that Lazarus had been buried for four days.

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home.

But even now I know that whatever you ask God for He will give you."

Martha said to Him, "I know that he will rise at the resurrection, on the last day."

She said to Him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."

So the Jews who were with her in the house sympathizing with her, when they saw Mary jump up and go out, followed her, because they supposed that she was going to the grave to pour out her grief there.

But some of them said, "Could not this man, who made that blind man see, have kept Lazarus from dying?"

Jesus said to her, "Did I not promise you that if you would believe in me, you should see the glory of God?"

yes, I knew that you always listen to me. But I have said this for the sake of the crowd that is standing by, that they may come to believe that you have sent me."

But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing about this;

you do not take into account that it is for your own welfare that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should be destroyed."

Now he did not say this on his own authority, but because he was high priest that year he uttered this prophecy from God, that Jesus was to die for the nation,

So from that day they plotted to kill Jesus.

It was for this reason that Jesus no more appeared in public among the Jews, but He left that part of the country and went to the district near the desert, to a town called Ephraim, and stayed there with His disciples.

Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone should learn where He was, he should let it be known so that they might arrest Him.

A goodly number of the Jews learned that He was at Bethany, and so they came there, not only to see Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

The next day the vast crowd that had come to the feast, on hearing that Jesus was coming into Jerusalem,

His disciples at the time did not understand this, but after Jesus was glorified, they remembered that this had been written about Him and that they had fulfilled it in His case.

The crowd that had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the grave and raised him from the dead, kept on talking about it.

This is why the crowd went out to meet Him, because they had heard that He had performed this wonder-work.

Now my soul is troubled; what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour of agony! And yet it was for this very purpose that I came to this hour of agony.

The crowd of bystanders on hearing it said that it was thunder; others, however, said, "An angel has spoken to Him!"

The crowd answered Him, "We have learned from the law that the Christ is to remain here forever, and so how can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?"

Jesus said to them, "Only a little while longer you will have the light. Keep on living by it while you have the light, so that darkness may not overtake you, for whoever walks about in the dark does not know where he is going.

While you have the light believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." On saying this Jesus went away and hid Himself.

so that the utterance of the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled: "Lord, who has believed what they heard from us? And to whom has the mighty arm of the Lord been shown?"

"He has blinded their eyes and benumbed their hearts, so that they cannot see with their eyes and understand with their hearts, and turn to me to cure them."

I have come as light into the world, so that no one who continues to believe in me can remain in darkness.

If anyone hears my words and fails to keep them, it is not I that judge him, for I have not come to judge but to save the world.

And I know that His orders mean eternal life. So whatever I speak I am speaking as the Father has told me."

Before the Passover feast started, Jesus knew that His time had come for Him to leave the world and go to the Father, and as He had loved His own in the world He loved them to the last.

So Jesus, while supper was on -- although He knew that the devil had suggested to Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him --