PM if Jewish time were meant].

This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and descendants of Levi to him 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 there were six stone waterpots set there for the Jewish custom of purification (ceremonial washing), containing twenty or thirty gallons each.

The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Then the Jewish leaders asked him, "What sign can you show us as authority for doing these things?"

The Jewish leaders said, "This sanctuary has been under construction for 46 years, and you're going to rebuild it 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 a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,

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?"

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

So the Jewish leaders told the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

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

So the Jewish leaders began persecuting Jesus, because he kept doing such things on the Sabbath.

So the Jewish leaders were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to 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, a Jewish festival, was near.

Then the Jewish leaders began grumbling about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from 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 this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, because he didn't want to travel in Judea, since the Jewish leaders there were trying to kill him.

Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) was approaching.

The Jewish leaders kept looking for him at the festival, asking, "Where is that man?"

Nevertheless, no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders were astonished and remarked, "How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?"

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.

Then the Jewish leaders asked one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we won't be able to find him? Surely he's not going to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?

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."

So the Jewish leaders were asking, "He isn't going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, "You cannot come where I'm going'?"

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 did not believe that the man had been blind and had gained sight until they summoned his parents

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, since the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be thrown out of the synagogue.

The Jewish leaders summoned the man who had been blind a second time and told him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner."

Another sharp division took place 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."],

So the Jewish leaders surrounded him and quizzed him, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? If you're the Messiah, tell us so plainly."

Again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone him to death.

The Jewish leaders answered him, "We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!"

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

so many of the Jewish people of the region had come to Martha and Mary to console 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 for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.)

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

Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching, and many from the country went up to Jerusalem before Passover to purify themselves [ceremonially, so that they would be able to participate in the feast].

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

for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem were going away and believing 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]."

Little children, I'm with you only a little longer. You will look for me, but what I told the Jewish leaders I now tell you, "Where I'm going, you cannot come.'

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 had advised the Jewish leaders that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.)

Jesus replied, "I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues and in the temple courts, where all the Jewish people assemble together. I have 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 told them, "Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him according to your own law!" The Jewish leaders replied, "We cannot legally 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 does not belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my servants would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish leaders. But for now my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked him, "What is "truth'?" and then he went out to the Jewish leaders again and told them, "I find no basis for a charge against him.

Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him."

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 Pilate, "We have a law, and according to that Law he must die because he made himself out to be the Son of God."

From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, "If you release this fellow, you're not a friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is defying Caesar!"

Now it was the Preparation Day for the Passover, about noon. He told the Jewish leaders, "Here is your king!"

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.

This led the Jewish High Priests to remonstrate with Pilate. "You should not write 'The King of the Jews,'" they said, "but that he claimed to be King of the Jews."

Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jewish leaders did not want to leave the bodies on the crosses during the Sabbath, because that was a particularly important Sabbath. So they asked Pilate to have the men's legs broken and the bodies removed.

Later on, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus (though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, and he came and removed his body.

Taking down the body they wrapped it in linen cloths along with the spices, in accordance with the Jewish mode of preparing for burial.

Therefore, because of the Jewish day of Preparation, and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

It was the evening of the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them. He told them, "Peace be with you."

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]?"