Now there happened to be a Jewish man in Susa the citadel whose name was Mordecai. He was the son of Jair, the son of Shimei, the son of Kish, a Benjaminite,

Haman then related to his wife Zeresh and to all his friends everything that had happened to him. These wise men, along with his wife Zeresh, said to him, "If indeed this Mordecai before whom you have begun to fall is Jewish, you will not prevail against him. No, you will surely fall before him!"

But there are Jewish men whom you appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon -- Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego -- and these men have not shown proper respect to you, O king. They don't serve your gods and they don't pay homage to the golden statue that you have erected."

When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave.

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

Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washing, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

So then the Jewish leaders responded, "What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?"

Then the Jewish leaders said to him, "This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and are you going to raise it up in three days?"

Now a certain man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council,

After this there was a Jewish feast, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat."

The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began persecuting him.

For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

(Now the Jewish feast of the Passover was near.)

After this Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He stayed out of Judea because the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him.

Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles was near.

So the Jewish leaders were looking for him at the feast, asking, "Where is he?"

However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish leaders.

Then the Jewish leaders were astonished and said, "How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?"

Then the Jewish leaders said to one another, "Where is he going to go that we cannot find him? He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?

So the Jewish leaders began to say, "Perhaps he is going to kill himself, because he says, 'Where I am going you cannot come.'"

Now the Jewish religious leaders refused to believe that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned the parents of the man who had become able to see.

(His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people because of these words.

The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly."

The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death.

The Jewish leaders replied, "We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are claiming to be God."

The disciples replied, "Rabbi, the Jewish leaders were just now trying to stone you to death! Are you going 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.)

(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.)

Now the Jewish feast of Passover was near, and many people went up to Jerusalem from the rural areas before the Passover to cleanse themselves ritually.

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

Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, 'Where I am going you cannot come,' now I tell you the same.

Then the squad of soldiers with their commanding officer and the officers of the Jewish leaders 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.

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."

Jesus replied, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jewish authorities. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here."

Pilate asked, "What is truth?" When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders and announced, "I find no basis for an accusation 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."

The Jewish leaders replied, "We have a law, and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!"

From this point on, Pilate tried to release him. But the Jewish leaders shouted out, "If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar! Everyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar!"

(Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, about noon.) Pilate said to the Jewish leaders, "Look, 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.

Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the victims' legs broken and the bodies taken down.

After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission, so he went and took the body away.

Then they took Jesus' body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices, in strips of linen cloth according to Jewish burial customs.

And so, because it was the Jewish day of preparation and the tomb was nearby, they placed Jesus' body there.

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the disciples had gathered together and locked the doors of the place because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, "Peace be with you."

They said, "Cornelius the centurion, a righteous and God-fearing man, well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to summon you to his house and to hear a message from you."

When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting to happen."

When they arrived in Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. (Now they also had John as their assistant.)

When they had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus,

The same thing happened in Iconium when Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a large group of both Jews and Greeks believed.

He also came to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but whose father was a Greek.

After they traveled through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.

The brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea at once, during the night. When they arrived, they went to the Jewish synagogue.

But some itinerant Jewish exorcists tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were possessed by evil spirits, saying, "I sternly warn you by Jesus whom Paul preaches."

(Now seven sons of a man named Sceva, a Jewish high priest, were doing this.)

Some days later, when Felix arrived with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul said in his defense, "I have committed no offense against the Jewish law or against the temple or against Caesar."

Then Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all you who are present here with us, you see this man about whom the entire Jewish populace petitioned me both in Jerusalem and here, shouting loudly that he ought not to live any longer.

After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them, "Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, from Jerusalem I was handed over as a prisoner to the Romans.

And Jesus who is called Justus also sends greetings. In terms of Jewish converts, these are the only fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.

For there are many rebellious people, idle talkers, and deceivers, especially those with Jewish connections,

and not pay attention to Jewish myths and commands of people who reject the truth.