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this, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2 Now in Jerusalem there is a pool near the Sheep Gate, which in Hebrew is called Bethesda, and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Within these lay a large number of disabled people—the blind, the lame, and the paralysed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down to the pool at a certain season and stirred up the water. Then the first person to get into the water first after the water was stirred up was healed of whatever ailment he had.
5 One man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7 “Sir,” the sick man answered, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred up. Then while I am making my way, someone else goes down ahead of me.”
8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” 9 Immediately the man was made well, and he picked up his mat and walked.
Now that day was the Sabbath, 10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to be carrying your mat.”
11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’.”
12 So they asked him, “Who is this man who said to you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?”
13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Stop sinning, or something worse may happen to you.”
15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. 16 So the Jews began persecuting Jesus because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at His work until now, and I am also working.” 18 For this reason the Jews wanted to kill Jesus even more, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
19 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing. And He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be astonished. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whomever He wants. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him.
24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment, but has crossed over from death to life.
25 “I tell you the truth, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has also granted the Son to have life in Himself. 27 And He has given Him the authority to judge, because He is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice 29 and come out—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. 30 I can do nothing of Myself. I judge only as I hear, and My judgment is just, for I do not seek to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
31 “If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid. 32 There is another who testifies about Me, and I know that His testimony about Me is valid. 33 You have sent messengers to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34 “Not that I accept the human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a lamp that burned and shone brightly, and for a time you were willing to rejoice in his light.
36 “But I have a greater testimony than that of John. For the works that the Father has given Me to do—these very works I am doing—testify about Me that the Father has sent Me. 37 The Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, 38 nor do you have His word abiding in you, because you do not believe Him whom He has sent. 39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you have eternal life; yet it is these Scriptures which testify about Me. 40 Yet you refuse to come to Me so that you may have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from men, 42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not accept Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet you do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?
45 “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 But since you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”