1After these things, there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2Now in Jerusalem, near the Sheep Gate, there is a pool with five covered porches, called Bethesda in Aramaic.
3Many sick people—blind, lame, and paralyzed—used to lie there, waiting for the water to move.
4For at certain times, an angel would come down into the pool and stir the water. The first person to step into the water after it was stirred would be healed of whatever disease they had.
5One man there had been sick for thirty-eight years.
6When Jesus saw him lying there, knowing he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”
7The sick man answered him, "Sir, I don't have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I'm trying to get in, someone else always steps in before me."
8Jesus told him, "Get up, pick up your mat, and walk."
9Immediately, the man was healed. He picked up his mat and walked. That day was the Sabbath.
10So the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been cured, "It's the Sabbath. It's against the law for you to carry your mat."
11He answered them, "The one who healed me told me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'"
12Then they asked him, "Who was the man who told you, 'Pick up your mat and walk'?"
13But the man who was healed didn’t know who it was, because Jesus had already left since there was a crowd in that place.
14Later, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "Look, you are well now. Stop sinning, so that nothing worse happens to you."
15The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.
16Because of this, the Jewish leaders began to persecute Jesus and tried to kill him, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
17But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I am working too."
18Because of this, the Jewish leaders tried even harder to kill him, for two reasons: not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19Then Jesus answered them, "I tell you the truth, the Son cannot do anything on his own; he can only do what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does also.
20For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does. He will show him even greater works than these so that you will be amazed.
21Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whomever he chooses.
22For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son,
23so that everyone may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
24I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has already passed from death to life.
25I tell you the truth, a time is coming, and has now come, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
26For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
27And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28Don’t be surprised by this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice,
29and will come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
30I can do nothing on my own. I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is fair, because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me.”
31If I were the only one testifying about myself, my testimony wouldn't be considered valid.
32There is someone else who testifies about me, and I know that what he says about me is true.
33You sent messengers to John, and he told you the truth.
34However, the testimony I accept doesn't come from people. But I'm telling you these things so you can be saved.
35John was like a bright, burning lamp, and for a while, you were happy to enjoy his light.
36But I have a greater testimony than John's. The work my Father gave me to do—the very things I am doing—prove that the Father sent me.
37The Father himself, who sent me, has also testified about me. You've never heard his voice or seen what he looks like.
38His word doesn't live in you because you don't believe the one he sent.
39You study the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life, and these very Scriptures talk about me.
40Yet you refuse to come to me to receive life.
41I don't seek praise from people.
42But I know you; you don't have God's love within you.
43I have come in my Father's name, but you don't accept me. If someone else comes on his own authority, you will accept him.
44How can you believe when you accept praise from one another but don't look for the praise that comes from the only God?
45Don't think that I will accuse you to the Father. Moses, in whom you place your hope, is the one who accuses you.
46If you truly believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.
47But if you don't believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?