New Heart English Bible

John 11

1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

2 It was that Mary who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick.

3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, "Lord, look, the one you love is sick."

4 But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it."

5 Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.

7 Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go into Judea again."

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

9 Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.

10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."

11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, "Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep."

12 Then the disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."

13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

14 So Jesus said to them plainly then, "Lazarus is dead.

15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him."

16 Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us go also, that we may die with him."

17 So when Jesus came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.

18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.

19 Many of the Jewish people had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.

20 Then when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary stayed in the house.

21 Therefore Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died.

22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you."

23 Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

24 Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."

25 Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.

26 And whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who comes into the world."

28 And when she had said this, she went away, and called Mary, her sister, secretly, saying, "The Teacher is here, and is calling you."

29 When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met him.

31 Then the Judeans who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 Therefore when Mary came to where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died."

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Judeans weeping who came with her, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,

34 and said, "Where have you put him?" They told him, "Lord, come and see."

35 Jesus wept.

36 The Judeans therefore said, "See how he loved him."

37 But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?"

38 So Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.

39 Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."

40 Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory?"

41 So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.

42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the crowd that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me."

43 When he had said this, he shouted with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out."

44 The man who had died came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Free him, and let him go."

45 Therefore many of the Judeans, who came to Mary and had seen the things which he did, believed in him.

46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which Jesus had done.

47 The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, "What are we doing? For this man does many signs.

48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

49 But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,

50 nor do you consider that it is advantageous for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."

51 Now he did not say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,

52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

53 So from that day on they plotted to kill him.

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Judeans, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim; and stayed there with his disciples.

55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves.

56 Then they sought for Jesus and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, "What do you think—that he is not coming to the feast at all?"

57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might arrest him.