The Gospels
Page 37
16 When it was evening, his students went down to the sea, 17 boarded a boat, and went over the sea to Kafarnaoum. But it was already dark, and Iēsous hadn’t yet come to them. 18 Then a great wind started to blow, and the sea was violently agitated. 19 Now they’d come about twenty-five or thirty stades*75 when they caught sight of Iēsous walking on the sea and getting near the boat, and they were frightened. 20 But he said to them, “It’s me. Don’t be frightened.” 21 They wanted to take him onto the boat, but right away the boat got to the shore where they were heading.
22 The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea realized that there had been only the one small boat there, and that Iēsous hadn’t boarded it along with his students; instead, his students had sailed away alone. 23 Other [small] boats came from Tiberias and approached the spot where they’d eaten the bread, once the lord had given thanks. 24 So when the crowd saw that neither Iēsous nor his students were there, they themselves boarded the small boats and sailed to Kafarnaoum looking for Iēsous. 25 And when they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbí, when did you get here?”
26 Iēsous answered them by saying, “Amēn amēn I tell you, you’re looking for me not because you’ve seen signs, but because you ate some of the loaves and were stuffed full. 27 Don’t work for food that gets used up, but for food that lasts for a life without end, which the son of mankind will give you, as it’s on him that god the father has put his seal.”*76 28 Then they said to him, “What should we do to work at god’s work?” 29 Iēsous answered by telling them, “This is god’s work, that you trust in the one he sent.”
30 Then they said to him, “So what sign are you going to give that we can see, and that will make us trust you? What work are you going to carry out? 31 Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness, as it’s been written: ‘He gave them bread from the sky to eat.’ ”*77 32 Iēsous said to them, “Amēn amēn I tell you, it wasn’t Mōüsēs who gave you bread from the sky; no, it is my father who gives you the true bread from the sky. 33 God’s bread is in fact the one coming down from the sky and giving life to the world.” 34 So they said to him, “Master, give us this bread forever!” 35 Iēsous told them, “I’m the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never starve, and whoever trusts in me will never be parched.
36 “But I told you that, even though you’ve seen [me], you don’t believe. 37 Whatever the father grants me will reach me, and whoever comes to me, I won’t throw out, 38 because I came down from the sky not to do what I want, but what the one who sent me wants. 39 And this is what the one who sent me wants: that out of everything he gave me, I let nothing be destroyed, but instead set it on its feet [on] the last day.*78 40 This is in fact what my father wants: that everyone looking at the son and trusting in him will have life for all time; and I’ll put him on his feet [on] the last day.”
41 Then the Ioudaioi were muttering about him because he said, “I’m the bread that came down from the sky,” 42 and they said, “Isn’t this Iēsous the son of Iōsēf, the Iēsous whose father and mother we know? Then what does he mean by ‘I came down from the sky’?” 43 Iēsous, reacting, said to them, “Don’t mutter among yourselves! 44 No one can come to me unless the father, who sent me, draws him along, but I’ll set him on his feet on the last day. 45 It’s been written in the prophets, ‘And they’ll all be taught by god’:*79 everyone who’s listened to and learned from the father is coming to me. 46 Not that anyone has seen the father—only the one who’s from god: he’s seen the father. 47 Amēn amēn I tell you, whoever believes has life for all time. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness,*80 but they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from the sky, so that anyone can eat some of it and not die. 51 I’m the living bread that came down from the sky. If anyone eats any of this bread I give him, he’ll live for all time, and the bread I’ll give him is my mortal body,*81 given for the life of the world.”
52 Then the Ioudaioi were fighting among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us [his] body to eat?” 53 Iēsous said to them, “Amēn amēn I tell you, if you don’t eat the body of mankind’s son, and drink his blood, you won’t have life in you. 54 Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood has life for all of time, and I’ll raise him to his feet on the last day. 55 My body, you see, is the true food, and my blood is the true drink. 56 Whoever eats my body and drinks my blood remains and lives in me, and I in him.*82 57 Just as the living father sent me and I live through the father, whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that’s come down from the sky, not like what our fathers ate—and they still died. Whoever eats this bread will live for all of time.”
59 He said these things when he taught in the synagogue in Kafarnaoum.
60 Many of his students who’d listened said, “This is rough talk. Who can stand to listen to it?” 61 But Iēsous, sensing inwardly that his students were muttering about this, said to them, “Does this trip you up? 62 Then what if you were to watch the son of mankind climbing up to where he was before? 63 The breath is what creates life; the body alone is good for nothing.*83 The things I’ve said to you are breath and life. 64 But there are some of you who don’t believe.” Iēsous of course knew from the beginning which ones didn’t believe, and which one would hand him over. 65 And he told them, “This is why I’ve told you that no one can come to me unless it’s granted to him by the father.”
66 Because of this, many [of ] his students turned back and no longer walked with him. 67 So Iēsous said to the twelve, “You don’t also want to move on?” 68 Simōn Petros answered him: “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of life that last for all of time.*84 69 And we’ve come to believe and to recognize that you are god’s holy one.” 70 Iēsous answered them: “Didn’t I choose the twelve of you myself? But among you, one is a slanderer.”*85 71 He meant Ioudas the son of Simōn Iskariōtēs,*86 as he—even though he was one of the twelve—was going to hand Iēsous over.
Chapter 7
1 And after this, Iēsous traveled around by foot in Galilaia, as he didn’t want to travel around in Ioudaia, because the Ioudaioi were looking to kill him.*87 2 Near at hand was a festival of the Ioudaioi, “the pitching of tents.”*88 3 And his brothers said to him, “Leave here and move on to Ioudaia, so that your students also can see the work you’re doing, 4 as no one acts in secret and at the same time seeks to be in the public eye. As long as you’re doing these things, show yourself clearly to the world.” 5 Not even his brothers, in fact, trusted in him. 6 So Iēsous said to them: “The critical time for me isn’t here yet, but for you that time is always at hand. 7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify against it, saying the things it does are malicious. 8 You all go up to the festival. I’m not going up to this festival, because for me the time hasn’t come to fruition.” 9 This is what he said, and he stayed in Galilaia.
10 But once his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not openly but [as if] in secret. 11 Now, the Ioudaioi were looking for him at the festival, and asking, “Where is he?” 12 And there was a lot of muttering about him in the crowds. Some people were saying, “He’s an excellent man,” [while] others said, “No, not at all: he leads the crowd astray.” 13 No one, however, was speaking openly about him, out of fear of the Ioudaioi.*89
14 The festival was already half over when Iēsous went up into the temple precinct and began to teach. 15 The Ioudaioi were naturally amazed, saying, “How did this man come to be literate, when he never studied?” 16 Iēsous then responded by saying to them, “My teaching isn’t mine; it belongs to the one who sent me. 17 But if someone’s willing to do what he wills, he’ll know about the teaching, whether it comes from god or whether I’m speaking for myself. 18 Whoever speaks for himself is looking for his own glory, but whoever’s looking for the glory of the one who sent him—he’s truthful, and there’s no lawlessness in him.
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br /> 19 “Didn’t Mōüsēs give you the law? But none of you carries out the law! Why are you trying to kill me?” 20 The crowd responded, “You’ve got a demon in you. Who’s trying to kill you?” 21 In response Iēsous said to them, “I performed a single work, and you’re all amazed. 22 Because Mōüsēs granted you circumcision—it’s not from Mōüsēs, though, but from the patriarchs—you circumcise someone even on the sabbaton.*90 23 Even though someone gets circumcised on the sabbaton so that the law of Mōüsēs isn’t broken, you’re angry at me because I made the whole of someone healthy on the sabbaton? 24 Don’t render a verdict merely by what first meets your eye; instead, render a lawful verdict.”*91
25 So some of the Hierosolumitai were saying, “Isn’t he the one they’re trying to kill? 26 But look, he’s speaking openly, and they say nothing to him. Perhaps the leaders truly know that this is the anointed one? 27 On the other hand, we know where he’s from. When the anointed one comes, nobody’s going to know where he’s from.”*92 28 A shout then rose from Iēsous as he said, while teaching in the temple precinct, “You do know both me and where I’m from! And I didn’t come at my own instigation—no, the one who sent me is full of truth—though you don’t know him. 29 I know him, because I’m from him, and he sent me.” 30 Then they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time hadn’t yet come.
31 But in that crowd, many believed in him, and they said, “When the anointed one comes, he’s not going to perform more signs than this man has!” 32 The Farisaioi heard the crowd murmuring these things about him, and the high priests and the Farisaioi sent their retainers to seize him.*93 33 Then Iēsous said, “I’ll be with you a little while longer, but then I’m heading off to the one who sent me. 34 You’ll look for me, but you won’t find [me], and where I’ll be, you can’t go.” 35 So the Ioudaioi said to each other, “Where’s he about to travel, where we won’t find him? Surely he’s not going to travel to the scattering of the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What’s the meaning of what he said?*94 ‘You’ll look for me, but you won’t find [me], and where I’ll be, you can’t go’?”
37 On the last day of the festival, the most important day, Iēsous took a stand and shouted these words: “If anyone’s thirsty, he needs to come to me and drink. 38 If someone trusts in me, then, as the writing has said, from his belly rivers of living water are going to run.” 39 But he said this about the life-breath, which those who trusted in him would receive; but there wasn’t any life-breath yet, because Iēsous wasn’t yet glorified.*95
40 So some of the crowd, after hearing his statements, said, “This is truly the prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the anointed one.” And still others said, “The anointed one can’t come from Galilaia, can he? 42 Hasn’t the writing said that the anointed one will come from the seed of David, and from the town of Bēthle’em, where David lived?”*96 43 So there was a split in the crowd because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.
45 Then the retainers went to the high priests and the Farisaioi, who said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?” 46 The retainers answered, “Nobody’s ever spoken that way before.” 47 Then the Farisaioi answered them, “Don’t tell us: You’ve been led astray too? 48 Have any of the leaders come to trust in him? Or any of the Farisaioi? 49 But this crowd doesn’t know anything about the law—they’re cursed.”*97 50 Nikodēmos—who’d come to him in [the] past*98—said to them, as he was one of them: 51 “Surely our law wouldn’t let us condemn someone without first hearing from him in person and finding out what he’s doing?” 52 They answered by saying to him, “You’re not from Galilaia too, are you? Look it up and see: no prophet originates from Galilaia.”*99
53 Then each one made his way back to his home.
Chapter 8
1 Now Iēsous made his way onto the mountain with the olive trees. 2 But in the early morning he made another appearance in the temple precinct, and the whole people came to him, and he sat and taught them. 3 But the scholars and the Farisaioi brought a woman who had been caught violating her marriage, and once they had made her stand in the middle of the crowd, 4 they said to him: “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of violating her marriage. 5 Now in the law Mōüsēs commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?”*100 6 They said this to put him to the test, so that they would have grounds to bring him down with an indictment. But Iēsous bent down, and he wrote down a formal summons with his finger on the ground. 7 When they kept on asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Whichever of you never did anything wrong had better be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And he bent down again and kept writing on the ground. 9 And when they heard him, one by one, clear down the line, starting from the elders, they went out, and then it was down to Iēsous alone, and the woman in the middle of the open space. 10 And Iēsous straightened up and said to her, “Where are they, woman? Has nobody brought you down with his judgment?” 11 And she said, “Nobody, master.” Then Iēsous said to her, “I’m not bringing you down either. Be on your way, [and] from now on don’t do anything wrong.”*101
12 Then Iēsous said to them again, “I’m the light of the universe: the one following after me doesn’t walk around in darkness, but will have the light of life.”*102 13 The Farisaioi then said to him, “Are you testifying on your own behalf? Then your testimony isn’t true.” 14 Iēsous responded by telling them, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is true, because I know where I come from and where I’m headed, but you don’t know where I come from and where I’m headed. 15 You make your judgment according to the body that dies, but I don’t judge anyone. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, because it’s not me alone, but rather me and the father who sent me. 17 But in your law it’s written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I’m the one testifying about myself, and my father who sent me testifies about me.” 19 So they said to him, “Where is your father?”*103 Iēsous answered, “You don’t know either me or my father. If you knew me, you would know my father too.”*104 20 He made these statements at the treasury while he was teaching in the temple precinct. But no one seized him, because his time hadn’t come yet.
21 Then he spoke to them again: “I’m headed off, and you’ll look for me, but in your wrongdoing you’ll die. Where I’m headed, you’re not able to go.”*105 22 Then the Ioudaioi said, “Surely he’s not going to kill himself? He did say, ‘Where I’m headed, you’re not able to go.’ ” 23 But he said to them, “You belong to the things below, but I belong to the things above. You belong to this world, but I don’t belong to this world. 24 So I said to you that you’ll die in the things you’ve done wrong. If in fact you don’t believe that I am, you’ll die in the things you’ve done wrong.” 25 Then they said to him, “Who are you?” Iēsous said to them, “What have I been telling you from the start? 26 I have many things I could say about you, and many judgments I could make, but the one who sent me is truthful, and the things I’ve heard from him I say to the world.” 27 They didn’t realize that he was talking to them about the father. 28 So Iēsous said [to them], “When you lift up the son of mankind, then you’ll realize that I am,*106 but in my own right I do nothing: on the contrary, I say these things as my father taught me to. 29 And the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me alone, because at all times I do what’s agreeable to him.”
30 When he said these things, many trusted in him. 31 So Iēsous said to the Ioudaioi who had come to trust him: “If you remain and live in what I’ve spoken, you’re truly my students, 32 and you’ll realize the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him: “We’re the seed of Abraam, and we’ve never been anyone’s slaves. What do you mean when you say we’ll be made free?” 34 Iēsous answered them: “Amēn amēn I tell you: everyone who does something wrong is a slave to wrongdoing. 35 But the slave doesn’t stay in the house for all time, whereas the son does stay for all time. 36 If
the son, then, sets you free, you’ll really be free.*107
37 “I know that you’re the seed of Abraam—nevertheless, you seek to kill me, because what I say doesn’t make any headway among you. 38 I tell about what I’ve seen in the father’s presence. So you, then, must do what you’ve heard from the father.” 39 They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraam.” Iēsous said to them, “If you’re offspring of Abraam, you’d do the work of Abraam. 40 But as it is, you seek to kill me, a person who’s told you the truth that I heard from god. Abraam didn’t do this! 41 You’re doing the work of your father.”*108 [So] they said to him, “We weren’t born from whoring. We have a single father, and that’s god.” 42 Iēsous said to them, “If god were your father, you would love me, as I’ve come from god, and I’ve arrived here. I haven’t come on my own! No, he sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand my language? 43 It’s because you can’t hear what I’m telling you! 44 You belong to your father the slanderer, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the start, and he hasn’t taken a stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks his own language, because he’s a liar and the father of lying. 45 But because I speak the truth, you don’t believe me. 46 Which of you proves me guilty of any wrongdoing? If I’m speaking the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 The one who’s from god listens to the things god says. That means you’re not listening, because you don’t belong to god.”*109