John 11
11
Lazarus Dies at Bethany
1Now a man was sick —Lazarus from Bethany,#Mk 11:1 the village of Mary and her sister Martha.#Lk 10:38–42 2Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair,#Lk 7:38; Jn 12:3 and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick. 3So the sisters sent a message to him: “Lord, the one you love is sick.”
4When Jesus heard it, he said, “This sickness will not end in death but is for the glory of God,#Lk 9:32; Jn 9:3; 10:38; 11:40; 17:24; 2Co 3:18; 2Pt 3:18 so that the Son of God#Jn 5:19; Heb 1:2 may be glorified through it.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha, her sister, and Lazarus. 6So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. 7Then after that, he said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea#Lk 1:5 again.”
8“Rabbi,”#Mt 23:7–8; 26:25,49; Mk 9:5; 11:21; 14:45; Jn 1:38,49; 3:2,26; 4:31; 6:25; 9:2 the disciples told him, “just now the Jews tried to stone you,#Jn 10:31 and you’re going there again?”
9 “Aren’t there twelve hours in a day?” Jesus answered. “If anyone walks during the day, he doesn’t stumble, because he sees the light of this world.#Mt 5:14; Jn 8:12 10But if anyone walks during the night,#Jn 9:4 he does stumble, because the light is not in him.”
11He said this, and then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep,#Ac 13:36; 1Co 11:30 but I’m on my way to wake him up.”
12Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”
13Jesus, however, was speaking about his death, but they thought he was speaking about natural sleep. 14So Jesus then told them plainly, “Lazarus has died. 15I’m glad for you that I wasn’t there so that you may believe. But let’s go to him.”
16Then Thomas#Mk 3:18 (called “Twin”#11:16 Gk Didymus) said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go too so that we may die with him.”
The Resurrection and the Life
17When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb#Jn 5:28 four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem#Mt 23:37 (less than two miles#11:18 Lit fifteen stadia; one stadion = 600 feet away). 19Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
20As soon as Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22Yet even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
23 “Your brother will rise #
Mk 9:27
again,” Jesus told her.
24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”#Jn 2:4; 6:39; 1Pt 1:5; 3:3; 2Pt 3:3; Jd 18
25Jesus said to her, “I am#Ex 3:14; Jn 8:24,58 the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me,#Jn 6:35 even if he dies, will live.#Php 1:21 26Everyone who lives and believes in me will never die.#Jn 6:50; 8:51 Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah,#Mt 1:17; Eph 5:2 the Son#Jn 5:19 of God, who comes into the world.”#Jn 18:37
Jesus Shares the Sorrow of Death
28Having said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29As soon as Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.#Mk 1:45 30Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him. 31The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw that Mary got up quickly and went out. They followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb#Jn 5:28 to cry there.
32As soon as Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet#Rv 19:10 and told him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died!”
33When Jesus saw her crying, and the Jews who had come with her crying, he was deeply moved#11:33 Or angry, also in v. 38 in his spirit#Ps 51:12 and troubled. 34“Where have you put him?” he asked.
“Lord,” they told him, “come and see.”
35Jesus wept.#Lk 19:41
36So the Jews said, “See how he loved#Mk 14:44; Jn 5:20 him!” 37But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the blind man’s eyes#Jn 9:6–7 also have kept this man from dying?”
The Seventh Sign: Raising Lazarus from the Dead
38Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.#Mt 27:60; Mk 15:46; Lk 24:2; Jn 20:1 39“Remove the stone,” Jesus said.
Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”
40Jesus said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed you would see the glory#Jn 17:24 of God?” #Mk 9:23; 1Jn 3:2
41So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank#Mk 8:6; Rm 1:8 you that you heard me.#Jn 9:31 42I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent#Mk 9:37; Jn 1:6 me.” 43After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The dead man came out bound hand and foot with linen strips and with his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unwrap him and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
45Therefore, many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what he did believed in him.#Jn 2:23; 12:11 46But some of them went to the Pharisees#Mk 7:3 and told them what Jesus had done.
47So the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin#Mk 13:9 and were saying, “What are we going to do since this man is doing many signs? 48If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans#Ac 16:21 will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49One of them, Caiaphas,#Mt 26:3,57; Lk 3:2; Jn 18:13–14,24,28; Ac 4:6 who was high priest#Lv 16:32 that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50You’re not considering that it is to your#11:50 Other mss read to our advantage that one man should die for the people rather than the whole nation perish.”#Is 53:8; Jn 18:14 51He did not say this on his own, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die#2Co 4:10 for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children#Lk 1:7 of God. 53So from that day on they plotted to kill him.#Jn 5:18
54Jesus therefore no longer walked openly#Jn 7:1 among the Jews but departed from there to the countryside near the wilderness,#Mt 3:1; Rv 12:6 to a town called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the disciples.
55Now the Jewish Passover#Ex 12:11 was near, and many went up to Jerusalem#Mt 23:37 from the country to purify themselves before the Passover. 56They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple,#Ac 21:26 “What do you think? He won’t come to the festival,#Jn 2:23 will he?” 57The chief priests#Mt 2:4 and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so that they could arrest him.
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John 11: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
John 11
11
The death of Lazarus
1-2A man called Lazarus was sick in the village of Bethany. He had two sisters, Mary and Martha. This was the same Mary who later poured perfume on the Lord's head and wiped his feet with her hair.#Lk 10.38,39.#Jn 12.3. 3The sisters sent a message to the Lord and told him that his good friend Lazarus was sick.
4When Jesus heard this, he said, “His sickness won't end in death. It will bring glory to God and his Son.”
5Jesus loved Martha and her sister and brother. 6But he stayed where he was for two more days. 7Then he said to his disciples, “Now we will go back to Judea.”
8“Teacher,” they said, “the people there want to stone you to death! Why do you want to go back?”
9Jesus answered, “Aren't there twelve hours in each day? If you walk during the day, you will have light from the sun, and you won't stumble. 10But if you walk during the night, you will stumble, because you don't have any light.” 11Then he told them, “Our friend Lazarus is asleep, and I am going there to wake him up.”
12They replied, “Lord, if he is asleep, he will get better.” 13Jesus really meant that Lazarus was dead, but they thought he was talking only about sleep.
14Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead! 15I am glad that I wasn't there, because now you will have a chance to put your faith in me. Let's go to him.”
16Thomas, whose nickname was “Twin”, said to the other disciples, “Come on. Let's go, so we can die with him.”
Jesus brings Lazarus to life
17When Jesus got to Bethany, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. 18Bethany was less than three kilometres from Jerusalem, 19and many people had come from the city to comfort Martha and Mary because their brother had died.
20When Martha heard that Jesus had arrived, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed in the house. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22Yet even now I know that God will do anything you ask.”
23Jesus told her, “Your brother will live again!”
24Martha answered, “I know that he will be raised to life on the last day,#11.24 the last day: When God will judge all people. when all the dead are raised.”
25Jesus then said, “I am the one who raises the dead to life! Everyone who has faith in me will live, even if they die. 26And everyone who lives because of faith in me will never really die. Do you believe this?”
27“Yes, Lord!” she replied. “I believe that you are Christ, the Son of God. You are the one we hoped would come into the world.”
28After Martha said this, she went and privately said to her sister Mary, “The Teacher is here, and he wants to see you.” 29As soon as Mary heard this, she got up and went out to Jesus. 30He was still outside the village where Martha had gone to meet him. 31Many people had come to comfort Mary, and when they saw her quickly leave the house, they thought she was going out to the tomb to cry. So they followed her.
32Mary went to where Jesus was. Then as soon as she saw him, she knelt at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33When Jesus saw that Mary and the people with her were crying, he was terribly upset 34and asked, “Where have you put his body?”
They replied, “Lord, come and you will see.”
35Jesus started crying, 36and the people said, “See how much he loved Lazarus.”
37Some of them said, “He gives sight to the blind. Why couldn't he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38Jesus was still terribly upset. So he went to the tomb, which was a cave with a stone rolled against the entrance. 39Then he told the people to roll the stone away. But Martha said, “Lord, you know that Lazarus has been dead four days, and there will be a bad smell.”
40Jesus replied, “Didn't I tell you that if you had faith, you would see the glory of God?”
41After the stone had been rolled aside, Jesus looked up towards heaven and prayed, “Father, I thank you for answering my prayer. 42I know that you always answer my prayers. But I said this, so that the people here would believe that you sent me.”
43When Jesus had finished praying, he shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The man who had been dead came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with strips of burial cloth, and a cloth covered his face.
Jesus then told the people, “Untie him and let him go.”
The plot to kill Jesus
(Matthew 26.1-5; Mark 14.1,2; Luke 22.1,2)
45Many of the people who had come to visit Mary saw the things that Jesus did, and they put their faith in him. 46Others went to the Pharisees and told what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What should we do? This man is performing a lot of miracles.#11.47 miracles: See the note at 2.11. 48If we don't stop him now, everyone will put their faith in him. Then the Romans will come and destroy our temple and our nation.”#11.48 destroy our temple and our nation: The Jewish leaders were afraid that Jesus would lead his followers to rebel against Rome and that the Roman army would then destroy their nation.
49One of the council members was Caiaphas, who was also high priest that year. He spoke up and said, “You people don't have any sense at all! 50Don't you know it is better for one person to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed?” 51Caiaphas did not say this on his own. As high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation. 52Yet Jesus would not die just for the Jewish nation. He would die to bring together all God's scattered people. 53From that day on, the council started making plans to put Jesus to death.
54Because of this plot against him, Jesus stopped going around in public. He went to the town of Ephraim, which was near the desert, and he stayed there with his disciples.
55It was almost time for Passover. Many of the Jewish people who lived out in the country had come to Jerusalem to get themselves ready#11.55 get themselves ready: The Jewish people had to do certain things to prepare themselves to worship God. for the festival. 56They looked around for Jesus. Then when they were in the temple, they asked each other, “You don't think he will come here for Passover, do you?”
57The chief priests and the Pharisees told the people to let them know if any of them saw Jesus. That is how they hoped to arrest him.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012