John 11
11
The Death of Lazarus
1 Now there was a certain man who was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 And it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. 3 So the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, the one whom You love is sick.” 4 And having heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness is not meant to result in death, * but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed in the place where He was for two days. 7 Then, after this, He said to His* disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” 8 The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just recently seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?” 9 Jesus responded, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, since the light is not in him.” 11 These things He said, and after this, He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to wake him up.” 12 So the disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has merely* fallen asleep, he will get well.” 13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking in reference to the rest of sleep. 14 So then, Jesus said to them in clear terms: “Lazarus has died, 15 and I rejoice for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16 So Thomas (called Didymus*) said to his* fellow disciples, “Let us go also, that we may die with Him.”
Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life
17 Now, having arrived, Jesus found he had already been four days in the tomb. 18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, approximately fifteen stadia,* 19 and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary to offer them consolation regarding their brother. 20 So Martha, when she heard that Jesus was on His way, went to meet Him, but Mary remained seated in the house. 21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But even now, I know that whatever You ask God, God will grant it to 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 on the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in Me will live, even though he dies, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die forever. ** Do you believe this?” 27 She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
Jesus Weeps
28 And after she had said this, she departed and called her sister Mary privately, saying, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” 29 And when she heard it, she got up quickly and began to come to Him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him. 31 So the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. 32 So Mary, when she came where Jesus was and saw Him, fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been in this place, my brother would not have died.” 33 Then Jesus, when He saw her weeping and the Jews who accompanied her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled within Himself. 34 And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!” 37 But some of them said, “Could not this man,* who opened the eyes of the blind, have done something so that this man* also would not have died?”
Lazarus is Raised
38 Then Jesus, again being deeply moved within Himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead one, said to Him, “Lord, he is stinking already, for it has been four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I give thanks to You that You have heard Me. 42 And I knew that You always hear Me, but I said it on account of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that You sent Me.” 43 And having said these things, He cried out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead one came out, his feet and hands bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Untie him, and let him go.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus
Matt. 26:1-5; Mk. 14:1-2; Lk. 22:1-2
45 Therefore, many of the Jews who had come with Mary and had seen what He did believed in Him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and informed them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we doing in light of the fact that this man is performing many signs? 48 If we allow Him to continue 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, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. 50 Nor do you take into account that it is advantageous for you that one man should die on behalf of the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 Now he did not say this from himself, but as he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also that He might gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 So from that day they conspired to kill Him.
54 Therefore, Jesus no longer kept walking publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there He stayed with the disciples. 55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, so that they might purify themselves. 56 And they were seeking Jesus, and were speaking with one another as they stood in the temple,* “What do you think? That He will not come to the feast?” 57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, in order that they might arrest Him.
Notes
4 Greek not to death
7 Greek the . Here, the Greek definite article functions pronominally, corresponding contextually to the English possessive His
12 The word merely is contextually supplied for clarity
16 Greek the . Here, the Greek definite article functions pronominally, corresponding contextually to the English possessive his
16 Or Twin
18 Or approximately two miles away
26 Greek to the age
26 The word forever is retained for exegetical purposes
37 The word man is supplied to the text based on context
48 Greek If we allow Him like this
48 Greek the . Here, the Greek definite article functions pronominally, corresponding contextually to the English possessive our. Used twice in this verse
56 Or outer courts of the temple
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
