John 3
3
Jesus and Nicodemus
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man* came to Him by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can perform these signs that You are performing unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus replied and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born again, * he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He is not able to enter into his mother’s womb for the second time and be born, can he?” 5 Jesus responded, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a person is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I asserted to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it is coming from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus replied and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and you do not know these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, We speak of what We know, and testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 And no one has ascended into heaven, except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. * 14 And just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, * so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the Only Son of God. 19 Now the basis for judgment is this, that the light has come into the world, and men * loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who practices evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his deeds may not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be made visible, that they have been done in God.”
Jesus and John the Baptist
22 After these things, Jesus and His disciples came into the Judean countryside, and there He spent time with them and engaged in baptising. 23 Now John was also baptising at Aenon, near Salim, because water* was abundant there, and they were coming and being baptised— 24 for John had not yet been thrown into prison.
25 Now a dispute arose between some of John’s disciples with a Jew concerning purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified—see, this man* is baptising, and all are coming to Him!” 27 John answered and said, “A man can receive not a single thing unless it is granted to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear witness to me that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before that One.’ 29 The One who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly on account of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has reached its full measure. 30 He must increase, while I must decrease.”
The One Who Comes From Above
31 The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks from an earthly perspective.* The One who comes from heaven is above all. 32 What He has seen and heard, this He bears witness to, yet no one accepts His testimony. 33 The one who accepts His testimony has certified that God is true. 34 For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for He gives the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things into His hand. 36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Notes
2 The word man is not found in the Greek text but is contextually implied. It is supplied in the translation for clarity regarding the subject. So also v. 26
3 Or born from above. So also v. 7
13 Some ancient manuscripts insert the relative clause who is in the heaven at this point
14 Refers to Num. 21:9
19 Or people, as the term is understood in a generic sense
23 Greek waters
26 The word man is supplied to the text based on context for the sake of clarity
31 Greek The one who is from the earth is from the earth and speaks from the earth
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John 3: AFINTLIT
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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).
