John 11 : 1 (ERVEN)
There was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany, where Mary and her sister Martha lived.
John 11 : 2 (ERVEN)
(Mary is the same woman who later put perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) Mary's brother was Lazarus, the man who was now sick.
John 11 : 3 (ERVEN)
So Mary and Martha sent someone to tell Jesus, "Lord, your dear friend Lazarus is sick."
John 11 : 4 (ERVEN)
When Jesus heard this he said, "The end of this sickness will not be death. No, this sickness is for the glory of God. This has happened to bring glory to the Son of God."
John 11 : 5 (ERVEN)
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11 : 6 (ERVEN)
So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days
John 11 : 7 (ERVEN)
and then said to his followers, "We should go back to Judea."
John 11 : 8 (ERVEN)
They answered, "But Teacher, those Jews there tried to stone you to death. That was only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?"
John 11 : 9 (ERVEN)
Jesus answered, "There are twelve hours of light in the day. Whoever walks in the day will not stumble and fall because they can see with the light from the sun.
John 11 : 10 (ERVEN)
But whoever walks at night will stumble because there is no light."
John 11 : 11 (ERVEN)
Then Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus is now sleeping, but I am going there to wake him."
John 11 : 12 (ERVEN)
The followers answered, "But, Lord, if he can sleep, he will get well."
John 11 : 13 (ERVEN)
They thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was literally sleeping, but he really meant that Lazarus was dead.
John 11 : 14 (ERVEN)
So then Jesus said plainly, "Lazarus is dead.
John 11 : 15 (ERVEN)
And I am glad I was not there. I am happy for you because now you will believe in me. We will go to him now."
John 11 : 16 (ERVEN)
Then Thomas, the one called "Twin," said to the other followers, "We will go too. We will die there with Jesus."
John 11 : 17 (ERVEN)
Jesus arrived in Bethany and found that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb for four days.
John 11 : 18 (ERVEN)
Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem.
John 11 : 19 (ERVEN)
Many Jews had come to see Martha and Mary. They came to comfort them about their brother Lazarus.
John 11 : 20 (ERVEN)
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to greet him. But Mary stayed home.
John 11 : 21 (ERVEN)
Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11 : 22 (ERVEN)
But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask."
John 11 : 23 (ERVEN)
Jesus said, "Your brother will rise and be alive again."
John 11 : 24 (ERVEN)
Martha answered, "I know that he will rise to live again at the time of the resurrection on the last day."
John 11 : 25 (ERVEN)
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection. I am life. Everyone who believes in me will have life, even if they die.
John 11 : 26 (ERVEN)
And everyone who lives and believes in me will never really die. Martha, do you believe this?"
John 11 : 27 (ERVEN)
Martha answered, "Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God. You are the one who was coming to the world."
John 11 : 28 (ERVEN)
After Martha said these things, she went back to her sister Mary. She talked to Mary alone and said, "The Teacher is here. He is asking for you."
John 11 : 29 (ERVEN)
When Mary heard this, she stood up and went quickly to Jesus.
John 11 : 30 (ERVEN)
He had not yet come into the village. He was still at the place where Martha met him.
John 11 : 31 (ERVEN)
The Jews who were in the house comforting Mary saw her get up and leave quickly. They thought she was going to the tomb to cry there. So they followed her.
John 11 : 32 (ERVEN)
Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw him, she bowed at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
John 11 : 33 (ERVEN)
When Jesus saw Mary crying and the people with her crying too, he was very upset and deeply troubled.
John 11 : 34 (ERVEN)
He asked, "Where did you put him?" They said, "Lord, come and see."
John 11 : 35 (ERVEN)
Jesus cried.
John 11 : 36 (ERVEN)
And the Jews said, "Look! He loved Lazarus very much!"
John 11 : 37 (ERVEN)
But some of them said, "Jesus healed the eyes of the blind man. Why didn't he help Lazarus and stop him from dying?"
John 11 : 38 (ERVEN)
Again feeling very upset, Jesus came to the tomb. It was a cave with a large stone covering the entrance.
John 11 : 39 (ERVEN)
He said, "Move the stone away." Martha said, "But, Lord, it has been four days since Lazarus died. There will be a bad smell." Martha was the sister of the dead man.
John 11 : 40 (ERVEN)
Then Jesus said to her, "Remember what I told you? I said that if you believed, you would see God's divine greatness. "
John 11 : 41 (ERVEN)
So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you heard me.
John 11 : 42 (ERVEN)
I know that you always hear me. But I said these things because of the people here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me."
John 11 : 43 (ERVEN)
After Jesus said this he called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"
John 11 : 44 (ERVEN)
The dead man came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with pieces of cloth. He had a handkerchief covering his face. Jesus said to the people, "Take off the cloth and let him go."
John 11 : 45 (ERVEN)
There were many Jews who came to visit Mary. When they saw what Jesus did, many of them believed in him.
John 11 : 46 (ERVEN)
But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus did.
John 11 : 47 (ERVEN)
Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the high council. They said, "What should we do? This man is doing many miraculous signs.
John 11 : 48 (ERVEN)
If we let him continue doing these things, everyone will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our Temple and our nation."
John 11 : 49 (ERVEN)
One of the men there was Caiaphas. He was the high priest that year. He said, "You people know nothing!
John 11 : 50 (ERVEN)
It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. But you don't realize this."
John 11 : 51 (ERVEN)
Caiaphas did not think of this himself. As that year's high priest, he was really prophesying that Jesus would die for the Jewish people.
John 11 : 52 (ERVEN)
Yes, he would die for the Jewish people. But he would also die for God's other children scattered all over the world. He would die to bring them all together and make them one people.
John 11 : 53 (ERVEN)
That day the Jewish leaders began planning to kill Jesus.
John 11 : 54 (ERVEN)
So Jesus stopped traveling around openly among the Jews. He went away to a town called Ephraim in an area near the desert. He stayed there with his followers.
John 11 : 55 (ERVEN)
It was almost time for the Jewish Passover festival. Many people from the country went to Jerusalem before the Passover. They went to do the special things to make themselves pure for the festival.
John 11 : 56 (ERVEN)
The people looked for Jesus. They stood in the Temple area and asked each other, "Is he coming to the festival? What do you think?"
John 11 : 57 (ERVEN)
But the leading priests and the Pharisees had given a special order about Jesus. They said that anyone who knew where he was must tell them so that they could arrest him.
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