John

¹There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council.

²He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, because no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him."

³Jesus replied, "Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."

⁴Nicodemus said to him, "How can someone be born when they are old? Can they enter their mother's womb a second time and be born?"

⁵Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit."

⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be surprised that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

⁸The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. That is how it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

⁹Nicodemus asked, "How can this be?"

¹⁰Jesus answered, "You are Israel's teacher, and you do not understand these things?"

¹¹"Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony."

¹²"If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?"

¹³No one has gone up into heaven except the one who came down from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but will have eternal life.

¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

¹⁸Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

¹⁹This is the verdict: light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.

²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come into the light, for fear that their deeds will be exposed.

²¹But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done through God.

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them and baptized.

²³John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there, and people were coming and being baptized.

²⁴This was before John was put in prison.

²⁵A dispute arose between some of John's disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of purification.

²⁶They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him."

²⁷John replied, "A person can receive only what is given to them from heaven."

²⁸"You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, 'I am not the Christ but am sent ahead of him.'"

²⁹"The bride belongs to the groom. The friend of the groom, who stands and listens for him, is overjoyed when he hears the groom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete."

³⁰He must become greater; I must become less.

³¹The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.

³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

³³Whoever has accepted his testimony has confirmed that God is truthful.

³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.

³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on them.