The illness of Lazarus

1. Now a certain one was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and of Martha her sister.
2. And Mary was the one having anointed the Lord with ointment and having wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
3. Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is ill.”
4. But Jesus, having heard, said, “This illness is not to death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
5. And Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
6. Therefore, when He heard that he was ill, then indeed He remained in the place where He was two days.
7. After this He says to the disciples, “Let us go again into Judea.”
8. The disciples say to Him, “Rabbi, just now the Jews were seeking to stone You, and again You are going there.”
9. Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.”
10. “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11. He said these things, and after this He says to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go so that I may awaken him.”
12. Then the disciples said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will get well.”
13. But Jesus had spoken about his death, and they thought He speaks about the sleep of rest.
14. Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus 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. Then Thomas, the one called Didymus, said to his fellow-disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”

Jesus arrives at Bethany

17. Therefore Jesus, having come, found that he had already been four days in the tomb.
18. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.
19. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, so that they might console them concerning their brother.
20. Therefore Martha, when she heard that Jesus is coming, met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house.
21. Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
22. “But even now I know that whatever You might ask from God, God will give You.”
23. Jesus says to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24. Martha says to Him, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
25. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one believing in Me, even if he die, he will live.”
26. “And everyone living and believing in Me will certainly not die to the age; do you believe this?”
27. She says to Him, “Yes, Lord, I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, the One coming into the world.”
28. And having said this, she went and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, “The Teacher is present and calls for you.”
29. As soon as she heard, she rose quickly and came to Him.
30. Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
31. Therefore the Jews being with her in the house and consoling her, seeing Mary that she quickly rose and went out, followed her, thinking that she is going to the tomb so that she may weep there.

Jesus meets Mary and weeps

32. Therefore Mary, when she came where Jesus was, seeing Him, fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33. Therefore Jesus, when He saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping, was deeply moved in spirit and troubled within Himself.
34. And He said, “Where have you laid him?” They say to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35. Jesus wept.
36. Therefore the Jews were saying, “Behold how He loved him.”
37. But some of them said, “Was He not able, this One who opened the eyes of the blind man, to do that this man also might not die.”

The raising of Lazarus

38. Therefore Jesus, again being deeply moved within Himself, comes to the tomb, and it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39. Jesus says, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the one having died, says to Him, “Lord, already he stinks, for he is four days.”
40. Jesus says to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God.”
41. Therefore they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You heard Me.”
42. “And I knew that You always hear Me, but for the sake of the crowd standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43. And having said these things, He cried out with a great voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
44. The one having died came out, his feet and hands bound with strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus says to them, “Loose him and let him go.”

Responses of the people and the council’s decision

45. Therefore many of the Jews, who had come to Mary and had seen what He did, believed in Him.
46. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47. Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and were saying, “What do we do, for this man does many signs.”
48. “If we let Him thus alone, all will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49. But one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest in that year, said to them, “You know nothing.”
50. “Nor do you reason that it is profitable for you that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation perish.”
51. But this he did not say from himself, but being high priest of that year, he prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation.
52. And not for the nation only, but so that also the children of God who have been scattered might be gathered into one.
53. Therefore from that day they took counsel so that they might kill Him.

Jesus withdraws to Ephraim — Passover approaches

54. Therefore Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim, and there He remained with the disciples.
55. And the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover so that they might purify themselves.
56. Therefore they were seeking Jesus and were saying among themselves as they stood in the temple, “What does it seem to you, that He will not come to the feast.”
57. Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given command that if anyone should know where He is, he should report, so that they might seize Him.


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