John 3

¹Now there was a man from among the Pharisees, Nicodemus by name, a ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to him at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."

³Jesus answered and said to him, "Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

⁴Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person be born when he is old? Surely he cannot enter into his mother's womb a second time and be born, can he?"

⁵Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born of water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶What has been born from the flesh is flesh, and what has been born from the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.' ⁸The wind blows where it wills, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone who has been born of the Spirit."

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to him, "How can these things happen?"

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, "You are the teacher of Israel and you do not understand these things? ¹¹Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak what we know and we bear witness to what we have seen, yet you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³And no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Humanity.

¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Humanity be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶For God loved the world in this way: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸The 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. ¹⁹And this is the judgment: that the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. ²⁰For everyone who does worthless things hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his deeds may not be exposed. ²¹But the one who does the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be made visible—that they have been worked in God."

²²After these things, Jesus and his disciples came into the land of Judea, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing. ²³Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there, and people kept coming and being baptized— ²⁴for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵Then a dispute arose on the part of John's disciples with a Judean about purification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness—look, he is baptizing and everyone is going to him."

²⁷John answered and said, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves bear witness for me that I said, 'I am not the Christ, but rather I have been sent ahead of him.' ²⁹The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. But the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has been fulfilled. ³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. ³²What he has seen and heard, this he testifies to, yet no one accepts his testimony. ³³The one who has accepted his testimony has certified that God is true. ³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit by measure. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life—rather, the wrath of God remains upon him."