John 3

¹Now there was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler among the Judeans. ²This man came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one is able to perform these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."

³Jesus answered and said to him, "Amen, amen, I tell you: unless someone is born anōthen—from above—they cannot see the kingdom of God."

⁴Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person be born when they are old? They can’t enter their mother’s womb a second time and be born, can they?"

⁵Jesus answered, "Amen, amen, I tell you: unless someone is born of water and Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I told you, ‘It is necessary for you all to be born from above.’ ⁸The pneuma—the wind-spirit—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 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? ¹¹Amen, amen, I tell you: we speak about what we know and we testify to what we have seen, yet you people do not accept our testimony. ¹²If I told you all about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, in the same way it is necessary for the Son of Man to be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who trusts in him may have the life of the Age to come.

¹⁶For in this way God loved the world: He gave his unique, one-of-a-kind Son, so that everyone who trusts in him might not perish but have the life of the Age to come. ¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸The one who trusts in him is not condemned; but the one who does not trust has been condemned already, because they have not trusted in the name of the unique Son of God. ¹⁹And this is the verdict: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were wicked. ²⁰For everyone who practices foul things hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. ²¹But the one who lives out the truth comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been produced in God."

²²After these things, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he spent time there with them and was baptizing. ²³John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; people were coming and being baptized. ²⁴(For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)

²⁵Now a debate arose between John’s disciples and a Judean concerning purification. ²⁶They came to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the man who was with you across the Jordan, the one you testified about—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 them from heaven. ²⁸You yourselves can testify for me that I said, 'I am not the Messiah,' but rather, 'I have been sent ahead of that one.' ²⁹The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and listens for him, rejoices with deep joy at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰It is necessary for that man to increase, but for me to decrease.

³¹The one who comes from above is over 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 over all. ³²He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony. ³³The one who does accept his testimony has certified that God is true. ³⁴For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. ³⁵The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hand. ³⁶The one who trusts in the Son has the life of the Age to come; but the one who rejects the Son will not see life—instead, the wrath of God remains upon them."