John 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 There was a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish ruling council.
1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
2 He came at night to where Jesus was and said, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God, for nobody could do the miraculous signs you're doing unless God was with him.”
2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.”
3 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “Unless you are reborn, you can't experience God's kingdom.”
3 Jesus answered him, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.”
4 “How can you be reborn when you're old?” Nicodemus asked. “You can't go back into your mother's womb and be born a second time!”
4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 “I tell you the truth, you can't enter God's kingdom unless you are born of water and the Spirit,” Jesus told him.
5 Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and Spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom.
6 “What's born of the body is body, and what's born of the Spirit is Spirit.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Don't be surprised at my telling you, ‘You must be reborn.’
7 Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must all be born anew.’
8 The wind blows wherever it wants, and just as you hear the sound it makes, but don't know where it's coming from or where it's going, that's how it is for everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 “How is this possible?” Nicodemus asked.
9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”
10 “You're a famous teacher in Israel, and yet you don't understand such things?” Jesus replied.
10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things?
11 “I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know and give evidence regarding what we have seen, but you refuse to accept our testimony.
11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.
12 If you don't trust what I say when I tell you about earthly things, how would you ever trust what I say if I were to tell you about heavenly things?
12 If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
13 No one has gone up to heaven, but the Son of man came down from heaven.
13 No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so the Son of man must be lifted up,
14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15 so that everyone who trusts in him will have eternal life.
15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God loved the world, and this is how: he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who trusts in him shouldn't die, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
17 God didn't send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
17 For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
18 Those who trust in him are not condemned, while those who don't trust in him are condemned already because they didn't trust in the one and only Son of God.
18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only born Son of God.
19 This is how the decision is made: the light came to the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light, for their actions were evil.
19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil.
20 All those who do evil hate the light and don't come into the light, because they don't want their actions to be exposed.
20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
21 But those who do good come into the light, so that what God accomplishes in them can be revealed.”
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be revealed, that they have been done in God.”
22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into Judea and spent some time with the people, baptizing them.
22 After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land of Judea. He stayed there with them and baptized.
23 John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water there and people kept coming to be baptized.
23 John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was much water there. They came and were baptized;
24 (This was before John was imprisoned.)
24 for John was not yet thrown into prison.
25 An argument developed between John's disciples and a Jew over ceremonial purification.
25 Therefore a dispute arose on the part of John’s disciples with some Jews about purification.
26 They went to John and told him, “Rabbi, the man you were with on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you testified in support of—see, now he's baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”
26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, he baptizes, and everyone is coming to him.”
27 “No one receives anything unless they're given it from heaven,” John replied.
27 John answered, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven.
28 “You yourselves can testify that I declared, ‘I'm not the Messiah. I've been sent to prepare his way.’
28 You yourselves testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before him.’
29 The bridegroom is the one who has the bride! The best man waits, listening for the bridegroom, and is so happy when he hears the bridegroom's voice—in the same way my happiness is now complete.
29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore my joy is made full.
30 He must become more important, and I must become less important.”
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
31 He who comes from above is greater than all; he who comes from the earth belongs to the earth and talks about earthly things. He who comes from heaven is greater than all.
31 “He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
32 He gives evidence about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he has to say.
32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
33 Yet anyone who accepts what he says confirms that God is truthful.
33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
34 For the one God sent speaks God's words, because God doesn't restrict the Spirit.
34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
35 The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.
35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.
36 Anyone who trusts in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to trust the Son will not experience eternal life but remains under God's condemnation.
36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who disobeys the Son won’t see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Nicodemus
A Pharisee and leader of the Jews who came to Jesus at night, later asked the council to hear Jesus before judging him, and brought myrrh and aloes of about seventy-five pounds…
Cited in the guide: John 3:1; John 7:50; John 19:39
Cross references (36)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 John 19:39; John 3:10; John 7:47–50; Luke 23:13
- 2 John 5:36; Acts 10:38; Acts 2:22; John 9:30–33; John 9:16
- 3 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 3:5–6; 1 Peter 1:23–25; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 5:1
- 4 1 Corinthians 2:14; 1 Corinthians 1:18; John 4:11–12; John 3:3; John 6:53
- 5 Ezekiel 36:25–27; Ephesians 5:26; Acts 2:38; 1 Peter 3:21; 1 Corinthians 6:11
- 6 Galatians 5:16–21; Ezekiel 36:26–27; Romans 8:4–9; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Corinthians 15:47–50
- 7 Ephesians 4:22–24; John 3:3; Romans 12:1–2; 1 Peter 1:22; John 3:12
- 8 Ecclesiastes 11:4–5; 1 Corinthians 2:11; Acts 2:2; Ezekiel 37:9; 1 John 2:29
- 9 Isaiah 42:16; John 6:52; John 6:60; Luke 1:34; John 3:4
- 10 Matthew 22:29; Jeremiah 8:8–9; Ezekiel 11:19; Matthew 15:14; Ezekiel 36:25–27
- 11 John 8:38; 1 John 5:6–12; John 12:49; John 8:14; John 1:18
- 12 1 Corinthians 3:1–2; 1 Corinthians 2:7–9; Hebrews 5:11; John 3:31–36; 1 Peter 2:1–3
- 13 Proverbs 30:4; John 6:38; Acts 2:34; John 1:18; 1 Corinthians 15:47
- 14 Numbers 21:7–9; John 8:28; John 12:32–34; Luke 24:26–27; Luke 24:44–46
- 15 John 3:16; John 6:40; 1 John 5:11–13; John 3:36; John 12:44–46
- 16 Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9–10; Romans 8:32; John 3:15; John 11:25–26
- 17 1 John 4:14; Luke 19:10; John 12:47–48; John 6:57; John 6:40
- 18 1 John 5:10; Mark 16:16; Romans 8:1; John 5:24; 1 John 5:12
- 19 John 8:12; 2 Thessalonians 2:12; John 9:39–41; Romans 2:8; John 12:43
- 20 Ephesians 5:11–13; John 7:7; Job 24:13–17; Proverbs 1:29; Proverbs 4:18
- 21 1 John 1:6; Psalm 139:23–24; 3 John 11; Ephesians 5:9; Philippians 2:13
- 22 John 4:1–3; John 3:26; John 7:3
- 23 Mark 1:4–5; Luke 3:7; Ezekiel 43:2; 1 Samuel 9:4; Matthew 3:5–6
- 24 Matthew 4:12; Matthew 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19–20; Luke 9:7–9
- 25 John 2:6; Matthew 3:11; Hebrews 6:2; Hebrews 9:10; Hebrews 9:23
- 26 John 1:7; James 3:14–18; John 1:15; Galatians 6:12–13; John 12:19
- 27 James 1:17; 1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 4:10–11; Amos 7:15
- 28 John 1:20; John 1:23; Luke 1:16–17; Matthew 3:11–12; Malachi 3:1
- 29 Ephesians 5:25–27; Isaiah 54:5; Hosea 2:19; Matthew 9:15; Ezekiel 16:8
- 30 Colossians 1:18; Psalm 72:17–19; Hebrews 3:2–6; Isaiah 9:7; 1 Corinthians 3:5
- 31 Matthew 28:18; John 8:23; Romans 9:5; John 6:33; 1 John 4:5
- 32 John 3:11; John 15:15; John 1:11; John 8:26; John 5:20
- 33 Ephesians 1:13; Hebrews 6:17; Titus 1:1–2; 2 Corinthians 1:18; Romans 3:3–4
- 34 Acts 10:38; Matthew 12:18; John 15:26; John 5:26; Isaiah 11:2–5
- 35 Matthew 28:18; John 5:20; Luke 10:22; John 5:22; John 17:2
- 36 John 5:24; John 1:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Ephesians 5:6; John 3:15–16
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
We observe, beloved, that the intimation with which we yesterday excited your attention has brought you together with more alacrity, and in greater number than usual; but meanwhile let us, if you please, pay our debt of a discourse on the Gospel Lesson, which comes in due course.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
Little children who go daily to their teachers receive their lessons, and repeat them, and never cease from this kind of acquisition, but sometimes employ nights as well as days, and this they are compelled to do for perishable and transient things.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 14 (1889)
For Christ also said, "Except ye be born again, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now, that it is impossible for those who have once been born to enter into their mothers' wombs, is manifest to all.
… that men can be saved in no other way from the old wound of the serpent than by believing in Him who, in the likeness of sinful flesh, is lifted up from the earth upon the tree of martyrdom, and draws all things to Himself, and vivifies the dead.
These I directed, O sweet Truth, to Thy inward melody, pondering on the "fair and fit," and longing to stay and listen to Thee, and to rejoice greatly at the Bridegroom's voice, and I could not; for by the voices of my own errors was I driven forth, and by the weight of my own pride was I sinking into …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)