John 14-21

GOD’S WORD Translation

Jesus Promises to Send the Holy Spirit

14 “Don’t be troubled. Believe in God, and believe in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms. If that were not true, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? ³ If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again. Then I will bring you into my presence so that you will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you’re going. So how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one goes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him ⌞through me⌟ and have seen him ⌞in me⌟.”

⁸ Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.”

⁹ Jesus replied, “I have been with all of you for a long time. Don’t you know me yet, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? What I’m telling you doesn’t come from me. The Father, who lives in me, does what he wants. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me because of the things I do.

¹² “I can guarantee this truth: Those who believe in me will do the things that I am doing. They will do even greater things because I am going to the Father. ¹³ I will do anything you ask ⌞the Father⌟ in my name so that the Father will be given glory because of the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me to do something, I will do it.

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey my commandments. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper who will be with you forever. ¹⁷ That helper is the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it doesn’t see or know him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you all alone. I will come back to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. You will live because I live. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father and that you are in me and that I am in you. ²¹ Whoever knows and obeys my commandments is the person who loves me. Those who love me will have my Father’s love, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”

²² Judas (not Iscariot) asked Jesus, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

²³ Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will go to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ A person who doesn’t love me doesn’t do what I say. I don’t make up what you hear me say. What I say comes from the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “I have told you this while I’m still with you. ²⁶ However, the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything. He will remind you of everything that I have ever told you.

²⁷ “I’m leaving you peace. I’m giving you my peace. I don’t give you the kind of peace that the world gives. So don’t be troubled or cowardly. ²⁸ You heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away, but I’m coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I’m going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am.

²⁹ “I’m telling you this now before it happens. When it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰ The ruler of this world has no power over me. But he’s coming, so I won’t talk with you much longer. ³¹ However, I want the world to know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father has commanded me to do. Get up! We have to leave.”

Jesus, the True Vine

15 ⌞Then Jesus said,⌟ “I am the true vine, and my Father takes care of the vineyard. ² He removes every one of my branches that doesn’t produce fruit. He also prunes every branch that does produce fruit to make it produce more fruit.

³ “You are already clean ^[a] because of what I have told you. ⁴ Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.

⁵ “I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who live in me while I live in them will produce a lot of fruit. But you can’t produce anything without me. ⁶ Whoever doesn’t live in me is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Branches like this are gathered, thrown into a fire, and burned. ⁷ If you live in me and what I say lives in you, then ask for anything you want, and it will be yours. ⁸ You give glory to my Father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you are my disciples.

⁹ “I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my Father’s commandments, and in that way I live in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete. ¹² Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do. ¹³ The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you obey my commandments. ¹⁵ I don’t call you servants anymore, because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. But I’ve called you friends because I’ve made known to you everything that I’ve heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for. ¹⁷ Love each other. This is what I’m commanding you to do.

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, realize that it hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you had anything in common with the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But you don’t have anything in common with the world. I chose you from the world, and that’s why the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant isn’t greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they did what I said, they will also do what you say. ²¹ Indeed, they will do all this to you because you are committed to me, since they don’t know the one who sent me. ²² If I hadn’t come and spoken to them, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. ²³ The person who hates me also hates my Father. ²⁴ If I hadn’t done among them what no one else has done, they wouldn’t have any sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. ²⁵ In this way what is written in their Scriptures has come true: ‘They hate me for no reason.’

²⁶ “The helper whom I will send to you from the Father will come. This helper, the Spirit of Truth who comes from the Father, will declare the truth about me. ²⁷ You will declare the truth, too, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Sadness Will Turn to Joy

16 ⌞Jesus continued,⌟ “I have said these things to you so that you won’t lose your faith. ² You will be thrown out of synagogues. Certainly, the time is coming when people who murder you will think that they are serving God. ³ They will do these things to you because they haven’t known the Father or me. ⁴ But I’ve told you this so that when it happens you’ll remember what I’ve told you. I didn’t tell you this at first, because I was with you.

⁵ “Now I’m going to the one who sent me. Yet, none of you asks me where I’m going. ⁶ But because I’ve told you this, you’re filled with sadness. ⁷ However, I am telling you the truth: It’s good for you that I’m going away. If I don’t go away, the helper won’t come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ⁸ He will come to convict the world of sin, to show the world what has God’s approval, and to convince the world that God judges it. ⁹ He will convict the world of sin, because people don’t believe in me. ¹⁰ He will show the world what has God’s approval, because I’m going to the Father and you won’t see me anymore. ¹¹ He will convince the world that God judges it, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹² “I have a lot more to tell you, but that would be too much for you now. ¹³ When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into the full truth. He won’t speak on his own. He will speak what he hears and will tell you about things to come. ¹⁴ He will give me glory, because he will tell you what I say. ¹⁵ Everything the Father says is also what I say. That is why I said, ‘He will take what I say and tell it to you.’

¹⁶ “In a little while you won’t see me anymore. Then in a little while you will see me again.”

¹⁷ Some of his disciples said to each other, “What does he mean? He tells us that in a little while we won’t see him. Then he tells us that in a little while we will see him again and that he’s going to the Father.” ¹⁸ So they were asking each other, “What does he mean when he says, ‘In a little while’? We don’t understand what he’s talking about.”

¹⁹ Jesus knew they wanted to ask him something. So he said to them, “Are you trying to figure out among yourselves what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you won’t see me, and in a little while you will see me again’? ²⁰ I can guarantee this truth: You will cry because you are sad, but the world will be happy. You will feel pain, but your pain will turn to happiness. ²¹ A woman has pain when her time to give birth comes. But after the child is born, she doesn’t remember the pain anymore because she’s happy that a child has been brought into the world.

²² “Now you’re in a painful situation. But I will see you again. Then you will be happy, and no one will take that happiness away from you. ²³ When that day comes, you won’t ask me any more questions. I can guarantee this truth: If you ask the Father for anything in my name, he will give it to you. ²⁴ So far you haven’t asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive so that you can be completely happy.

²⁵ “I have used examples to illustrate these things. The time is coming when I won’t use examples to speak to you. Rather, I will speak to you about the Father in plain words. ²⁶ When that day comes, you will ask for what you want in my name. I’m telling you that I won’t have to ask the Father for you. ²⁷ The Father loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸ I left the Father and came into the world. Again, ⌞as I’ve said,⌟ I’m going to leave the world and go back to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Now you’re talking in plain words and not using examples. ³⁰ Now we know that you know everything. You don’t need to wait for questions to be asked. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God.”

³¹ Jesus replied to them, “Now you believe. ³² The time is coming, and is already here, when all of you will be scattered. Each of you will go your own way and leave me all alone. Yet, I’m not all alone, because the Father is with me. ³³ I’ve told you this so that my peace will be with you. In the world you’ll have trouble. But cheer up! I have overcome the world.”

Jesus Prays for Himself, His Disciples, and His Church

17 After saying this, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the time is here. Give your Son glory so that your Son can give you glory. ² After all, you’ve given him authority over all humanity so that he can give eternal life to all those you gave to him. ³ This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. ⁴ On earth I have given you glory by finishing the work you gave me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, give me glory in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.

⁶ “I made your name known to the people you gave me. They are from this world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They did what you told them. ⁷ Now they know that everything you gave me comes from you, ⁸ because I gave them the message that you gave me. They have accepted this message, and they know for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.

⁹ “I pray for them. I’m not praying for the world but for those you gave me, because they are yours. ¹⁰ Everything I have is yours, and everything you have is mine. I have been given glory by the people you have given me. ¹¹ I won’t be in the world much longer, but they are in the world, and I’m coming back to you. Holy Father, keep them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me, so that their unity may be like ours. ¹² While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name that you gave me. I watched over them, and none of them, except one person, became lost. So Scripture came true.

¹³ “But now, ⌞Father,⌟ I’m coming back to you. I say these things while I’m still in the world so that they will have the same joy that I have. ¹⁴ I have given them your message. But the world has hated them because they don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world. ¹⁵ I’m not asking you to take them out of the world but to protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They don’t belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

¹⁷ “Use the truth to make them holy. Your words are truth. ¹⁸ I have sent them into the world the same way you sent me into the world. ¹⁹ I’m dedicating myself to this holy work I’m doing for them so that they, too, will use the truth to be holy.

²⁰ “I’m not praying only for them. I’m also praying for those who will believe in me through their message. ²¹ I pray that all of these people continue to have unity in the way that you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they may be united with us so that the world will believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me. I did this so that they are united in the same way we are. ²³ I am in them, and you are in me. So they are completely united. In this way the world knows that you have sent me and that you have loved them in the same way you have loved me.

²⁴ “Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me, to be where I am. I want them to see my glory, which you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. ²⁵ Father, you have done what is right and the world didn’t know you. Yet, I knew you, and these ⌞disciples⌟ have known that you sent me. ²⁶ I have made your name known to them, and I will make it known so that the love you have for me will be in them and I will be in them.”

Jesus Is Arrested^(A)

18 After Jesus finished his prayer, he went with his disciples to the other side of the Kidron Valley. They entered the garden that was there.

² Judas, who betrayed him, knew the place because Jesus and his disciples often gathered there. ³ So Judas took a troop of soldiers and the guards from the chief priests and Pharisees and went to the garden. They were carrying lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴ Jesus knew everything that was going to happen to him. So he went to meet them and asked, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵ They answered him, “Jesus from Nazareth.”

Jesus told them, “I am he.”

Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with the crowd. ⁶ When Jesus told them, “I am he,” the crowd backed away and fell to the ground.

⁷ Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”

They said, “Jesus from Nazareth.”

⁸ Jesus replied, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these other men go.” ⁹ In this way what Jesus had said came true: “I lost none of those you gave me.”

¹⁰ Simon Peter had a sword. He drew it, attacked the chief priest’s servant, and cut off the servant’s right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.)

¹¹ Jesus told Peter, “Put your sword away. Shouldn’t I drink the cup ⌞of suffering⌟ that my Father has given me?”

¹² Then the army officer and the Jewish guards arrested Jesus. They tied Jesus up ¹³ and took him first to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas. Caiaphas, the chief priest that year, ¹⁴ was the person who had advised the Jews that it was better to have one man die for the people.

Peter Denies Jesus^(B)

¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. The other disciple was well-known to the chief priest. So that disciple went with Jesus into the chief priest’s courtyard. ¹⁶ Peter, however, was standing outside the gate. The other disciple talked to the woman who was the gatekeeper and brought Peter into the courtyard.

¹⁷ The gatekeeper asked Peter, “Aren’t you one of this man’s disciples too?”

Peter answered, “No, I’m not!”

¹⁸ The servants and the guards were standing around a fire they had built and were warming themselves because it was cold. Peter was standing there, too, and warming himself with the others.

The Chief Priest Questions Jesus

¹⁹ The chief priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teachings.

²⁰ Jesus answered him, “I have spoken publicly for everyone to hear. I have always taught in synagogues or in the temple courtyard, where all the Jews gather. I haven’t said anything in secret. ²¹ Why do you question me? Question those who heard what I said to them. They know what I’ve said.”

²² When Jesus said this, one of the guards standing near Jesus slapped his face and said, “Is that how you answer the chief priest?”

²³ Jesus replied to him, “If I’ve said anything wrong, tell me what it was. But if I’ve told the truth, why do you hit me?”

²⁴ Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the chief priest. Jesus was still tied up.

Peter Denies Jesus Again^(C)

²⁵ Simon Peter continued to stand and warm himself by the fire. Some men asked him, “Aren’t you, too, one of his disciples?”

Peter denied it by saying, “No, I’m not!”

²⁶ One of the chief priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked him, “Didn’t I see you with Jesus in the garden?”

²⁷ Peter again denied it, and just then a rooster crowed.

Pilate Questions Jesus^(D)

²⁸ Early in the morning, Jesus was taken from Caiaphas’ house to the governor’s palace.

The Jews wouldn’t go into the palace. They didn’t want to become unclean,^[b] since they wanted to eat the Passover. ²⁹ So Pilate came out to them and asked, “What accusation are you making against this man?”

³⁰ The Jews answered Pilate, “If he weren’t a criminal, we wouldn’t have handed him over to you.”

³¹ Pilate told the Jews, “Take him, and try him by your law.”

The Jews answered him, “We’re not allowed to execute anyone.” ³² In this way what Jesus had predicted about how he would die came true.

³³ Pilate went back into the palace, called for Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “Did you think of that yourself, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵ Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶ Jesus answered, “My kingdom doesn’t belong to this world. If my kingdom belonged to this world, my followers would fight to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. My kingdom doesn’t have its origin on earth.”

³⁷ Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?”

Jesus replied, “You’re correct in saying that I’m a king. I have been born and have come into the world for this reason: to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to me.”

³⁸ Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

After Pilate said this, he went out to the Jews again and told them, “I don’t find this man guilty of anything. ³⁹ You have a custom that I should free one person for you at Passover. Would you like me to free the king of the Jews for you?”

⁴⁰ The Jews shouted again, “Don’t free this man! Free Barabbas!” (Barabbas was a political revolutionary.)

The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus^(E)

19 Then Pilate had Jesus taken away and whipped. ² The soldiers twisted some thorny branches into a crown, placed it on his head, and put a purple cape on him. ³ They went up to him, said, “Long live the king of the Jews!” and slapped his face.

The People Want Jesus Crucified

⁴ Pilate went outside again and told the Jews, “I’m bringing him out to you to let you know that I don’t find this man guilty of anything.” ⁵ Jesus went outside. He was wearing the crown of thorns and the purple cape. Pilate said to the Jews, “Look, here’s the man!”

⁶ When the chief priests and the guards saw Jesus, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

Pilate told them, “You take him and crucify him. I don’t find this man guilty of anything.”

⁷ The Jews answered Pilate, “We have a law, and by that law he must die because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard them say that, he became more afraid than ever. ⁹ He went into the palace again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus didn’t answer him.

¹⁰ So Pilate said to Jesus, “Aren’t you going to answer me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus answered Pilate, “You wouldn’t have any authority over me if it hadn’t been given to you from above. That’s why the man who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² When Pilate heard what Jesus said, he wanted to free him. But the Jews shouted, “If you free this man, you’re not a friend of the emperor. Anyone who claims to be a king is defying the emperor.”

¹³ When Pilate heard what they said, he took Jesus outside and sat on the judge’s seat in a place called Stone Pavement. (In Hebrew it is called Gabbatha.) ¹⁴ The time was about noon on the Friday of the Passover festival.

Pilate said to the Jews, “Look, here’s your king!”

¹⁵ Then the Jews shouted, “Kill him! Kill him! Crucify him!”

Pilate asked them, “Should I crucify your king?”

The chief priests responded, “The emperor is the only king we have!”

¹⁶ Then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion^(F)

So the soldiers took Jesus. ¹⁷ He carried his own cross and went out ⌞of the city⌟ to a location called The Skull. (In Hebrew this place is called Golgotha.) ¹⁸ The soldiers crucified Jesus and two other men there. Jesus was in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate wrote a notice and put it on the cross. The notice read, “Jesus from Nazareth, the king of the Jews.” ²⁰ Many Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.

²¹ The chief priests of the Jewish people told Pilate, “Don’t write, ‘The king of the Jews!’ Instead, write, ‘He said that he is the king of the Jews.’ ”

²² Pilate replied, “I have written what I’ve written.”

²³ When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them four ways so that each soldier could have a share. His robe was left over. It didn’t have a seam because it had been woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴ The soldiers said to each other, “Let’s not rip it apart. Let’s throw dice to see who will get it.” In this way the Scripture came true: “They divided my clothes among themselves. They threw dice for my clothing.” So that’s what the soldiers did.

²⁵ Jesus’ mother, her sister, Mary (the wife of Clopas), and Mary from Magdala were standing beside Jesus’ cross. ²⁶ Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there. He said to his mother, “Look, here’s your son!” ²⁷ Then he said to the disciple, “Look, here’s your mother!”

From that time on she lived with that disciple in his home.

Jesus Dies on the Cross^(G)

²⁸ After this, when Jesus knew that everything had now been finished, he said, “I’m thirsty.” He said this so that Scripture could finally be concluded.

²⁹ A jar filled with vinegar was there. So the soldiers put a sponge soaked in the vinegar on a hyssop stick and held it to his mouth.

³⁰ After Jesus had taken the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!”

Then he bowed his head and died.

³¹ Since it was Friday and the next day was an especially important day of rest—a holy day, the Jews didn’t want the bodies to stay on the crosses. So they asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and their bodies removed. ³² The soldiers broke the legs of the first man and then of the other man who had been crucified with Jesus.

³³ When the soldiers came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. ³⁴ However, one of the soldiers stabbed Jesus’ side with his spear, and blood and water immediately came out. ³⁵ The one who saw this is an eyewitness. What he says is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth so that you, too, will believe.

³⁶ This happened so that the Scripture would come true: “None of his bones will be broken.” ³⁷ Another Scripture passage says, “They will look at the person whom they have stabbed.”

Jesus Is Placed in a Tomb^(H)

³⁸ Later Joseph from the city of Arimathea asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. (Joseph was a disciple of Jesus but secretly because he was afraid of the Jews). Pilate gave him permission to remove Jesus’ body. So Joseph removed it. ³⁹ Nicodemus, the one who had first come to Jesus at night, went with Joseph and brought 75 pounds of a myrrh and aloe mixture.

⁴⁰ These two men took the body of Jesus and bound it with strips of linen. They laced the strips with spices. This was the Jewish custom for burial.

⁴¹ A garden was located in the place where Jesus was crucified. In that garden was a new tomb in which no one had yet been placed. ⁴² Joseph and Nicodemus put Jesus in that tomb, since that day was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.

Jesus Comes Back to Life^(I)

20 Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary from Magdala went to the tomb. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb’s entrance. ² So she ran to Simon Peter and the other disciple, whom Jesus loved. She told them, “They have removed the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they’ve put him.”

³ So Peter and the other disciple headed for the tomb. ⁴ The two were running side by side, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked inside the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there but didn’t go inside.

⁶ Simon Peter arrived after him and went into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there. ⁷ He also saw the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head. It wasn’t lying with the strips of linen but was rolled up separately. ⁸ Then the other disciple, who arrived at the tomb first, went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹ They didn’t know yet what Scripture meant when it said that Jesus had to come back to life. ¹⁰ So the disciples went back home.

Jesus Appears to Mary from Magdala

¹¹ Mary, however, stood there and cried as she looked at the tomb. As she cried, she bent over and looked inside. ¹² She saw two angels in white clothes. They were sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying. One angel was where Jesus’ head had been, and the other was where his feet had been. ¹³ The angels asked her why she was crying.

Mary told them, “They have removed my Lord, and I don’t know where they’ve put him.”

¹⁴ After she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. However, she didn’t know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵ Jesus asked her, “Why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary thought it was the gardener speaking to her. So she said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I’ll remove him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary!”

Mary turned around and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This word means “teacher.”)

¹⁷ Jesus told her, “Don’t hold on to me. I have not yet gone to the Father. But go to my brothers and sisters and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”

¹⁸ Mary from Magdala went to the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord.” She also told them what he had said to her.

Jesus Appears to the Disciples^(J)

¹⁹ That Sunday evening, the disciples were together behind locked doors because they were afraid of the Jews. Jesus stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ When he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples were glad to see the Lord.

²¹ Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” ²² After he had said this, he breathed on the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ Whenever you forgive sins, they are forgiven. Whenever you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴ Thomas, one of the twelve apostles, who was called Didymus, wasn’t with them when Jesus came. ²⁵ The other disciples told him, “We’ve seen the Lord.”

Thomas told them, “I refuse to believe this unless I see the nail marks in his hands, put my fingers into them, and put my hand into his side.”

²⁶ A week later Jesus’ disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Even though the doors were locked, Jesus stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁷ Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Take your hand, and put it into my side. Stop doubting, and believe.”

²⁸ Thomas responded to Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Jesus said to Thomas, “You believe because you’ve seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me but believe.”

³⁰ Jesus performed many other miracles that his disciples saw. Those miracles are not written in this book. ³¹ But these miracles have been written so that you will believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and so that you will have life by believing in him.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples Again

21 Later, by the Sea of Tiberias, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples. This is what happened. ² Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, Zebedee’s sons, and two other disciples of Jesus were together. ³ Simon Peter said to the others, “I’m going fishing.”

They told him, “We’re going with you.”

They went out in a boat but didn’t catch a thing that night. ⁴ As the sun was rising, Jesus stood on the shore. The disciples didn’t realize that it was Jesus.

⁵ Jesus asked them, “Friends, haven’t you caught any fish?”

They answered him, “No, we haven’t.”

⁶ He told them, “Throw the net out on the right side of the boat, and you’ll catch some.” So they threw the net out and were unable to pull it in because so many fish were in it.

⁷ The disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord.” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put back on the clothes that he had taken off and jumped into the sea. ⁸ The other disciples came with the boat and dragged the net full of fish. They weren’t far from the shore, only about 100 yards.

⁹ When they went ashore, they saw a fire with a fish lying on the coals, and they saw a loaf of bread.

¹⁰ Jesus told them, “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught.” ¹¹ Simon Peter got into the boat and pulled the net ashore. Though the net was filled with 153 large fish, it was not torn.

¹² Jesus told them, “Come, have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared to ask him who he was. They knew he was the Lord. ¹³ Jesus took the bread, gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

¹⁴ This was the third time that Jesus showed himself to the disciples after he had come back to life.

Jesus Speaks with Peter

¹⁵ After they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than the other disciples do?”

Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”

¹⁶ Jesus asked him again, a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter answered him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Take care of my sheep.”

¹⁷ Jesus asked him a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?”

Peter felt sad because Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love me?” So Peter said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”

Jesus told him, “Feed my sheep. ¹⁸ I can guarantee this truth: When you were young, you would get ready to go where you wanted. But when you’re old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will get you ready to take you where you don’t want to go.” ¹⁹ Jesus said this to show by what kind of death Peter would bring glory to God. After saying this, Jesus told Peter, “Follow me!”

²⁰ Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved. That disciple was following them. He was the one who leaned against Jesus’ chest at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

²² Jesus said to Peter, “If I want him to live until I come again, how does that concern you? Follow me!” ²³ So a rumor that that disciple wouldn’t die spread among Jesus’ followers. But Jesus didn’t say that he wouldn’t die. What Jesus said was, “If I want him to live until I come again, how does that concern you?”

²⁴ This disciple was an eyewitness of these things and wrote them down. We know that what he says is true.

²⁵ Jesus also did many other things. If every one of them were written down, I suppose the world wouldn’t have enough room for the books that would be written.