The Healing at the Pool
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Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.
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Now there is in Jerusalem nar the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic
is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonades.
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Here a great number of disabled people used to lie - the blind,
the lame, the paralyzed.
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(None)
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One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.
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When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition
for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"
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"Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool
when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down
ahead of me."
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Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."
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At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat ad walked.
The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,
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and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed,
"It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."
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But he reploed, "The man who made me well said to me,
'Pick up your mat and walk.' "
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So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"
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The man who was hjealed had no idea who it was,
for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.
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Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him,
"See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."
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The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
Life Through the Son
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So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.
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Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at work to this very day,
and I, too, am working."
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For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he
breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father,
making himself equal with God.
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Jesus gave them this answer. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by
himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
because whatever the Father does the Son also does.
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For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does.
Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these.
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For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life,
even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.
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Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
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that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.
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"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
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I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead
will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.
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For as the Father has life in himself,
so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
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.he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man
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"Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are
in their graves will hear his voice
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and come out - those who have done good will rise to live,
and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
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By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just,
for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Testimonies About Jesus
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"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.
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There is another who testifies in my favor,
and I know that his testimony about me is valid.
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"You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.
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Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.
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John was a lamp that burned and gave light,
and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
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"I have testimony weightier han that of John. For the very work that the Father
has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.
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And the Father who sent memhas himself testified concerning me.
You have never heard his voice nor seen his form.
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nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.
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You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them
you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,
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yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
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"I do not accept praise from men,
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but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.
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I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me;
but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.
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How can you believe if you accept praise from one another,
yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?
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"But do not think I will accuse you before the Father.
Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.
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If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.
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But since you do not believe what he wrote,
how are you going to believe what I say?"
