11:1 Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
11:2 And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ①ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
▷ ①Or perfume
11:3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
11:4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not ①meant for death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
▷ ①Lit toward death
11:5 (Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.)
11:6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
11:7 Then after this He *said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”
11:8 The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and yet You are going there again?”
11:9 Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
11:10 But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in ①him.”
▷ ①Or it; i.e., the world
11:11 This He said, and after this He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.”
11:12 The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will ①come out of it.”
▷ ①Lit be saved
11:13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about ①actual sleep.
▷ ①Lit the slumber of sleep
11:14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus died,
11:15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let’s go to him.”
11:16 Therefore Thomas, who was called ①Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!”
▷ ①I.e., the Twin
11:17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about ①fifteen stadia away;
▷ ①Possibly 2 miles or 3 km; a Roman stadion perhaps averaged 607 ft. or 185 m
11:19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them about their brother.
11:20 So then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary ①stayed in the house.
▷ ①Lit was sitting
11:21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
11:22 Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
11:23 Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise from the dead.”
11:24 Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies,
11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
11:27 She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are the ①Christ, the Son of God, and ②He who comes into the world.”
▷ ①I.e., Messiah ②The Coming One was a Messianic title
11:28 When she had said this, she left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
11:29 And when she heard this, she *got up quickly and came to Him.
11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha met Him.
11:31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw that Mary had gotten up quickly and left, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
11:32 So when Mary came to the place where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
11:33 Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and ①was troubled,
▷ ①Lit troubled Himself
11:34 and He said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
11:35 Jesus wept.
11:36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
11:37 But some of them said, “Could this man, who opened the eyes of the man who was blind, not have also ①kept this man from dying?”
▷ ①Lit done so that this man also would not die
11:38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
11:39 Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time ①there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
▷ ①Lit he stinks
11:40 Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
11:41 So they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
11:42 But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, because of the ①people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
▷ ①Lit crowd
11:43 And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
11:44 Out came the man who had died, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
11:45 Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
11:47 Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council meeting, and they were saying, “What are we ①doing in regard to the fact that this man is performing many ②signs?
▷ ①Or doing? For this ②I.e., confirming miracles
11:48 If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take over both our ①place and our nation.”
▷ ①Possibly meaning the temple
11:49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
11:50 nor are you taking into account that it is in your best interest that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish instead.”
11:51 Now he did not say this ①on his own, but as he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation;
▷ ①Lit from himself
11:52 and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
11:53 So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
11:54 Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.
11:55 Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, in order to ①purify themselves.
▷ ①I.e., undergo required cleansing rituals
11:56 So they were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple area, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?”
11:57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might arrest Him.