5:1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews.

5:2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

5:3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.

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5:5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

5:6 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?"

5:7 "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."

5:8 Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

5:9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

5:10 and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

5:11 But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'"

5:12 So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

5:13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

5:14 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."

5:15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

5:16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him.

5:17 Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working."

5:18 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.

5:19 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.

5:20 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.

5:21 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.

5:22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,

5:23 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.

5:24 "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.

5:25 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.

5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.

5:27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

5:28 "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice

5:29 and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

5:30 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.

5:31 "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.

5:32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is valid.

5:33 "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.

5:34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.

5:35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

5:36 "I have testimony weightier than 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.

5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

5:38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.

5:39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me,

5:40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

5:41 "I do not accept praise from men,

5:42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.

5:43 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.

5:44 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?

5:45 "But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set.

5:46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

5:47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"