Jesus and Nicodemus (Genesis 22:1–10; Romans 5:6–11)
1 UDB There was a man named Nicodemus. He was a member of the Pharisees, a very strict group within the Jewish faith of that day. He was an important man, a member of the highest Jewish governing council. BSB BSB: Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews.
2 UDB He went by night to see Jesus. He said to Jesus, "Teacher, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. We know this because no one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God helped him." BSB BSB: He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs You are doing if God were not with him.”
3 UDB Jesus replied to what Nicodemus said: "I am telling you the truth, no one can enter God's kingdom unless he is born again." BSB BSB: Jesus replied, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”
4 UDB Then Nicodemus said to him, "How can a person be born again when he is old? No one can enter his mother's womb and be born a second time!" BSB BSB: “How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”
5 UDB Jesus answered, "I guarantee that this also is true, no one can enter God's kingdom unless he is born both by water and the Spirit. BSB BSB: Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.
6 UDB If someone is born from a human, that person is a human being. But those who are born again by the work of God's Spirit have a new spiritual nature that God makes within them. BSB BSB: Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.
7 UDB Do not be amazed when I tell you that you must be born again. BSB BSB: Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’
8 UDB It is like this: The wind blows wherever it wants. You hear the sound of the wind, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. It is just like that with everyone who is made alive by the Spirit: The Spirit gives a new birth to whomever he desires. BSB BSB: The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
9 UDB Nicodemus replied to him, "How can this be true?" BSB BSB: “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 UDB Jesus replied to him, "You are an important teacher in Israel, and yet you do not understand what I am saying? BSB BSB: “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and you do not understand these things?
11 UDB I am telling you the truth, we say the things that we know to be true, and we are telling you what we have seen, yet none of you to whom we speak these things trusts what we are saying. BSB BSB: Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.
12 UDB If you do not trust what I say when I tell you about things of this earth, how will you trust what I say when I tell you about things of heaven? BSB BSB: If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13 UDB I, the Son of Man, am the only one who has gone up to heaven, and I am the only one who has come down here to the earth. BSB BSB: No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
14 UDB Long ago Moses, when he was in the wilderness during the Exodus, lifted up a poisonous snake on a pole and all who looked up at it were saved. In the same way, the Son of Man must be lifted up BSB BSB: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
15 UDB so that whoever looks up and trusts in him will have eternal life. BSB BSB: that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
17 UDB God did not send his Son into the world to pronounce sentence on it, but to save it. BSB BSB: For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
18 UDB Everyone who trusts in the Son, God will never condemn. But everyone who does not trust in him, God has already put under his condemnation because they did not put their trust in the name of the only Son of God. BSB BSB: Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
19 UDB God has made his justice for sinful people plain for all to see: His light has come into the world, but the people of this world have loved their darkness and they hide from the light. They loved the darkness because what they were doing was ugly and evil. BSB BSB: And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.
20 UDB Everyone who does wicked deeds hates the light, and they never will come to it, because the light exposes what they do and reveals how wicked they are. BSB BSB: Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
21 UDB But those who do what is good and true come to the light so that what they do may be seen by all and so that all might know that they were obeying God when they did these things. BSB BSB: But whoever practices the truth comes into the Light, so that it may be seen clearly that what he has done has been accomplished in God.”
John’s Testimony about Jesus 22 UDB After those things happened, Jesus and his disciples went to the region of Judea. He stayed there a while with his disciples and he baptized many people. BSB BSB: After this, Jesus and His disciples went into the Judean countryside, where He spent some time with them and baptized.
23 UDB John the Baptizer was also baptizing people near the village of Aenon near Salim in the region of Samaria. There was much water in that place, and so many people kept coming to John. BSB BSB: Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because the water was plentiful there, and people kept coming to be baptized.
24 UDB This is before the time when John's enemies had put him in prison. BSB BSB: (For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)
25 UDB An argument arose between some of John's disciples and one particular Jewish man about washing to make oneself acceptable to God. BSB BSB: Then a dispute arose between John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the issue of ceremonial washing.
26 UDB Those who were arguing came to John and said, "Teacher, there was a man who was with you when you were baptizing people on the other side of the Jordan River. You pointed him out to us and told us who he was. Well, now he is baptizing across the way in Judea and many people are going out to him." BSB BSB: So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Look, Rabbi, the One who was with you beyond the Jordan, the One you testified about—He is baptizing, and everyone is going to Him.”
27 UDB John replied to them, "A person cannot receive even one thing unless God gives it to him. BSB BSB: John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.
28 UDB You know I was telling the truth when I told you, 'I am not the Christ. But I have been sent before him.' BSB BSB: You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’
29 UDB I am like the friend of the bridegroom. I am standing there waiting for the bridegroom to come. The friend of the bridegroom is very happy when he hears the bridegroom's voice when he finally arrives. Therefore, because all this has happened, my joy is overflowing because he has come. BSB BSB: The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
30 UDB Over time he will grow in status and importance, and I will become less and less important. BSB BSB: He must increase; I must decrease.
31 UDB Jesus comes from heaven, and he is higher in position than anyone else. We have our home on earth, and we can speak only of things that belong to the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above everyone on the earth and everything there is. BSB BSB: The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.
32 UDB Now there is one here who gives his testimony to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts what he says or trusts it to be true. BSB BSB: He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.
33 UDB However, those who have trusted in what he said, they testify that God is the source of all truth, and that he alone is the measure and standard of everything that is true. BSB BSB: Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful.
34 UDB God has sent his spokesman, and what he has said is true, for he speaks God's words. And he gives his Spirit with no concern for how much he gives. BSB BSB: For the One whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
35 UDB The Father loves the Son and puts everything under his power. BSB BSB: The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in His hands.
36 UDB Whoever trusts in God's Son has everlasting life. Whoever does not obey the Son of God can never have everlasting life, and the righteous fury of God for every sin which that person has done will remain upon him forever." BSB BSB: Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”