Hebrew Names Version HNV
The Message Bible MSG
1 Now a certain man was sick, El'azar from Beit-Anyah, of the village of Miryam and her sister, Marta.
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A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
2 It was that Miryam who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, El'azar, was sick.
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This was the same Mary who massaged the Lord's feet with aromatic oils and then wiped them with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
3 The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, "Lord, behold, he for whom you have affection is sick."
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So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Master, the one you love so very much is sick."
4 But when Yeshua heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God, that God's Son may be glorified by it."
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When Jesus got the message, he said, "This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show God's glory by glorifying God's Son."
5 Now Yeshua loved Marta, and her sister, and El'azar.
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Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
6 When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed at that time two days in the place where he was.
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but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days.
7 Then after this he said to the talmidim, "Let's go into Yehudah again."
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After the two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea."
8 The talmidim told him, "Rabbi, the Yehudim were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?"
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They said, "Rabbi, you can't do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you're going back?"
9 Yeshua answered, "Aren't there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he doesn't stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
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Jesus replied, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in daylight doesn't stumble because there's plenty of light from the sun.
10 But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn't in him."
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Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can't see where he's going."
11 He said these things, and after that, he said to them, "Our friend, El'azar, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep."
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He said these things, and then announced, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'm going to wake him up."
12 The talmidim therefore said, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
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The disciples said, "Master, if he's gone to sleep, he'll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine."
13 Now Yeshua had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep.
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Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
14 So Yeshua said to them plainly then, "El'azar is dead.
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Then Jesus became explicit: "Lazarus died.
15 I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let's go to him."
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And I am glad for your sakes that I wasn't there. You're about to be given new grounds for believing. Now let's go to him."
16 T'oma therefore, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow talmidim, "Let's go also, that we may die with him."
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That's when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, "Come along. We might as well die with him."
17 So when Yeshua came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already.
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When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead.
18 Now Beit-Anyah was near Yerushalayim, about fifteen stadia away.
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Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away,
19 Many of the Yehudim had joined the women around Marta and Miryam, to console them concerning their brother.
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and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother.
20 Therefore Marta, when she heard that Yeshua was coming, went and met him, but Miryam stayed in the house.
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Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
21 Therefore Marta said to Yeshua, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
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Martha said, "Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
22 Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you."
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Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you."
23 Yeshua said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
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Jesus said, "Your brother will be raised up."
24 Marta said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day."
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Martha replied, "I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time."
25 Yeshua said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live.
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"You don't have to wait for the End. I am, right now, Resurrection and Life. The one who believes in me, even though he or she dies, will live.
26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
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And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"
27 She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, God's Son, he who comes into the world."
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"Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world."
28 When she had said this, she went away, and called Miryam, her sister, secretly, saying, "The Teacher is here, and is calling you."
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After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, "The Teacher is here and is asking for you."
29 She, when she heard this, arose quickly, and went to him.
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The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him.
30 Now Yeshua had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Marta met him.
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Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
31 Then the Yehudim who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Miryam, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."
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When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there.
32 Miryam therefore, when she came to where Yeshua was, and saw him, fell down at his feet, saying to him, "Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died."
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Mary came to where Jesus was waiting and fell at his feet, saying, "Master, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died."
33 When Yeshua therefore saw her weeping, and the Yehudim weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled,
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When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him.
34 and said, "Where have you laid him?" They told him, "Lord, come and see."
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He said, "Where did you put him?"
35 Yeshua wept.
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Now Jesus wept.
36 The Yehudim therefore said, "See how much affection he had for him!"
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The Jews said, "Look how deeply he loved him."
37 Some of them said, "Couldn't this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also caused that this man wouldn't die?"
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Others among them said, "Well, if he loved him so much, why didn't he do something to keep him from dying? After all, he opened the eyes of a blind man."
38 Yeshua therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
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Then Jesus, the anger again welling up within him, arrived at the tomb. It was a simple cave in the hillside with a slab of stone laid against it.
39 Yeshua said, "Take away the stone." Marta, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."
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Jesus said, "Remove the stone." The sister of the dead man, Martha, said, "Master, by this time there's a stench. He's been dead four days!"
40 Yeshua said to her, "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see God's glory?"
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Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
41 So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. Yeshua lifted up his eyes, and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.
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Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone."
42 I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me."
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I know you always do listen, but on account of this crowd standing here I've spoken so that they might believe that you sent me."
43 When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "El'azar, come out!"
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Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"
44 He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Yeshua said to them, "Free him, and let him go."
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And he came out, a cadaver, wrapped from head to toe, and with a kerchief over his face. Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him loose."
45 Therefore many of the Yehudim, who came to Miryam and saw that which Yeshua did, believed in him.
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That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him.
46 But some of them went away to the Perushim, and told them the things which Yeshua had done.
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But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus.
47 The chief Kohanim therefore and the Perushim gathered a council, and said, "What are we doing? For this man does many signs.
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The high priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish ruling body. "What do we do now?" they asked. "This man keeps on doing things, creating God-signs.
48 If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."
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If we let him go on, pretty soon everyone will be believing in him and the Romans will come and remove what little power and privilege we still have."
49 But a certain one of them, Kayafa, being Kohen Gadol that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all,
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Then one of them - it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year - spoke up, "Don't you know anything?
50 nor do you take account that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish."
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Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?"
51 Now he didn't say this of himself, but being Kohen Gadol that year, he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation,
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He didn't say this of his own accord, but as Chief Priest that year he unwittingly prophesied that Jesus was about to die sacrificially for the nation,
52 and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
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and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.
53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death.
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From that day on, they plotted to kill him.
54 Yeshua therefore walked no more openly among the Yehudim, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, into a city called Efrayim. He stayed there with his talmidim.
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So Jesus no longer went out in public among the Jews. He withdrew into the country bordering the desert to a town called Ephraim and secluded himself there with his disciples.
55 Now the Pesach of the Yehudim was at hand. Many went up to Yerushalayim out of the country before the Pesach, to purify themselves.
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The Jewish Passover was coming up. Crowds of people were making their way from the country up to Jerusalem to get themselves ready for the Feast.
56 Then they sought for Yeshua and spoke one with another, as they stood in the temple, "What do you think? Isn't he coming to the feast?"
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They were curious about Jesus. There was a lot of talk of him among those standing around in the Temple: "What do you think? Do you think he'll show up at the Feast or not?"
57 Now the chief Kohanim and the Perushim had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
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Meanwhile, the high priests and Pharisees gave out the word that anyone getting wind of him should inform them. They were all set to arrest him.
The Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.