The Message Bible MSG
New Living Translation NLT
1 A man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.
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A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha.
2 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.
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This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick.
3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus, "Master, the one you love so very much is sick."
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So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”
4 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."
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But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”
5 Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus,
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So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus,
6 but oddly, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed on where he was for two more days.
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he stayed where he was for the next two days.
7 After the two days, he said to his disciples, "Let's go back to Judea."
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Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
8 They said, "Rabbi, you can't do that. The Jews are out to kill you, and you're going back?"
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But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”
9 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.
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Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world.
10 Walking at night, he might very well stumble because he can't see where he's going."
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But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.”
11 He said these things, and then announced, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I'm going to wake him up."
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Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.”
12 The disciples said, "Master, if he's gone to sleep, he'll get a good rest and wake up feeling fine."
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The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!”
13 Jesus was talking about death, while his disciples thought he was talking about taking a nap.
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They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died.
14 Then Jesus became explicit: "Lazarus died.
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So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead.
15 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."
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And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
16 That's when Thomas, the one called the Twin, said to his companions, "Come along. We might as well die with him."
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Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
17 When Jesus finally got there, he found Lazarus already four days dead.
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When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.
18 Bethany was near Jerusalem, only a couple of miles away,
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Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem,
19 and many of the Jews were visiting Martha and Mary, sympathizing with them over their brother.
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and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss.
20 Martha heard Jesus was coming and went out to meet him. Mary remained in the house.
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When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.
21 Martha said, "Master, if you'd been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
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Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.
22 Even now, I know that whatever you ask God he will give you."
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But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
23 Jesus said, "Your brother will be raised up."
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Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24 Martha replied, "I know that he will be raised up in the resurrection at the end of time."
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“Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
25 "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.
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Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying.
26 And everyone who lives believing in me does not ultimately die at all. Do you believe this?"
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Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
27 "Yes, Master. All along I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who comes into the world."
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“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.”
28 After saying this, she went to her sister Mary and whispered in her ear, "The Teacher is here and is asking for you."
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Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.”
29 The moment she heard that, she jumped up and ran out to him.
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So Mary immediately went to him.
30 Jesus had not yet entered the town but was still at the place where Martha had met him.
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Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him.
31 When her sympathizing Jewish friends saw Mary run off, they followed her, thinking she was on her way to the tomb to weep there.
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When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.
32 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."
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When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her sobbing and the Jews with her sobbing, a deep anger welled up within him.
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When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.
34 He said, "Where did you put him?"
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“Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35 Now Jesus wept.
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Then Jesus wept.
36 The Jews said, "Look how deeply he loved him."
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The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!”
37 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."
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But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
38 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.
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Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance.
39 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!"
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“Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them. But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
40 Jesus looked her in the eye. "Didn't I tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"
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Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”
41 Then, to the others, "Go ahead, take away the stone."
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So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me.
42 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."
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You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”
43 Then he shouted, "Lazarus, come out!"
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Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”
44 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."
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And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
45 That was a turnaround for many of the Jews who were with Mary. They saw what Jesus did, and believed in him.
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Many of the people who were with Mary believed in Jesus when they saw this happen.
46 But some went back to the Pharisees and told on Jesus.
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But some went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 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.
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Then the leading priests and Pharisees called the high council together. “What are we going to do?” they asked each other. “This man certainly performs many miraculous signs.
48 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."
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If we allow him to go on like this, soon everyone will believe in him. Then the Roman army will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
49 Then one of them - it was Caiaphas, the designated Chief Priest that year - spoke up, "Don't you know anything?
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Caiaphas, who was high priest at that time, said, “You don’t know what you’re talking about!
50 Can't you see that it's to our advantage that one man dies for the people rather than the whole nation be destroyed?"
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You don’t realize that it’s better for you that one man should die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed.”
51 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,
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He did not say this on his own; as high priest at that time he was led to prophesy that Jesus would die for the entire nation.
52 and not only for the nation but so that all God's exile-scattered children might be gathered together into one people.
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And not only for that nation, but to bring together and unite all the children of God scattered around the world.
53 From that day on, they plotted to kill him.
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So from that time on, the Jewish leaders began to plot Jesus’ death.
54 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.
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As a result, Jesus stopped his public ministry among the people and left Jerusalem. He went to a place near the wilderness, to the village of Ephraim, and stayed there with his disciples.
55 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.
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It was now almost time for the Jewish Passover celebration, and many people from all over the country arrived in Jerusalem several days early so they could go through the purification ceremony before Passover began.
56 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?"
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They kept looking for Jesus, but as they stood around in the Temple, they said to each other, “What do you think? He won’t come for Passover, will he?”
57 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.
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Meanwhile, the leading priests and Pharisees had publicly ordered that anyone seeing Jesus must report it immediately so they could arrest him.
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.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.