John 3

₁There was a Pharisee. His name was Nicodemus. He was a leader_of_the_Jews. ₂He came to Jesus in the night and said to Him: ‘Rabbi, we know that God has sent You to come and teach the people how to serve Him. We have seen the miracles that You are doing. No one can do these things if God is not with him.’

₃Jesus answered him: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: A person must first be born again, then he will know that God is his King.’

₄Nicodemus asked Him: ‘But how can a person be born again when he is old? He can not go into his mother's womb and come out a 2nd time and be born again.’

₅Jesus said to him: ‘I tell you this and it is sure: A person must be born from water and from the Spirit. Only then can he know that God is his King. ₆When a person is born from his mother, a human, then he is a human. But when someone is born from the Spirit of God, then he is a child of God. ₇Do not be surprised when I say you must be born again. ₈The wind blows where it wants to blow. You can hear and see the wind blow but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes. It is the same with someone who is born of the Spirit of God.’

₉Nicodemus asked Jesus: ‘How can this happen?’ ₁₀Jesus said: ‘You are a teacher who tells the Israelites how to serve God. Why don't you understand this? ₁₁I tell you this and it is sure: I and the people who belong to Me speak about things that we know. We tell you what we have seen. But you do not believe our words. ₁₂I told you about something that happened on earth and you do not believe it. Will you believe Me when I tell you about the things in heaven? I don't think so. ₁₃Remember, no person has ever gone up to heaven. Only I, the Son of man, have done that, and I also came down from heaven. ₁₄The people will lift Me, the Son of man, up. They will lift Me up and hang Me on a cross as Moses lifted the snake high up on a pole in the desert. ₁₅Then everyone who believes in Me will have eternal_life.’

₁₆God loved the people in the world so much that He gave his one and only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not be lost but have eternal_life. ₁₇God sent his Son to the people in the world, but his Son did not come to punish the people. No, God sent his Son to save the people. ₁₈No other person is like the Son of God. If someone believes in the Son, then God will not punish him. But God will punish everyone who does not believe in the Son of God. ₁₉This is how God judges people: The light came into this world, but the people loved the darkness, not the light. Why? They loved the darkness because they did bad things in the dark. ₂₀People who do bad things do not love the light. They do not come into the light because they do not want people to see what they do. ₂₁But people who live as God wants them to live come to the light because they want people to see that they listen to God.

₂₂Then Jesus and his disciples went to the province of Judea. Jesus stayed there with his disciples for a few days and He baptised people. ₂₃John was also baptising people at the town of Aenon near Salim, because there was a lot of water there. The people came to him and he baptised them. ₂₄(This was before John was put in jail). ₂₅Some of John's disciples started to argue with a Jew about how you must purify yourself. ₂₆They went to John and told him: ‘Rabbi, the Man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, the Man that you told us about, is now baptising people and all the people are going to Him.’

₂₇Then John said: ‘It is God who decided this. ₂₈Can you remember that I told you that I am not the Christ? God sent me before the Christ. ₂₉At a wedding it is the bridegroom who gets the bride. The bridegroom's friend stands near him and he waits for the bridegroom to come. When he comes, his friend is happy. I am like that friend, so I am very happy now. ₃₀Jesus must become more important and I must become unimportant.’

₃₁Jesus came from heaven and He is more important than everyone. Someone who comes from the world belongs to the world, and he talks about things of the world. Someone who comes from heaven is more important than anyone on earth. ₃₂He talks about the things that He saw and heard, but no one wants to believe what He says. ₃₃Anyone who believes what Jesus says shows that God is really God. ₃₄God sent his Son to come and tell people what God said to Him, because God gave Him his Spirit. ₃₅The Father loves the Son and He gave everything so that the Son can rule over everything and everyone. ₃₆Anyone who believes in the Son has eternal_life. But anyone who does not obey the Son will not have life. God will punish him and He will not stop doing it.