1 A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived at Bethany where his sisters Mary and Martha lived.

2 This is the same Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.

3 The sisters therefore sent for the Lord, They said: »The one for whom you have great affection is sick.«

4 When Jesus heard it he said: »This sickness will not end in death. It is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified by it.«

5 Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.

6 When he heard the news he stayed where he was for two days.

7 After this he said to the disciples: »Let us go to Judea again.«

8 The disciples said: »Rabbi, the Jews were seeking to stone you and you go there?«

9 Jesus answered: »Are there not twelve hours in the day? If a man walks in the day he does not stumble because he sees the light of this world.

10 »But if a man walk in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.«

11 Then he told them: »Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep. I go to wake him out of sleep.«

12 The disciples said, »Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he would recover.«

13 Jesus spoke of his death. They thought he spoke of taking rest in sleep.

14 Then Jesus said plainly: »Lazarus is dead!«

15 »I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, for it will help you believe. Let us go to him.«

16 Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples: »Let us also go that we may die with him.«

17 When Jesus arrived he found Lazarus had been in the grave four days.

18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away.

19 Many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to console them about their brother.

20 Martha went out to meet Jesus and Mary sat in the house.

21 Martha said to Jesus: »Lord if you had been here my brother would not have died.

22 »Even now I know that what ever you ask of God he will give it to you.«

23 Jesus replied: »Your brother will rise again.«

24 Martha exclaimed: »I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.«

25 Jesus said: »I am the resurrection and the life. He who puts active faith in me will live, even if he dies.

26 »Whoever lives and puts active faith in me will never die. Do you believe this?«

27 She said: »Yes Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who is to come into the world.«

28 After she said this she went away and secretly called her sister Mary. She said: »The teacher is here and calls you.«

29 Mary got up quickly and went to him.

30 Now Jesus had not yet arrived at the village and was still at the place where Martha met him.

31 The Jews were with her in the house, consoling her. They saw Mary get up quickly and leave. So they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.

32 When Mary saw Jesus she fell down at his feet. She said: »Lord; if you had been here my brother would not have died.«

33 Jesus groaned in his spirit and was troubled when he saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her weeping.

34 He asked: »Where have you laid him?« They answered: »Come and see Lord.«

35 Jesus wept.

36 The Jews therefore said: »Look how deeply he loved him!«

37 Some of them said: »This man opened the eyes of the blind. Could he have prevented this man from dying?«

38 Again Jesus groaned in himself. He went to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid against it.

39 Jesus said: »Take away the stone.« Martha, the sister of the dead man said: »Lord by now the body has decayed for he has been dead four days.«

40 Jesus said to her: »Did I not say that if you believe you shall see the glory of God?«

41 So they took away the stone. Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said: »Father, I thank you that you hear me.

42 »I knew that you always hear me. But because of the crowd that stands here I said it, that they may believe that you did send me.«

43 After he finished he cried out loud: »Lazarus, come out!«

44 He that was dead came out. He was bound hand and foot with grave-clothes and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus commanded them: »Unwrap him and let him go.«

45 Many of the Jews, who came to Mary and saw what he did, believed in him.

46 Some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus had done.

47 The chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council. They asked what they should do. »This man does many signs and miracles.

48 »If we let him alone all men will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.«

49 Caiaphas the high priest that year said to them: »You know nothing at all.

50 »You do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people. That way the whole nation will not perish.«

51 He did not say this from his own understanding. As high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation.

52 He would die for the nation. He would also gather together the children of God that are scattered abroad.

53 So from that day forth they took counsel that they might put him to death.

54 Jesus did not walk openly among the Jews anymore. He departed into the wilderness of the nearby country. He and his disciples stayed at a city called Ephraim.

55 It was the Jewish Passover. Many went out of the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.

56 They searched for Jesus. They stood in the temple speaking to one another: »What do you think? Will he come to the feast?«

57 Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that, if any man knew where he was, he should report it that they might seize him.