John 5:1-18 : Easy-to-Read Version
Jesus Heals a Man at a Pool
5 1Later Jesus went to Jerusalem for a special Jewish festival. 2In Jerusalem there is a pool with five covered porches. In the Jewish language* it is called Bethzatha.* This pool is near the Sheep Gate. 3Many sick people were lying on the porches [beside the pool]. Some of the people were blind, some were crippled, and some were paralyzed.* 4* 5There was a man lying there who had been sick for 38 years. 6Jesus saw the man lying there. Jesus knew that the man had been sick for a very long time. So Jesus asked the man, "Do you want to be well?" 7The sick man answered, "Sir, there is no person to help me get into the water when the water starts moving. I try to be the first person into the water. But when I try, another person always goes in before I can." 8Then Jesus said, "Stand up! Pick up your bed and walk." 9Then immediately the man was well. The man picked up his bed and started walking. The day all this happened was a Sabbath day.* 10So the Jews said to the man that had been healed, "Today is the Sabbath. It is against our law for you to carry your bed on the Sabbath day." 11But the man answered, "The person (Jesus) that made me well told me, 'Pick up your bed and walk.'" 12The Jews asked the man, "Who is the person that told you to pick up your bed and walk?" 13But the man that had been healed did not know who the person was. There were many people in that place, and Jesus had left. 14Later Jesus found the man at the temple.* Jesus said to him, "See, you are well now. But stop sinning or something worse may happen to you!" 15Then the man left and went back to those Jews. The man told them that Jesus was the one that made him well. 16Jesus was doing these things (healing) on the Sabbath day.* So the Jews began to do bad things to Jesus. 17But Jesus said to the Jews, "My Father never stops working. And so I work too." 18This made the Jews try harder to kill him. [The Jews said], "First this man (Jesus) was breaking the law about the Sabbath day.* Then he said that God is his Father! He is making himself equal with God!"
Jewish language Aramaic, a language like Hebrew that was spoken by the Jews in the first century. Bethzatha Also called Bethsaida or Bethesda, a pool of water north of the temple in Jerusalem. Verses 3 and 4 At the end of verse 3 some Greek copies add "and they waited for the water to move." A few later copies add verse 4: "Sometimes an angel of the Lord came down to the pool and shook the water. After the angel did this, the first person to go into the pool was healed from any sickness he had." Sabbath day The seventh day of the Jewish week. It was a special religious day for the Jews. temple The special building in Jerusalem for Jewish worship.