¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.

¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. ¹⁹ Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰ When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.

²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.^[a] Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe^[b] that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

³⁸ Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ “Take away the stone,” he said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they took away the stone.

Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³ After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴ The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”

The Plot

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.