⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless someone is born of ^(A)water and the Spirit, he cannot enter ^(B)the kingdom of God. ^6 (C)That which has been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which has been born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born ^[a]again.’ ^8 (D)The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus responded and said to Him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered and said to him, “You are ^(E)the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(F)we speak of what we know and ^(G)testify of what we have seen, and ^(H)you people do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (I)No one has ascended into heaven, except ^(J)He who descended from heaven: ^(K)the Son of Man. ¹⁴ And just as ^(L)Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must ^(M)the Son of Man ^(N)be lifted up, ¹⁵ so that everyone who ^[b]believes will ^(O)have eternal life in Him.

¹⁶ “For God so ^(P)loved the world, that He ^(Q)gave His ^(R)only Son, so that everyone who ^(S)believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God ^(T)did not send the Son into the world ^(U)to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. ^18 (V)The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of ^(W)the only Son of God. ¹⁹ And this is the judgment, that ^(X)the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for ^(Y)their deeds were evil. ^20 (Z)For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. ²¹ But the one who ^(AA)practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed ^[c]as having been performed in God.”

John the Baptist’s Last Testimony

²² After these things Jesus and His ^(AB)disciples came into the land of Judea; and there He was spending time with them and ^(AC)baptizing. ²³ Now John also was baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and being baptized— ²⁴ for ^(AD)John had not yet been thrown into prison.

²⁵ Then a matter of dispute developed on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about ^[d](AE)purification. ²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, “^(AF)Rabbi, He who was with you ^(AG)beyond the Jordan, to whom you ^(AH)have testified—behold, He is baptizing and all the people are coming to Him.” ²⁷ John replied, “^(AI)A person can receive not even one thing unless it ^(AJ)has been given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves ^[e]are my witnesses that I said, ‘^(AK)I am not the ^[f]Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ ²⁹ He who has the bride is ^(AL)the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this ^(AM)joy of mine has been made full. ³⁰ He must ^[g]increase, but I must ^[h]decrease.

³¹ “^(AN)He who comes from above is above all; ^(AO)the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. ^(AP)He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² What He has seen and heard, of this He ^(AQ)testifies; and ^(AR)no one accepts His testimony. ³³ The one who has accepted His testimony ^(AS)has certified that God is true. ³⁴ For He whom God ^(AT)sent speaks the words of God; ^(AU)for He does not give the Spirit ^[i]sparingly. ^35 (AV)The Father loves the Son and ^(AW)has entrusted all things to His hand. ³⁶ The one who ^(AX)believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who ^(AY)does not ^[j]obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

¹⁸ In the exercise of ^(A)His will He ^(B)gave us birth by ^(C)the word of truth, so that we would be ^[a]a kind of ^(D)first fruits ^[b]among His creatures.

²³ for you have been ^(A)born again ^(B)not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring ^(C)word of God.

²⁹ If you know that ^(A)He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness also ^(B)has been born of Him.

⁹ No one who has been ^(A)born of God practices sin, because His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin continually, because he has been born of God.