The Mountain of the Lord^(A)

4 In the last days

² Many nations will come and say,

The Lord’s Plan

⁶ “In that day,” declares the Lord,

⁴¹ At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph,^(A) whose father and mother we know?^(B) How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’?”^(C)

⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them,^(D) and I will raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God.’^[a](E) Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me. ⁴⁶ No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God;^(F) only he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.^{(G) 48} I am the bread of life.^{(H) 49} Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.^{(I) 50} But here is the bread that comes down from heaven,^(J) which anyone may eat and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread^(K) that came down from heaven.^(L) Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”^(M)

⁵² Then the Jews^(N) began to argue sharply among themselves,^(O) “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh^(P) of the Son of Man^(Q) and drink his blood,^(R) you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.^{(S) 55} For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.^{(T) 57} Just as the living Father sent me^(U) and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”^{(V) 59} He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Desert Jesus

⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of his disciples^(W) said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”^(X)

⁶¹ Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, “Does this offend you?^{(Y) 62} Then what if you see the Son of Man^(Z) ascend to where he was before!^{(AA) 63} The Spirit gives life;^(AB) the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit^[b] and life. ⁶⁴ Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known^(AC) from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.^{(AD) 65} He went on to say, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.”^(AE)

⁶⁶ From this time many of his disciples^(AF) turned back and no longer followed him.

⁶⁷ “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.^(AG)

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him,^(AH) “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.^{(AI) 69} We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”^(AJ)

⁷⁰ Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you,^(AK) the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”^{(AL) 71} (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot,^(AM) who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)^(AN)

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. ² His disciples asked him, “Rabbi,^(A) who sinned,^(B) this man^(C) or his parents,^(D) that he was born blind?”

³ “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.^{(E) 4} As long as it is day,^(F) we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”^(G)

⁶ After saying this, he spit^(H) on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. ⁷ “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam”^(I) (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.^(J)

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”^{(K) 9} Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

¹⁰ “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

¹¹ He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”^(L)

¹² “Where is this man?” they asked him.

“I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

¹³ They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. ¹⁴ Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath.^{(M) 15} Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight.^(N) “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

¹⁶ Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”^(O)

But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?”^(P) So they were divided.^(Q)

¹⁷ Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.”

The man replied, “He is a prophet.”^(R)

¹⁸ They^(S) still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. ¹⁹ “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

²⁰ “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. ²¹ But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” ²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,^(T) who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out^(U) of the synagogue.^{(V) 23} That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”^(W)

²⁴ A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,”^(X) they said. “We know this man is a sinner.”^(Y)

²⁵ He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

²⁶ Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”

²⁷ He answered, “I have told you already^(Z) and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

²⁸ Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses!^{(AA) 29} We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”^(AB)

³⁰ The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. ³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will.^{(AC) 32} Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. ³³ If this man were not from God,^(AD) he could do nothing.”

³⁴ To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth;^(AE) how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.^(AF)

Spiritual Blindness

³⁵ Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe^(AG) in the Son of Man?”^(AH)

³⁶ “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”^(AI)

³⁷ Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”^(AJ)

³⁸ Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.^(AK)

³⁹ Jesus said,^[a] “For judgment^(AL) I have come into this world,^(AM) so that the blind will see^(AN) and those who see will become blind.”^(AO)

⁴⁰ Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”^(AP)

⁴¹ Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.^(AQ)