7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
7 The invalid answered, Sir, I have nobody when the water is moving to put me into the pool; but while I am trying to come [into it] myself, somebody else steps down ahead of me.
7 The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in ahead of me.”
7 The invalid answered him: "Lord, I do not have any man to put me in the pool, when the water has been stirred. For as I am going, another descends ahead of me."
Now think about the people that run in a race. They all run, but only one of them wins that race and gets the prize. Well, we have to be like those people that run in a race. We have to try hard to win. That is, we have to try hard to do whatever God wants, so that in the end God will give us new life. That will be like our prize.
Jesus Christ died for us while we were still really weak. At that time, we didn’t care about God at all. But Jesus came, just at the right time, and he died instead of us.
There was a gate into the city called the Sheep Gate, and there was a pool of water near that gate. The name of the pool was Bethesda. It had 5 shade shelters around it,
You see, those sick people wanted to get better, and they believed that sometimes one of God’s angel messengers came down and stirred the water in that pool. And they believed that after that, the first person to get into the water got better from any sickness they had.