John 3:16 - An Understandable Version (2005 edition)

¹⁶ For God loved the world [of sinners] so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that every person who believes in Him would not [have to] be destroyed, but have never ending life.

More versions

King James Version (Oxford) 1769

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Amplified Bible - Classic Edition

¹⁶ For God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten (unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.

American Standard Version (1901)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Common English Bible

¹⁶ God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.

Catholic Public Domain Version

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

John 3:16 Cross References

Romans 5:8

Since we are now made right with God by the blood of Christ [i.e., by His dying on the cross], how much more certain it is that we will be saved from God’s wrath [in the future] by Him!

John 3:15

so that whoever believes in Him would have never ending life.” [Note: Some translations extend Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus through verse 21].

Romans 8:32

God did not withhold His own Son [from dying], but offered Him up for all of us. [Since He did that], will He not, along with Jesus, freely give us everything [else] also?

John 6:40

And this is what [else] my Father wants: That every person who sees the Son [i.e., with the eye of faith] and believes in Him should have never ending life, and I will raise him up [from the dead] on the last day.”

John 3:36

The person who believes in the Son has never ending life, but the person who disobeys the Son will not see life [i.e., will not experience never ending life], but [instead], God’s wrath remains on him.

1 John 4:19

We love [God and others] because God has first loved us.

John 10:28

I give them never ending life and they will never be destroyed, and no one will [be able to] steal them out of my hand.

Romans 5:10

And not only is this true, but we also rejoice in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have been restored to fellowship with God.

John 1:29

On the next day John [the Immerser] saw Jesus approaching him and said, “Look, [there is] the Lamb of God; He [will] take away the sin of the people of the world.

2 Thessalonians 2:16

Now, may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us never ending encouragement and good hope through [His] unearned favor,

Ephesians 2:4

But God, who has great love for us and abundant mercy [toward us],

Matthew 9:13

Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not [only] sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call righteous people [to be my followers] but sinners.”

Revelation 1:5

[It is also] from Jesus Christ, who is the Faithful Witness [to the truth], the Firstborn from the dead [i.e., the first One raised never to die again], the Ruler of the kings of the world. May there be honor and power forever and ever to Christ, who loved us and released us from our sins by His blood [Note: Some manuscripts say “washed us” since the two Greek words are spelled almost alike].

John 1:14

[Eventually] this Word became a human being and lived among us [Note: The word “lived” here refers to pitching a temporary tent]. (And we saw His splendor; such splendor as belongs to the Father’s only Son), full of God’s favor and truth.

Titus 3:4

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior toward mankind appeared,

John 1:18

No one has ever seen God [i.e., His full splendor], but God, the only conceived [and eventually born Son], who is at the Father’s side, has shown us who He is.

Mark 12:6

The owner had one more person [left to send], his dearly loved son. [So] he sent him to them last of all, reasoning to himself, ‘[Surely] they will treat my son with respect.’

Luke 2:14

“May there be glory to God in the highest [heavens], and may there be peace on earth among men who are pleasing to God.”

John 3:18

The person who believes in Him will not be condemned, but the one who does not believe in Him has already been condemned, because he did not believe in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Hebrews 2:9

But we do see Jesus, who was made a little bit lower than the angels [i.e., by suffering death as a human being], and was crowned with splendor and honor because He suffered death. It was by God’s unearned favor that He would experience death for every person.

1 John 3:1

Look at how much love the Father has shown to us [Christians], that we should be called His children! But, that is what we [really] are! The reason the people of the world do not know who we are is because they do not know who God [really] is.