»Sir,« replied the sufferer, »I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is moved; but while I am coming some one else steps down before me.«
Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew `Bethesda.' It has five arcades.
In these there used to lie a great number of sick persons, and of people who were blind or lame or paralyzed.
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Jesus saw him lying there, and knowing that he had been a long time in that condition, He asked him, »Do you wish to have health and strength?«
For already, while we were still helpless, Christ at the right moment died for the ungodly.
Do you not know that in the foot-race the runners all run, but that only one gets the prize? You must run like him, in order to win with certainty.