John 11 - Easy To Read Version

¹ There was a man named Lazarus who was sick. He lived in the town of Bethany. This is the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived.

² (Mary is the same woman that later put perfume on the Lord (Jesus) and wiped his feet with her hair.) Mary’s brother was Lazarus, the man that was now sick.

³ So Mary and Martha sent a person to tell Jesus, “Lord, your dear friend Lazarus is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard this he said, “The end of this sickness will not be death. But this sickness is for the glory of God. This has happened to bring glory to the Son of God.”

⁵ (Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.)

⁶ When Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days.

⁷ Then Jesus said to his followers, “We should go back to Judea.”

⁸ The followers answered, “But teacher, those Jews in Judea tried to kill you with stones. That was only a short time ago. Now you want to go back there?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “There are twelve hours of light in the day. Right? If a person walks in the day, then he will not stumble and fall. Why? Because he can see with the light of this world.

¹⁰ But when a person walks at night he stumbles. Why? Because there is no light to help him see.”

¹¹ After Jesus said these things, he said, “Our friend Lazarus is now sleeping. But I am going there to wake him.”

¹² The followers answered, “But Lord, if he can sleep, he will be well.”

¹³ Jesus meant that Lazarus was dead. But Jesus’ followers thought Jesus meant that Lazarus was really sleeping.

¹⁴ So then Jesus said clearly, “Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵ And I am glad that I was not there. I am happy for you, because now you will believe \{in me\}. We will go to him now.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas (the one called Didymus) said to the other followers, “We will go too. We will die with Jesus \{in Judea\}.”

¹⁷ Jesus arrived in Bethany. Jesus found that Lazarus had already been dead and in the tomb {\cf2\super [175]} for four days.

¹⁸ Bethany was about two miles from Jerusalem.

¹⁹ Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary. They came to comfort them about their brother \{Lazarus\}.

²⁰ Martha heard that Jesus was coming. She went out to greet Jesus. But Mary stayed at home.

²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

²² But I know that even now God will give you anything you ask.”

²³ Jesus said, “Your brother will rise and be alive again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know that he will rise to live again when people are resurrected (raised from death) on the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection. {\cf2\super [176]} I am life. The person that believes in me will have life \{again\} after he dies.

²⁶ And the person that lives and believes in me will never really die. Martha, do you believe this?”

²⁷ Martha answered, “Yes, Lord. I believe that you are the Christ, {\cf2\super [177]} the Son of God. You are the One that was coming to the world.”

²⁸ After Martha said these things, she went back to her sister Mary. Martha talked to Mary alone. Martha said, “The Teacher (Jesus) is here. He is asking for you.”

²⁹ When Mary heard this, she stood up and went quickly to Jesus.

³⁰ Jesus had not yet come into the village. He was still at the place where Martha met him.

³¹ The Jews who had come were with Mary in the house. They were comforting her. They saw Mary stand and leave quickly. They thought that she was going to the tomb {\cf2\super [178]} \{of Lazarus\}. They thought she was going there to cry. So they followed her.

³² Mary went to the place where Jesus was. When she saw Jesus, she bowed at his feet. Mary said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ Jesus saw that Mary was crying. Jesus saw the Jews that came with her. They were crying too. Jesus felt very upset. He was deeply troubled.

³⁴ Jesus asked, “Where did you put him (Lazarus)?”

³⁵ Jesus cried.

³⁶ And the Jews said, “Look! Jesus loved Lazarus very much!”

³⁷ But some of these Jews said, “Jesus healed the eyes of the blind man. Why didn’t Jesus help Lazarus and stop him from dying?”

³⁸ Again Jesus felt very upset.

³⁹ Jesus said, “Move the stone away.”

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said to Martha, “Remember what I told you? I said that if you believed, then you would see the glory of God.”

⁴¹ So they moved the stone away from the entrance. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.

⁴² I know that you always hear me. But I said these things because of the people here around me. I want them to believe that you sent me.”

⁴³ After Jesus said this he called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

⁴⁴ The dead man (Lazarus) came out. His hands and feet were wrapped with pieces of cloth. He had a handkerchief covering his face.

⁴⁵ There were many Jews that came to visit Mary. They saw what Jesus did. And many of these Jews believed in Jesus.

⁴⁶ But some of the Jews went to the Pharisees. {\cf2\super [180]} They told the Pharisees what Jesus did.

⁴⁷ Then the leading priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Jewish council. They said, “What should we do? This man (Jesus) is doing many miracles. {\cf2\super [181]}

⁴⁸ If we let him continue doing these things, all the people will believe in him. Then the Romans will come and take away our temple {\cf2\super [182]} and our nation.”

⁴⁹ One of the men there was Caiaphas. He was the high priest {\cf2\super [183]} that year. Caiaphas said, “You people know nothing!

⁵⁰ It is better for one man to die for the people than for the whole nation to be destroyed. But you don’t realize this.”

⁵¹ Caiaphas did not think of this himself. He was high priest {\cf2\super [184]} that year. So he was really prophesying {\cf2\super [185]} that Jesus would die for the Jewish people.

⁵² Yes, Jesus would die for the Jewish people. But Jesus would also die for God’s other children that were scattered \{in all the world\}. He would die to bring them all together and make them one people.

⁵³ That day the Jewish leaders began planning to kill Jesus.

⁵⁴ So Jesus stopped traveling around openly among the Jews. Jesus left \{Jerusalem\} and went to a place near the desert. Jesus went to the town called Ephraim. Jesus stayed there with his followers.

⁵⁵ It was almost time for the Jewish Passover {\cf2\super [186]} festival. Many people from the country went to Jerusalem before the Passover. They went to do the special things to make themselves pure \{for the Passover\}.

⁵⁶ The people looked for Jesus. They stood in the temple {\cf2\super [187]} area and asked each other, “Is he (Jesus) coming to the festival? What do you think?”

⁵⁷ But the leading priests and the Pharisees {\cf2\super [188]} had given a special order about Jesus. They said that if any person knew where Jesus was, the person must tell them. Then the leading priests and the Pharisees could arrest Jesus.