T
he Gospel of John is the fourth gospel included in the New Testament, usually presented after Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Like the other New Testament gospels, the Gospel of John is a narrative gospel that offers a portrait of Jesus, whose life concludes with his crucifixion and resurrection from the dead. Yet this gospel differs remarkably in detail and message from the other, synoptic New Testament gospels.
Jesus, according to John, is an exalted being who is the incarnate son of god and is one with god. Jesus is the divine word or reason of god, the logos, who descends like a falling star from heaven, becomes flesh, and makes his home in this mortal realm below. As the word of god in human flesh, Jesus performs mighty deeds, called “signs” in John, which demonstrate his power and greatness. These signs most likely come from an earlier source, a gospel of signs, which meant to highlight the miracles of Jesus. In the Gospel of John these signs are interpreted in a more spiritual manner, as becomes clear in the story of Nicodemus. The signs also become the occasion for Jesus to utter long, mystical discourses in which he declares that he himself provides the real meaning for the signs. Thus Jesus in the Gospel of John commonly speaks in “I am” self-declarations, a form of speech reminiscent of the divine “I am” of Jewish tradition and of divine speech in general (note also the use of “I am” statements in gnostic texts, for example, Thunder). Finally, Jesus is glorified in his death and returns to the realm above to prepare a place for those who are to follow him.
These features of the portrait of Jesus in the Gospel of John are reminiscent of themes found in a number of gnostic sources. It is no wonder, then, that John is sometimes linked to gnostic religion, or that in its present form
the Secret Book of John is also attributed to John, or that the Valentinian Herakleon composed a commentary on the Gospel of John, or that the Acts of John contains a Round Dance of the Cross with gnostic features, or that the Cathar Gospel of the Secret Supper is said to be narrated by John. Nor is it surprising that some scholars understand the Gospel of John to be a gnosticizing gospel or a gospel written within the context of gnostic themes.
The Gospel of John was composed in Greek, probably near the end of the first century. The references to followers of Jesus being evicted from the synagogue would suggest a date during the last decade or two of the first century. Like the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of John may also have been written somewhere in Syria. However, Thomas, the authoritative figure of the Gospel of Thomas, is subjected to a much more negative evaluation in the Gospel of John, where he is made to assume the infamous role of “doubting Thomas.”
The translation given here presents three excerpts from the Gospel of John, chapters 1–3, 11–12, and 17–21. These excerpts are crucial for understanding how the author of the gospel portrays Jesus and what gnostics found attractive about that portrayal. This translation, like that of the Gospel of Thomas, gives Semitic forms of Semitic names, in order to emphasize the Jewish identity of Jesus and his students and the Jewish context of the life of Jesus. Thus the name Yeshua is used for Jesus and Yohanan for John. For an identification of other names, see the notes.
Now, they had been sent by the Pharisees. They questioned him and said to him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Galilean or Elijah or the prophet?”
He answered them,
“I baptize in water.
Among you stands one you do not know,
one who will come after me,
whose sandal strap I am unworthy to loosen.”
All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where Yohanan was baptizing
.
THE LAMB OF GOD
The next day Yohanan saw Yeshua coming toward him and said,
“Look, the lamb of god who takes away the wrong of the world.
He is the one of whom I have said,
‘A man is coming after me who was before me,’
because before me he was.
And I did not know him,
but so that he might be known in Israel
is why I came baptizing in water.”
SPIRIT DESCENDING LIKE A DOVE
And Yohanan testified, saying,
“I saw the spirit descending like a dove from the sky
and it rested on him and I did not know him,
but the one who sent me to baptize in water said,
‘The one on whom you see the spirit descend and rest,
he is the one baptizing in holy spirit.’
And I have seen and I have testified that he is the son of god.”
WE HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH
The next day Yohanan again was standing with two of his students. When he saw Yeshua walking by, he said, “Look, the lamb of god.”
His two students heard him speaking and they followed Yeshua.
And Yeshua turned and saw them following him and said,
“What are you looking for?”
“Rabbi,” which translated means teacher,
13
“where are you staying?”
He told them,
“Come and see.”
So they came and saw where he was staying, and stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon
.
One of the two who heard Yohanan and followed him was Andreas, brother of Shimon Kefa.
14
First he found his own brother Shimon and told him,
The next day Yeshua wished to go out to Galil.
17
He found Philippos
18
and said to him, “Follow me.”
Now, Philippos was from Bethsaida, the city of Andreas and Kefa.
19
Philippos found Nathanael and said to him, “The one whom Moshe wrote about in Torah
20
and whom the prophets describe, we have found, Yeshua, son of Yosef,
21
from Nazareth.”
And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
“Come and see!” Philippos replied.
Yeshua saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, “Look, a true Jew, one in whom there is no cunning.”
On the third day there was a wedding in Kana
23
in Galil, and Yeshua’s mother was there. Yeshua and his students had also been invited to the wedding. And when the wine gave out, Yeshua’s mother said to him, “They have no wine.”
His mother said to the servants, “Do what he tells you.”
Now, there were six waterpots of stone standing there for the Jewish custom of washing,
25
each holding two or three measures.
26
Yeshua said to them,
“Fill the pots with water.”
They filled them to the brim.
And he said to them,
“Now pour some of the water out
and take it to the master of the feast.”
They took it
.
When the master of the feast tasted the water become wine, not knowing where it came from—though the servants knew, those who had drawn the water—he called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everybody serves the good wine first, and when the guests are drunk brings out the inferior kind. You have been saving the good wine till now.”
Yeshua did this, the first of his miraculous signs in Kana in Galil, and he revealed his glory, and his students believed in him.
DAYS IN KEFAR-NAHUM WITH FAMILY AND STUDENTS
After this he went down to Kefar-Nahum
27
with his mother and brothers and students. They stayed there for a few days.
DRIVING VENDORS FROM THE TEMPLE
It was almost Pesach
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of the Jews and Yeshua went up to Yerushalayim. In the temple he found the people selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the coin changers sitting there. He made a whip out of ropes and drove out all the animals, the sheep and the oxen. He also scattered the coins of the changers and knocked over their tables. To the dove sellers he said,
Then the Jews said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”
Yeshua answered,
“Destroy this temple
and in three days I shall raise it up.”
Then the Jews said, “This temple was built over forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?
”
But he was speaking about the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his students remembered what he said and they believed the scripture and the word that Yeshua said.
When he was in Yerushalayim during the Pesach suppers, many people believed in his name, seeing the wondrous signs he was doing. But Yeshua would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and because he had no need to have anyone testify about a person and he knew what was in a person.
(Chapter 3)
NIKODEMOS QUESTIONS YESHUA
Now, there was a Pharisee named Nikodemos,
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a leader of the Jews. He came to Yeshua at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you came as a teacher from god since no one can perform these wondrous signs if god were not with him.
Yeshua answered,
“Truly, truly I say to you,
unless you are born from above
you cannot see the kingdom of god.”
“How can one be born when one is old?” he asked. “One cannot enter a mother’s womb a second time and be born.”
Yeshua answered,
“Truly, truly I say to you,
unless you are born from water and the wind of god
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you cannot enter the kingdom of god.
What is born from the flesh is flesh,
what is born from the wind is wind.
Do not wonder that I told you
you must be born again from above.
The wind blows where it wants to and you hear its sound,
but you cannot know where it comes from and where it goes.
So it is for everyone born from the wind of god.
”
“How can these things happen?” Nikodemos asked.
Yeshua said to him,
“You are the teacher of Israel and do you not know this?
Truly, truly I say to you,
we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen,
yet you do not receive our testimony.
If I tell you of earthly things and you do not believe,
how if I tell you of heavenly things will you believe?
And no one has gone up into the sky
except the one who came down from the sky, the earthly son.
And as Moshe raised up the snake in the desert,
the earthly son must be raised up
so that all who believe in him will have eternal life.
“God loved the world so much that he gave his only son,
so that all who believe in him might not be destroyed
but have eternal life.
For god did not send his son into the world
to judge the world
but so that through him the world might be saved.
One who believes in him is not judged,
but one who does not believe is judged already
for not believing in the name of god’s only son.
And this is the judgment:
that the light came into the world
and people loved the darkness rather than the light,
so that their works may shine as accomplished through god.”
3
3
YESHUA BAPTIZES IN YEHUDA
After this Yeshua and his students came into the land of Yehuda.
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He stayed there with them and baptized.
Yohanan also was baptizing in Ainon near Salim, since there were many waters there, and the people came and were baptized. Yohanan had not yet been thrown into prison.
There was a dispute between Yohanan’s students and a Jew
35
about ceremonial washing. They came toward Yohanan and said, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, look, he is baptizing all who come to him.”
Yohanan answered,
“No one can receive anything
unless it comes from heaven.
You are my witnesses that I have said,
‘I am not the messiah
but I am sent before him.’
“He who has the bride is the groom.
The groom’s friend who stands near and hears him
is filled with joy at the groom’s voice.
So my happiness is completed.
He must increase and I be diminished.
“The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is of the earth
and speaks from the earth.
The one who comes from the sky is above all.
To what he has seen and heard he testifies,
yet his testimony no one receives.
Who receives his testimony proves that god is true.
Whom god sent speaks the words of god,
for the wind of spirit he gives out is beyond measure.
The father loves the son and has given all things into his hand
.
Who believes in the son has eternal life,
but one who disbelieves the son will not see life.
The wrath of god remains upon him.”
(Chapter 11)
THE RESURRECTION OF ELEAZAR
There was a man who was sick, Eleazar
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from Bethany, from the village of Miryam
37
and Martha her sister. It was Miryam who anointed the lord with oil of myrrh and wiped his feet with her hair. Her brother Eleazar was sick. So the sisters sent word to him, saying, “Lord, look, one whom you care for is sick.”
When Yeshua heard this, he said,
“This sickness is moving not to death
but to the glory of god,
so that through it the son of god
may be glorified.”
Now, Yeshua loved Martha and his sister and Eleazar. So when he heard that he was sick, he remained in the place where he was for two days. After this he said to his students,
“Let us go to Yehuda again.”
His students said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you and are you going there again?”
Yeshua replied,
“Are there not twelve hours in the day?
Whoever walks around in the day does not stumble
since one sees the light of this world.
Whoever walks around in the night does stumble
since the light is not in that person.”
These things he said, and then he told them,
“Our friend Eleazar has fallen asleep,
but I am going there to awaken him.
”
So the students said, “Sir, if he has fallen asleep, he will be cured.”
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Yeshua had spoken about his death, but they thought he was talking about restful sleep.
Then Yeshua told them plainly,
“Eleazar died, and I am happy for you
that I was not there so that you may believe.
But now let us go to him.”
Toma,
39
who was called the twin, said to his fellow students, “Let us also go so that we may die with him.”
When Yeshua arrived, he found that Eleazar had already been four days in the tomb. Now, Bethany was near Yerushalayim, about two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to console Martha and Miryam for their brother. When Martha heard that Yeshua was coming, she went out to meet him, but Miryam sat in her house. Then Martha said to Yeshua, “Sir, if you had been here my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask god, god gives you.”
Yeshua said to her,
“Your brother will rise again.”
Martha said to him,
“I know he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
Yeshua said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life.
Those who believe in me even if they die
will live.
And everyone who lives and believes in me
will not die into eternity.
Do you believe this?”
She said to him,
“Yes, lord. I believe that you are the messiah,
the son of god, who is coming into this world.”
After she said this, she left and called her sister Miryam, telling her secretly,
“The teacher is here and calls for you.
”
When that woman heard, she got up quickly and came to him.
Now, Yeshua had not yet come into the village, and he was still at the place where Martha had met him.
The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Miryam quickly get up and go out, and they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. Miryam came to where Yeshua was, and seeing him she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Sir, if you had been here my brother would not have died.”
When Yeshua saw her weeping and that the Jews who had come with her were weeping, he raged at his own spirit, harrowed himself, and said,
“Where have you laid him?”
They said to him, “Sir, come and see.”
Yeshua wept.
Then the Jews were saying, “See how he loved him.”
But some of them said, “Couldn’t he who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so this man wouldn’t die?”
Yeshua again raged inwardly and went to the tomb.
It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
Yeshua said,
“Lift the stone.”
The sister of the one who died, Martha, said to Yeshua,
“Lord, he already stinks. It’s the fourth day.”
Yeshua said to her,
“Did I not tell you that if you believed
you would see the glory of god?”
So they lifted the stone.
Yeshua lifted his eyes up and said,
“Father, I thank you for hearing me,
and I know that you always hear me
but because of the crowd that is around me
I spoke so they would believe you sent me.”
After saying this, in a great voice he cried out,
“Eleazar, come out!”
The one who had died came out, bound feet and hands in grave clothes and his face wrapped around in a cloth.
Yeshua said to them,
“Untie him and let him go.
”
THE JEWS PLOT TO KILL YESHUA
Then many of the Jews who had come to Miryam and seen what he did believed in him. But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them what Yeshua had done.
So the high priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin
40
and said, “What can we to do about this man who is performing so many miraculous signs? If we leave him like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our holy place and nation.”
But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest for that year, said to them, “You know nothing. You haven’t understood that it is better for one man to die for the sake of the people and not have the whole nation destroyed.”
This he did not say on his own, but as high priest for that year he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the sake of the nation, and not only for the nation but so that he might bring together the scattered children of god.
From that day on they planned to kill him.
So Yeshua no longer walked openly among the Jews but went away from there to the country near the desert, to a city called Ephraim, and he stayed there with the students.
Now, the Pesach of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Yerushalayim before Pesach to purify themselves. They were looking for Yeshua and said to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he won’t come to the festival?”
But the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it so they might seize him.
(Chapter 12)
MIRYAM ANOINTS YESHUA’S FEET
Six days before the Pesach, Yeshua came to Bethany where Eleazar was, whom he had raised from the dead. So they prepared a supper for him, and Martha
served, and Eleazar was one of those reclining at the table with him. Then Miryam took a pound of spikenard ointment, pure and precious, anointed the feet of Yeshua, and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was full of the fragrance of the unguent.
Yehuda of Kerioth,
41
one of his students, who was about to betray him, said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii
42
and given to the poor?” But he said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief and he was the keeper of the money box and was removing what was dropped into it.
So Yeshua said,
“Let her be, so she may keep it for the day of my burial.
Then a great crowd of Jews learned that he was there, and they came, not only because of Yeshua but also to see Eleazar, whom he had raised from the dead. But the high priests planned also to kill Eleazar since because of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Yeshua.
YESHUA ENTERS YERUSHALAYIM
On the next day the great crowd that came to the festival heard that Yeshua was coming to Yerushalayim. They took palm branches and went out to meet him and, as in Psalms, they cried,
“Hosanna!
Blessings on him who comes in the name of the lord,
His students did not understand these things at first, but when Yeshua was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and these things had been done for him.
The crowd that was with him when he raised Eleazar from the tomb bore witness to it all. That was why the crowd went to meet him, for they heard that he had performed the miraculous sign.
So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone over to him.”
YESHUA FORETELLS HIS DEATH
Now, there were some Greek Jews
46
among those who went up to worship at the feast. They came to Philippos from Bethsaida of Galil and asked him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Yeshua.”
Philippos came and told Andreas.
Andreas and Philippos came and told Yeshua.
And Yeshua answered them, saying,
“The hour has come when the earthly son is glorified.
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Truly, truly I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat falling into the earth dies,
it remains alone.
But if it dies it brings forth a great harvest.
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“Whoever loves life will lose it,
and whoever hates life in this world
will keep it for life everlasting.
“Let anyone who serves me, follow me,
and where I am, there also will be my servant.
Whoever serves me, the father will honor
.
“Now my soul is shaken
and what shall I say?
Father, save me from this hour?
But I came for this hour.
Father, glorify your name.”
A voice came out of the sky,
“I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
Then the crowd standing there heard it. They said,
“It has thundered.”
Others said,
“An angel has spoken to him.”
Yeshua answered and said,
“Not because of me has this voice come
but because of you.
Now is the judgment of the world,
now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
And if I am raised above the earth
I will draw everyone to me.”
This he said, signifying what kind of death he was to die.
The crowd answered him, “We heard from the law that the messiah remains forever. How can you say the earthly son must be raised? Who is this earthly son?”
Yeshua said to them,
“For a little time longer the light is with you.
Walk while you still have the light
so that the darkness may not overtake you.
And the one walking in the darkness
does not know where he is going.
While you have light, believe in the light
so you may be the children of light.”
OF THE UNBELIEVERS
Yeshua said this and went away and went into hiding from them. Though he had performed so many miraculous signs before them, they did not believe in him so that the word spoken by Isaiah will be fulfilled:
Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and he spoke about him. Still, even among the rulers many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not admit it so that they would not be put out of the synagogue. They loved human glory more than the glory of god.
But Yeshua cried out and said,
“Who believes in me does not believe in me
but in the one who sent me.
As light into the world I have come
so that who believes in me not reside in darkness.
And who hears my words and does not keep them
I do not judge,
for I have come not to judge the world
but to save the world.
“Who rejects me and will not receive my words
has a judge waiting.
The word I spoke will judge him on the last day.
Because I spoke not from myself but from the one
who sent me,
the father has given me his commandment,
what I should say and how I should speak.
And I know his commandment is life everlasting.
So what I say,
as the father told me, I say it.”
(Chapter 17)
YESHUA PRAYS TO THE FATHER
Yeshua said this, then raised his eyes to the sky and said,
“Father, the hour has come.
Glorify your son so that your son may glorify you,
They are not of this world as I am not of this world.
Sanctify them in the truth.
Your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world so I sent them
into the world.
And for them I sanctify myself
so they may also be sanctified in truth.
“I do not ask for them alone,
but for those believing in me through their word
that we may all be one
as you, father, are in me and I in you,
that the world may believe that you sent me.
“The glory you gave me I gave them
so they may be one as we are one,
I in them and you in me
so they may be made perfect as one
,
so the world may know that you sent me
and loved them just as you loved me.
“Father, wherever I am I want the ones you gave me
also to be with me and see my glory,
which you gave me since you loved me
before the foundation of the world.
“Just father, the world did not know who you were,
but I knew you
and these ones knew that you had sent me.
I made your name known to them
and I shall make it known
so the love with which you loved me
may be in them and I in them.”
(Chapter 18)
BETRAYAL AND CAPTURE OF YESHUA
After saying these words, Yeshua went out with his students across the ravine
54
where there was a garden, which he and his students entered.
Now, Yehuda, who betrayed him, also knew the place, since Yeshua often met there with his students. Then Yehuda got a band of soldiers and serving men of the high priests and Pharisees, and went there with lamps and torches and weapons.
Yeshua, who knew everything that was to happen to him, went out and said to them,
“Who are you looking for?”
They answered him, “Yeshua the Nazarene.”
He said to them,
“I am he.”
And they stepped backward and fell to the ground.
So again he answered them,
“I told you that I am he.
If you are looking for me, let these men go.
”
All this happened to fulfill the word he said, “I have not lost one of those you gave me.”
Then Shimon Kefa had a knife and took it out and struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchos.
But Yeshua said to Kefa,
“Put your knife back in its sheath.
Shall I not drink the cup the father gave me?”
Then the guard and the commander and servants of the Jews took Yeshua and bound him. And first they led him to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest for that year. Now, it was Caiaphas who advised the Jews that it is better for one man to die for the people.
KEFA DISOWNS YESHUA
Shimon Kefa and another student followed Yeshua. And that student, who was known to the high priest, went with Yeshua into the high priest’s court. But Kefa stayed outside the door. So the other student, an acquaintance of the high priest, spoke to the doorkeeper and brought Kefa inside.
Then the girl who was at the door said to Kefa, “Aren’t you one of that man’s students?”
He said, “I am not.”
Now, the slaves and assistants stood around a charcoal fire they had made, since it was cold and they were warming themselves. Kefa also was standing there with them, keeping warm.
Then the high priest questioned Yeshua about his students and about his teaching.
Yeshua replied to him,
“I have spoken openly to the world.
I always taught in a synagogue and in the temple
where all the Jews gather. And in secret
I spoke nothing. Why question me?
Ask those who heard what I said to them.
Look, they know what I said.”
When he said this, one of the serving men slapped Yeshua and said, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
Yeshua answered him
,
“If I spoke wrong, testify to the wrong.
But if I spoke right, why do you beat me?”
Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.
Shimon Kefa was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, “Aren’t you also one of his students?”
He denied it and said, “I am not.”
One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the one whose ear Kefa cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him?”
Again Kefa denied it and at once the cock crowed.
YESHUA GOES BEFORE PILATUS
They led Yeshua from Caiaphas to the Praetorium.
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It was early morning. They didn’t enter the Praetorium, so as to avoid defilement that might prevent them from eating the Pesach meals. So Pilatus
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emerged and said to them, “What charge do you bring against this man?”
They answered him and said, “Unless he were doing wrong, we would not have turned him over to you.”
Pilatus said to them, “Take him and judge him according to your law.”
Then the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death.”
This happened to fulfill Yeshua’s word when he foretold what kind of death he was to die.
57
Then Pilatus again went into the Praetorium and called Yeshua and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews?”
Yeshua answered,
“Are you speaking for yourself
or did others tell you about me?”
“Am I a Jew?” Pilatus answered. “Your people and the high priest handed you over to me. What did you do?”
5
8
And after he said this, again he went out to the Jews and told them, “I find no fault in him. But you have this custom that I should release someone to you at Pesach. So do you want me to release the king of the Jews?”
They shouted back saying, “Not this man but Barabbas.”
Now, Barabbas was a robber.
(Chapter 19)
PILATUS YIELDS TO THE JEWS AND ORDERS CRUCIFIXION
Then Pilatus took Yeshua and flogged him. And the soldiers wove a wreath out of thorns and put it on his head and threw a purple robe around him. And they went up to him and said, “Hail, king of the Jews!”
And they struck him in the face.
And Pilatus again went outside and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so you may know that I find no fault in him.”
Then Yeshua came out, wearing the wreath of thorns and the purple robe
.
And Pilatus said to them,
“Look at the man.”
When the high priests and the serving men saw him, they shouted,
“Crucify, crucify!”
Pilatus said to them, “You take him and crucify him. I find no fault in him.”
The Jews answered him, “We have a law and according to that law he should die, because he made himself son of god.”
When Pilatus heard this word, he was more frightened. Again he went back into the Praetorium and said to Yeshua, “Where are you from?”
But Yeshua didn’t answer him.
Then Pilatus told him, “You don’t speak to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to free you and I have the authority to crucify you?”
Thereupon Pilatus sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, “If you free this man, you are not a friend of Caesar! Everyone who makes himself a king defies Caesar.”
When Pilatus heard these words, he led Yeshua outside and sat on the judgment seat called Stone Pavement, but in Hebrew Gabbatha.
Now, it was Friday, the Preparation Day for Pesach, the sixth hour, which is noon. He said to the Jews, “Look, here is your king.”
Then they shouted, “Take him away, take him away and crucify him!”
Pilatus said to them, “Shall I crucify your king?”
The high priest answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
They took Yeshua. Carrying the cross himself, he went to what was called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is Golgotha, where they crucified him and two others, one on either side with Yeshua in the middle.
Pilatus wrote a placard and put it on the cross. It read,
Yeshua the Nazarene the King of the Jews.
Many Jews read the placard because the place where Yeshua was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek. So the high priests of the Jews said to Pilatus, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but write what he said: ‘I am king of the Jews.’”
When the soldiers crucified Yeshua, they took his clothes and divided them in four parts, one part for each soldier. And they took his tunic too. Now, his tunic shirt was seamless, woven in one piece from the top straight down. So they said to each other, “Let’s not tear it, but casts lots for it to see whose it will be.” This was to fulfill the words of the scripture, saying,
Since it was Friday the Preparation Day, the Jews asked Pilatus that their legs be broken and they be taken away so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on Shabbat.
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The soldiers came and broke the bones of the first man and then of the other one crucified with him. But when they came to Yeshua and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers stabbed his side with his spear, and at once blood and water came out.
And the one who saw this has testified to it, and the testimony is true, and he knows he is speaking the truth so that you may also believe.
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These things happened to fulfill the scripture, “No bone of his will be broken.”
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And elsewhere it says, “They will look at him whom they stabbed.”
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After these things Yosef of Arimathea,
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being a student of Yeshua, but a secret one for fear of the Jews, asked Pilatus if he could take away Yeshua’s body.
Pilatus allowed it.
Then he came and took the body.
Nikodemos came too, the one who first came to him during the night, and he brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds. So they took the body of Yeshua and wrapped it in aromatic spices in linen cloths, as is the burial custom of the Jews
.
Now, in the region where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had been placed. So because it was the Friday the Preparation Day of the Jews, and the tomb was near, in it they placed Yeshua.
(Chapter 20)
YESHUA APPEARS TO MIRYAM OF MAGDALA
On Sunday the first day of the week, Miryam of Magdala came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and came to Shimon Kefa and to the other student whom Yeshua loved and said to them,
“They took the lord from the tomb
and we don’t know where they put him.”
Then Kefa and the other student came out and went to the tomb. The two ran together, but the student ran faster than Kefa and reached the tomb first. And he stooped down and saw the linen cloths lying there, but didn’t go in. Then Shimon Kefa came, following him, and he went into the tomb and saw the linen cloths lying there, but the kerchief which had been on his head was lying not next to the cloths but apart and folded up in its own place. And then the other student, who had come first to the tomb, saw and believed. They didn’t yet know the scripture that he must rise from the dead.
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Then the students went off to their own places.
But Miryam stood by the tomb, weeping. Then as she was weeping, she stooped and looked into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Yeshua was laid.
And they said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them,
“They have taken my lord away
and I don’t know where they put him.
”
Saying this, she turned around and saw Yeshua standing there and didn’t know it was Yeshua.
Yeshua said to her,
“Woman, why are you weeping?
Whom are you looking for?”
Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him,
“Sir, if you took him away,
tell me where you put him and I will take him.”
Yeshua said to her,
“Miryam!”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew,
“Rabbouni!”
(which means teacher).
Yeshua said to her,
“Do not hold on to me,
since I have not yet gone up to the father.
But go to my brothers and tell them,
I am ascending to my father and your father
and my god and your god.”
Miryam of Magdala went and announced to the students,
“I have seen the lord.”
And she told them that he had said these things to her.
YESHUA APPEARS TO THE STUDENTS
So when it was early evening of that first day of the week and the doors of the house where the students met were locked for fear of the Jews, Yeshua came and stood in their midst and said to them,
“Peace to you.”
And saying this, he showed his hands and his side to them.
The students were overjoyed when they saw the lord.
So Yeshua said to them again,
“Peace to you.
As the father sent me
so I send you.”
And saying this, he breathed over them and said to them,
But Toma, who was one of the twelve, called the twin, was not with them when Yeshua came.
So the other students were saying to him,
“We have seen the lord.”
But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and I put my finger into the place of the nails and I put my hand into his side, I shall not believe.”
After eight days the students were again in the house and Toma with them. Though the doors were shut, Yeshua stood in their midst and said,
Blessings on those who have not seen and believe.”
Yeshua performed many other signs before his students, which have not been written in this book. But these things were written that you may believe that Yeshua is the messiah the son of god, and that in believing you may have life in his name.
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(Chapter 21)
YESHUA AT THE SEA OF TIBERIAS
After this, Yeshua again showed himself to the students at the Sea of Tiberias. And this is how he showed himself. Gathered together were Shimon Kefa and Toma called the twin and Nathanael from Kana in Galil and the sons of Zebedee and two other students.
Shimon Kefa said, “I’m going fishing.”
They told him, “We’re coming with you.”
They went out and got into the boat, and all that night caught nothing.
At daybreak Yeshua was standing on the beach. But the students didn’t realize that it was Yeshua.
Yeshua said to them,
“Children, have you any fish?”
“No,” they answered him.
And he said to them,
“Cast the net in the waters to the right side
of the ship and you will find some.”
So they cast, and they weren’t strong enough to haul it back in because of the swarm of fish.
Then that student whom Yeshua loved
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said to Kefa,
“It is the lord.”
When Shimon Kefa heard it was the lord, he put on his outer garment, for he had stripped naked and thrown himself into the sea.
But the other students came in a small boat—they were not far from the land, about a hundred yards away—dragging the net full of fish.
When they came out on the shore, they saw a charcoal fire and a small fish placed on it, and bread.
Yeshua said to them,
“Now bring some of the fish you caught.
”
So Shimon Kefa went on board and dragged the net onto the land, filled with big fish, a hundred fifty-three of them, yet with so many the net didn’t tear.
Yeshua said to them,
“Come have breakfast.”
None of the students dared ask, “Who are you?,” knowing that it was the lord.
Yeshua came and took the bread and gave it to them, and also the fish.
This was already the third time that Yeshua appeared to the students after he was raised from the dead.
YESHUA QUESTIONS SHIMON KEFA’S LOVE
So when they had breakfasted, Yeshua said to Shimon Kefa,
“Shimon son of Yohanan, do you love me
more than they do?”
Shimon said to him, “Yes, lord, you know that I love you.”
Yeshua said to him,
“Feed my lambs.”
He asked Shimon a second time,
“Shimon son of Yohanan, do you love me?”
Shimon said, “Yes, lord, you know that I love you.”
He said to Shimon son of Yohanan for the third time,
“Do you love me?”
Kefa was hurt that he had asked him for the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you.”
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This he said, signifying by what death he would glorify god.
After he said this, he told him,
“Follow me.”
THE AUTHOR REVEALED
Kefa turned and saw the student whom Yeshua loved following them, the one who also lay next to his chest at the supper and who had said, “Who is betraying you?”
When Kefa saw him, he said to Yeshua, “Lord, what about him?”
Yeshua said to Kefa,
“If I want him to stay until I come,
what is that to you?
Follow me.”
So word went out to the brothers that the student would not die. But Yeshua did not tell Kefa that the student would not die, but rather,
“If I want him to stay until I come,
what is that to you?”
This is the student who testifies to these things and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
And there are many other things that Yeshua did. If they were written down one by one, I think the world itself would not have room to hold the books that would be written.