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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" /><title>John 3 NLT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/john/3.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/john/3-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="http://biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">NLT</a> > John 3</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../john/2.htm" title="John 2">◄</a> John 3 <a href="../john/4.htm" title="John 4">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading"><table width="100%"><tr><td width="99%" valign="top">New Living Translation</td><td width="1%" valign="top"><a href="/p/nlt/esv/john/3.shtml" style="color:#001320" title="Parallel Chapters"> Par ▾ </a></td></tr></table></div><div class="chap"><p class="reg"><span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-1.htm"><b>1</b></a></span>There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-2.htm"><b>2</b></a></span>After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-3.htm"><b>3</b></a></span>Jesus replied, <span class="red">“I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">a</span></a> you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”</span></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-4.htm"><b>4</b></a></span>“What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-5.htm"><b>5</b></a></span>Jesus replied, <span class="red">“I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">b</span></a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-6.htm"><b>6</b></a></span><span class="red">Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">c</span></a></span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-7.htm"><b>7</b></a></span><span class="red">So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">d</span></a> must be born again.’</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-8.htm"><b>8</b></a></span><span class="red">The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”</span></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-9.htm"><b>9</b></a></span>“How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-10.htm"><b>10</b></a></span>Jesus replied, <span class="red">“You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-11.htm"><b>11</b></a></span><span class="red">I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-12.htm"><b>12</b></a></span><span class="red">But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-13.htm"><b>13</b></a></span><span class="red">No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">e</span></a> has come down from heaven.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-14.htm"><b>14</b></a></span><span class="red">And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-15.htm"><b>15</b></a></span><span class="red">so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">f</span></a></span></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-16.htm"><b>16</b></a></span><span class="red">“For this is how God loved the world: He gave<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">g</span></a> his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-17.htm"><b>17</b></a></span><span class="red">God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.</span></p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-18.htm"><b>18</b></a></span><span class="red">“There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-19.htm"><b>19</b></a></span><span class="red">And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-20.htm"><b>20</b></a></span><span class="red">All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.</span> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-21.htm"><b>21</b></a></span><span class="red">But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">h</span></a>”</span></p><p class="hdg">John the Baptist Exalts Jesus</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-22.htm"><b>22</b></a></span>Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-23.htm"><b>23</b></a></span>At this time John the Baptist was baptizing at Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to him for baptism. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-24.htm"><b>24</b></a></span>(This was before John was thrown into prison.) <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-25.htm"><b>25</b></a></span>A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">i</span></a> over ceremonial cleansing. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-26.htm"><b>26</b></a></span>So John’s disciples came to him and said, “Rabbi, the man you met on the other side of the Jordan River, the one you identified as the Messiah, is also baptizing people. And everybody is going to him instead of coming to us.”</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-27.htm"><b>27</b></a></span>John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-28.htm"><b>28</b></a></span>You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-29.htm"><b>29</b></a></span>It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-30.htm"><b>30</b></a></span>He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.</p><p class="reg"> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-31.htm"><b>31</b></a></span>“He has come from above and is greater than anyone else. We are of the earth, and we speak of earthly things, but he has come from heaven and is greater than anyone else.<a href="#footnotes"><span class="fn">j</span></a> <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-32.htm"><b>32</b></a></span>He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them! <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-33.htm"><b>33</b></a></span>Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-34.htm"><b>34</b></a></span>For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-35.htm"><b>35</b></a></span>The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. <span class="reftext"><a href="http://biblehub.com/john/3-36.htm"><b>36</b></a></span>And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”</p><A name="footnotes"></a><hr size="1" color="DDEEFF"><span class="mainfootnotes"><span class="mainfootnoteshdg">Footnotes:</span><br><span class="fn">a</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:3 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">born from above;</span><span class="ft"> also in 3:7.</span><br><span class="fn">b</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:5 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">and spirit.</span><span class="ft"> The Greek word for </span><span class="it">Spirit</span><span class="ft"> can also be translated </span><span class="it">wind;</span><span class="ft"> see 3:8.</span><br><span class="fn">c</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:6 </span><span class="ft">Greek </span><span class="it">what is born of the Spirit is spirit.</span><br><span class="fn">d</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:7 </span><span class="ft">The Greek word for </span><span class="it">you</span><span class="ft"> is plural; also in 3:12.</span><br><span class="fn">e</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:13 </span><span class="ft">Some manuscripts add </span><span class="it">who lives in heaven.</span><span class="ft"> “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.</span><br><span class="fn">f</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:15 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">everyone who believes will have eternal life in him.</span><br><span class="fn">g</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:16 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">For God loved the world so much that he gave.</span><br><span class="fn">h</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:21 </span><span class="ft">Or </span><span class="it">can see God at work in what he is doing.</span><br><span class="fn">i</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:25 </span><span class="ft">Some manuscripts read </span><span class="it">some Jews.</span><br><span class="fn">j</span><note caller="+" style="f"><span class="fr">3:31 </span><span class="ft">Some manuscripts do not include </span><span class="it">and is greater than anyone else.</span><br></span></div></div><div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center"><em>Holy Bible</em>, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. 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