² Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake:^(A) some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.^(B)

⁵² and the tombs broke open. The bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.

¹¹ After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend^(A) Lazarus has fallen asleep;^(B) but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹² His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³ Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.^(C)

¹⁴ So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶ Then Thomas^(D) (also known as Didymus^[a]) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus Comforts the Sisters of Lazarus

¹⁷ On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.^{(E) 18} Now Bethany^(F) was less than two miles^[b] from Jerusalem, ¹⁹ and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.^{(G) 20} When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.^(H)

²¹ “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.^{(I) 22} But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”^(J)

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection^(K) at the last day.”^(L)

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am^(M) the resurrection and the life.^(N) The one who believes^(O) in me will live, even though they die; ²⁶ and whoever lives by believing^(P) in me will never die.^(Q) Do you believe this?”

²⁷ “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah,^(R) the Son of God,^(S) who is to come into the world.”^(T)

²⁸ After she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher^(U) is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹ When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him.^{(V) 31} When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her,^(W) noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”^(X)

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved^(Y) in spirit and troubled.^{(Z) 34} “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.^(AA)

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”^(AB)

³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man^(AC) have kept this man from dying?”^(AD)

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸ Jesus, once more deeply moved,^(AE) came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.^{(AF) 39} “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”^(AG)

⁴⁰ Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe,^(AH) you will see the glory of God?”^(AI)

⁴¹ So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up^(AJ) and said, “Father,^(AK) I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here,^(AL) that they may believe that you sent me.”^(AM)

⁴³ When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”^{(AN) 44} The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen,^(AO) and a cloth around his face.^(AP)

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵ Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary,^(AQ) and had seen what Jesus did,^(AR) believed in him.^{(AS) 46} But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷ Then the chief priests and the Pharisees^(AT) called a meeting^(AU) of the Sanhedrin.^(AV)

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs.^{(AW) 48} If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹ Then one of them, named Caiaphas,^(AX) who was high priest that year,^(AY) spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰ You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”^(AZ)

⁵¹ He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵² and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.^{(BA) 53} So from that day on they plotted to take his life.^(BB)

⁵⁴ Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea.^(BC) Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,^(BD) many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing^(BE) before the Passover. ⁵⁶ They kept looking for Jesus,^(BF) and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” ⁵⁷ But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.

³⁶ “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep;^(A) he was buried with his ancestors^(B) and his body decayed.

⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.^(A)

¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep^(A) in Christ are lost.

²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead,^(A) the firstfruits^(B) of those who have fallen asleep.^(C)

Believers Who Have Died

¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed^(A) about those who sleep in death,^(B) so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.^{(C) 14} For we believe that Jesus died and rose again,^(D) and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.^{(E) 15} According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,^(F) will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.^{(G) 16} For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,^(H) with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel^(I) and with the trumpet call of God,^(J) and the dead in Christ will rise first.^{(K) 17} After that, we who are still alive and are left^(L) will be caught up together with them in the clouds^(M) to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord^(N) forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another^(O) with these words.

⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?^(A) Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”^(B)