Side by side
John 11
Our retelling next to the Bible text it comes from. Each row lines up one scene with the verses it retells.
Scene 1: The MessageVerses 1 to 6
In the village of Bethany, a man lay sick. His name was Lazarus. His sisters, Martha and Mary, lived in Bethany too.
John tells us more about Mary. She was the one who later poured perfume on Jesus's feet and wiped them with her hair (12:3).
The sisters sent a message to Jesus. It was short. "Lord, the one You love is sick" (11:3).
When Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it" (11:4). Glory means God's greatness, shown so people can see it.
John says Jesus loved Martha, her sister Mary, and Lazarus.
Then John says something hard to understand. Jesus heard that Lazarus was sick, and he stayed where he was for two days.
1At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. 2(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.) 3So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.” 4When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” 5Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6So on hearing that Lazarus was sick, He stayed where He was for two days,
Scene 2: Back Toward DangerVerses 7 to 16
After two days, Jesus said, "Let us go back to Judea" (11:7).
Judea was the area around Jerusalem. Bethany was there. So were the people who had tried to stone Jesus.
The disciples were afraid. They reminded Jesus that people there had tried to stone him not long ago.
Jesus answered with a comparison about walking in the daylight. People who walk in the day don't trip, because they can see. People who walk at night do trip, because they have no light.
Then Jesus said, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up" (11:11).
The disciples said that if Lazarus was sleeping, he would get better. They thought Jesus meant real sleep. But "asleep" was a comparison. Jesus meant that Lazarus had died.
So Jesus told them plainly. "Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him" (11:14-15).
Thomas spoke to the other disciples. "Let us also go, so that we may die with Him" (11:16).
7and then He said to the disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” 8“Rabbi,” they replied, “the Jews just tried to stone You, and You are going back there?” 9Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? If anyone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world. 10But if anyone walks at night, he will stumble, because he has no light.” 11After He had said this, He told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to wake him up.” 12His disciples replied, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will get better.” 13They thought that Jesus was talking about actual sleep, but He was speaking about the death of Lazarus. 14So Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, 15and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” 16Then Thomas called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
Scene 3: Four DaysVerses 17 to 19
Jesus came near Bethany. By then, Lazarus had been in the tomb for four days.
Back then, people were usually buried on the day they died. Four days meant there was no doubt left. Lazarus was really dead.
Bethany was close to Jerusalem. Many people had come to be with Martha and Mary. They came to comfort the sisters after their brother died.
The house was full of people, and everyone there was sad. Martha and Mary had sent word to Jesus, and they had waited. Their brother had died anyway.
17When Jesus arrived, He found that Lazarus had already spent four days in the tomb. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, a little less than two miles away, 19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them in the loss of their brother.
Scene 4: MarthaVerses 20 to 27
Someone told Martha that Jesus was coming. She got up and went out to meet him outside the village. Mary stayed at home.
Martha said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (11:21).
Martha was grieving because her brother had died, and she said so. But she also said she knew God would give Jesus whatever he asked, even now.
Jesus told her, "Your brother will rise again" (11:23).
Martha said she knew that. Lazarus would rise again at the resurrection on the last day. Resurrection means coming back to life after death. Many Jewish people believed God would raise the dead at the end of time.
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (11:25-26).
Jesus did not only say that the resurrection would come on the last day. He said that he himself is the resurrection and the life.
Martha answered, "Yes, Lord ... I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world" (11:27). Christ means the same as Messiah, the king God promised.
Martha said this before the stone was moved. She had not seen her brother come back. She said it while she was still grieving.
20So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him; but Mary stayed at home. 21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that God will give You whatever You ask of Him.” 23“Your brother will rise again,” Jesus told her. 24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies. 26And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27“Yes, Lord,” she answered, “I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”
Scene 5: MaryVerses 28 to 32
Martha went back home. She called Mary aside and told her quietly that the Teacher was here and was asking for her.
Mary got up fast and went out to him. Jesus had not come into the village yet. He was still at the spot where Martha had met him.
The mourners in the house saw Mary leave in a hurry. They thought she was going to the tomb to cry there. So they followed her.
Mary came to Jesus. When she saw him, she fell down at his feet.
She said the same words as her sister. "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (11:32).
John does not record any other words from Mary here.
28After Martha had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside to tell her, “The Teacher is here and is asking for you.” 29And when Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to Him. 30Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met Him. 31When the Jews who were in the house consoling Mary saw how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32When Mary came to Jesus and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
Scene 6: Jesus WeptVerses 33 to 37
Jesus saw Mary crying. He saw the people with her crying too.
Jesus was "deeply moved in spirit and troubled" (11:33).
He asked, "Where have you put him?" (11:34).
They said, "Come and see, Lord."
"Jesus wept" (11:35).
In many English Bibles, this is the shortest verse. It is only two words.
Jesus already knew what he was about to do. He cried anyway. His friend was dead, and the people he loved were hurting.
Some people said, "See how He loved him" (11:36).
Others asked a hard question. Jesus had opened the eyes of a blind man. They asked if he could have kept Lazarus from dying too.
33When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34“Where have you put him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they answered. 35Jesus wept. 36Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!” 37But some of them asked, “Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Scene 7: The StoneVerses 38 to 42
Jesus came to the tomb. Once again, he was deeply moved. The tomb was a cave, with a stone laid across the opening.
Jesus said, "Take away the stone" (11:39).
Martha spoke up. "Lord, by now he stinks," she said. "It has already been four days" (11:39).
Jesus said, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" (11:40).
Jesus had already asked Martha to believe (11:26). When the message first came, Jesus had said this sickness was for the glory of God. Now Jesus spoke of God's glory to Martha.
So they took the stone away.
Jesus looked up. He prayed out loud. "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me" (11:41).
Jesus said he knew the Father always hears him. He said he prayed out loud because of the people standing there. He wanted them to believe that the Father had sent him.
38Jesus, once again deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39“Take away the stone,” Jesus said. “Lord, by now he stinks,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man. “It has already been four days.” 40Jesus replied, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone. Then Jesus lifted His eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. 42I knew that You always hear Me, but I say this for the benefit of the people standing here, so they may believe that You sent Me.”
Scene 8: Come OutVerses 43 to 44
Then Jesus called out in a loud voice.
"Lazarus, come out!" (11:43).
The dead man came out.
His hands and feet were still wrapped in strips of linen cloth. A cloth covered his face.
Jesus told them, "Unwrap him and let him go" (11:44).
Four days earlier, Martha and Mary had buried their brother. Now he had come out of the tomb alive.
That was not the end of the story. Many who saw this believed in Jesus. But some went and told the Pharisees. The chief priests and Pharisees met, and from that day on they plotted to kill Jesus (11:45-53).
Soon Jesus would lie in a tomb too, wrapped in linen, with a stone at the door (19:40-42, 20:1). On the third day, that stone would be moved as well. And Jesus would leave his linen cloths behind (20:1, 20:6-7).
43After Jesus had said this, He called out in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44The man who had been dead came out with his hands and feet bound in strips of linen, and his face wrapped in a cloth. “Unwrap him and let him go,” Jesus told them.
Between scenesVerses 45 to 57
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
45Therefore many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in Him. 46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47Then the chief priests and Pharisees convened the Sanhedrin and said, “What are we to do? This man is performing many signs. 48If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” 49But one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all! 50You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” 51Caiaphas did not say this on his own. Instead, as high priest that year, he was prophesying that Jesus would die for the nation, 52and not only for the nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to gather them together into one. 53So from that day on they plotted to kill Him. 54As a result, Jesus no longer went about publicly among the Jews, but He withdrew to a town called Ephraim in an area near the wilderness. And He stayed there with the disciples. 55Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover. 56They kept looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple courts, “What do you think? Will He come to the feast at all?” 57But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where He was must report it, so that they could arrest Him.
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