John11
New American Standard
1Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
2And it was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
3So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
4But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not meant for death, but is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
5(Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.)
6So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
7Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let’s go to Judea again.”
8The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and yet You are going there again?”
9Jesus replied, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
10But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11This He said, and after this He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.”
12The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will come out of it.”
13Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about actual sleep.
14So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus died,
15and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let’s go to him.”
16Therefore Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!”
17So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away;
19and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them about their brother.
20So then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed in the house.
21Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
22Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise from the dead.”
24Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.”
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies,
26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, and He who comes into the world.”
28When she had said this, she left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
29And when she heard this, she got up quickly and came to Him.
30Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still at the place where Martha met Him.
31Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were consoling her, when they saw that Mary had gotten up quickly and left, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
32So when Mary came to the place where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
34and He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
35Jesus wept.
36So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
37But some of them said, “Could this Man, who opened the eyes of the man who was blind, not have also kept this man from dying?”
38So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
39Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
41So they removed the stone. And Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
42But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
43And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44Out came the man who had died, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what He had done, believed in Him.
46But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them the things which Jesus had done.
47Therefore the chief priests and the Pharisees convened a council meeting, and they were saying, “What are we doing in regard to the fact that this Man is performing many signs?
48If we let Him go on like this, all the people will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take over both our place and our nation.”
49But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
50nor are you taking into account that it is in your best interest that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish instead.”
51Now he did not say this on his own, but as he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation;
52and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
53So from that day on they planned together to kill Him.
54Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim; and there He stayed with the disciples.
55Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country prior to the Passover, in order to purify themselves.
56So they were looking for Jesus, and saying to one another as they stood in the temple area, “What do you think; that He will not come to the feast at all?”
57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where He was, he was to report it, so that they might arrest Him.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for John 11.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The sickness of Lazarus. (1–6). Christ returns to Judea. (7–10). The death of Lazarus. (11–16). Christ arrives at Bethany. (17–32). He raises Lazarus. (33–46). The Pharisees consult against Jesus. (47–53). The Jews seek for him. (54–57).
vv1-6
It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves, to be sick; bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces of God's people. He came not to preserve his people from these afflictions, but to save them from their sins, and from the wrath to come; however, it behoves us to apply to Him in behalf of our friends and relatives when sick and afflicted. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dealings of Providence, that they are all for the glory of God: sickness, loss, disappointment, are so; and if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. The families are greatly favoured in which love and peace abound; but those are most happy whom Jesus loves, and by whom he is beloved. Alas, that this should seldom be the case with every person, even in small families. God has gracious intentions, even when he seems to delay. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, is delayed, it does but stay for the right time.
vv7-10
Christ never brings his people into any danger but he goes with them in it. We are apt to think ourselves zealous for the Lord, when really we are only zealous for our wealth, credit, ease, and safety; we have therefore need to try our principles. But our day shall be lengthened out, till our work is done, and our testimony finished. A man has comfort and satisfaction while in the way of his duty, as set forth by the word of God, and determined by the providence of God. Christ, wherever he went, walked in the day; and so shall we, if we follow his steps. If a man walks in the way of his heart, and according to the course of this world, if he consults his own carnal reasonings more than the will and glory of God, he falls into temptations and snares. He stumbles, because there is no light in him; for light in us is to our moral actions, that which light about us to our natural actions.
vv11-16
Since we are sure to rise again at the last, why should not the believing hope of that resurrection to eternal life, make it as easy for us to put off the body and die, as it is to put off our clothes and go to sleep? A true Christian, when he dies, does but sleep; he rests from the labours of the past day. Nay, herein death is better than sleep, that sleep is only a short rest, but death is the end of earthly cares and toils. The disciples thought that it was now needless for Christ to go to Lazarus, and expose himself and them. Thus we often hope that the good work we are called to do, will be done by some other hand, if there be peril in the doing of it. But when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, many were brought to believe on him; and there was much done to make perfect the faith of those that believed. Let us go to him; death cannot separate from the love of Christ, nor put us out of the reach of his call. Like Thomas, in difficult times Christians should encourage one another. The dying of the Lord Jesus should make us willing to die whenever God calls us.
Key Words
δέ (dé): but, and, etc.
τὶς (tìs): some or any person or object
ἦν (ēn): I (thou, etc.) was (wast or were)
ἀσθενέω (asthenéō): to be feeble (in any sense)
Λάζαρος (Lázaros): Lazarus (i.e. Elazar), the name of two Israelites (one imaginary)
ἀπό (apó): "off," i.e. away (from something near), in various senses (of place, time, or relation; literal or figurative)
κώμη (kṓmē): a hamlet (as if laid down)
Μαρία (María): Maria or Mariam (i.e. Mirjam), the name of six Christian females
καί (kaí): and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words
αὐτός (autós): the reflexive pronoun self, used (alone or in the comparative G1438 (ἑαυτοῦ)) of the third person , and (with the proper personal pronoun) of the other persons
Cross References
John 11Explicitly identifies the Mary in verse 1-2 with her upcoming action of anointing Jesus in chapter 12.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Directly parallel teaching on working and walking while it is day before the night comes.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Parallels walking in the light versus stumbling in the darkness when light is gone.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Establishes the identities and home life of the sisters Martha and Mary in Bethany.
Supported by Matthew Poole, John Calvin
The previous immediate attempt by the Jews to stone Jesus, explaining the disciples' fear.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
John later explicitly references Caiaphas's prophetic counsel that one man should die for the people.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels Jesus gathering His 'other sheep' who are not of this fold into one body.
Supported by John Calvin, JFB
Parallel explanation that human affliction is designed to manifest the miraculous works of God.
Supported by John Calvin
Reflects the divine pattern of waiting to intervene until all human strength is entirely gone.
Supported by JFB
Illuminates the Christian metaphor of death as sleep for those who sleep in Jesus.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jesus' earlier teaching on the general resurrection at the last day when all will hear His voice.
Supported by John Calvin
Deepens the 'I am the life' claim, showing Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Martha's confession of faith closely mirrors Peter's crucial confession of Christ.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The other key instance of Jesus weeping, showing His profound human compassion and sorrow.
Supported by JFB
Demonstrates the direct fulfillment of Martha's confidence that God would hear Jesus.
Supported by Matthew Poole