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The Blue Letter Bible

John 3 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:1

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:1 - There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:2

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:2 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:3

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:3 - Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[fn] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:4

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:4 - “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:5

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:5 - Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:6

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:6 - Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:7

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:7 - So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[fn] must be born again.’

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:8

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:8 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:9

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:9 - “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:10

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:10 - Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things?

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:11

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:11 - I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:12

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:12 - 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?

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:13

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:13 - No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man[fn] has come down from heaven.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:14

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:14 - And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:15

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:15 - so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:16

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:16 - “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:17

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:17 - God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:18

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:18 - “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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:19

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:19 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:20

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:20 - All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:21

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:21 - But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants.[fn]”
John the Baptist Exalts Jesus

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:22

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:22 - Then Jesus and his disciples left Jerusalem and went into the Judean countryside. Jesus spent some time with them there, baptizing people.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:23

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:23 - 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.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:24

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:24 - (This was before John was thrown into prison.)

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:25

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:25 - A debate broke out between John’s disciples and a certain Jew[fn] over ceremonial cleansing.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:26

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:26 - 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.”

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:27

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:27 - John replied, “No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:28

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:28 - You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:29

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:29 - It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the best man is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:30

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:30 - He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:31

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:31 - “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.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:32

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:32 - He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but how few believe what he tells them!

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:33

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:33 - Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:34

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:34 - For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:35

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:35 - The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands.

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Unchecked Copy Box Jhn 3:36

Unchecked Copy BoxJhn 3:36 - 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.”
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Or born from above; also in 3:7.
Or and spirit. The Greek word for Spirit can also be translated wind; see 3:8.
Greek what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
The Greek word for you is plural; also in 3:12.
Some manuscripts add who lives in heaven. “Son of Man” is a title Jesus used for himself.
Or everyone who believes will have eternal life in him.
Or can see God at work in what he is doing.
Some manuscripts read some Jews.
Some manuscripts do not include and is greater than anyone else.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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John Chapter 3 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Morphological Greek New Testament Textus Receptus Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras