John 5:2-9a-13-9b, 16-18, The Message and Common English Bible
[ ] = text is adapted for gender neutrality/inclusion or clarity. Italics indicate the text is from The Message
2-6 …Near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there was a pool, in Hebrew called Bethesda, with five alcoves.
Hundreds of sick people—blind, crippled, paralyzed—were in these alcoves. One [sufferer] had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw [that one] stretched out by the pool and knew how long [they] had been there, he said, “Do you want to get well?”
7 The sick [one] answered Jesus, “Sir, I don’t have anyone who can put me in the water when it is stirred up. When I’m trying to get to it, someone else has gotten in ahead of me.”
8 Jesus said, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”
9a Immediately the [sufferer] was well, and picked up the mat and walked.
13 The [one] who had been cured didn’t know who it was, because Jesus slipped away from the crowd gathered there.
9b Now that day was the Sabbath.
[When the Jewish leaders learned it had been Jesus who healed the one suffering, they began] 16…harassing Jesus, since he had done these things on the Sabbath.
17 But Jesus defended himself, “My Father is working straight through, even on the Sabbath. So am I.”
18 That really set them off. The [authorities] were now not only out to expose him; they were out to kill him. Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was calling God his own Father, putting himself on a level with God.
Isaiah 43:2a, 5, Living Bible
[Isaiah spoke for God and said to Jacob, who loved God…] 2 When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown!
5 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
Anonymous
I asked God, “Why are you taking me through the water?”
God replied, “Because your enemies can’t swim.”