Passage

John 3.1-15

Book: John · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2. the same came unto him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, except God be with him. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God. 4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God! 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born anew. 8. The wind bloweth where it will, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou the teacher of Israel, and understandest not these things? 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and bear witness of that which we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12. If I told you earthly things and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13. And no one hath ascended into heaven, but he that descended out of heaven, even the Son of man, who is in heaven. 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; 15. that whosoever believeth may in him have eternal life."

"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17. For God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world should be saved through him." (John 3:1-17, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2. The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him.” 3. Jesus answered him, “Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can’t see God’s Kingdom.” 4. Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” 5. Jesus answered, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7. Don’t marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born anew.’ 8. The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9. Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?” 10. Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and don’t understand these things? 11. Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness. 12. If I told you earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13. No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven. 14. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15. that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 17. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him." (John 3:1-17, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: 2. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. 3. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ^{again: or, from above} 4. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. ^{again: or, from above} 8. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. 9. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? 10. Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? 11. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. 12. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 13. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: 15. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."

"16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:1-17, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a ruler of the Jews, 2. this one came unto him by night, and said to him, 'Rabbi, we have known that from God thou hast come, a teacher, for no one these signs is able to do that thou dost, if God may not be with him.' 3. Jesus answered and said to him, 'Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God;' 4. Nicodemus saith unto him, 'How is a man able to be born, being old? is he able into the womb of his mother a second time to enter, and to be born?' 5. Jesus answered, 'Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the reign of God; 6. that which hath been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit. 7. 'Thou mayest not wonder that I said to thee, It behoveth you to be born from above; 8. the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.' 9. Nicodemus answered and said to him, 'How are these things able to happen?' 10. Jesus answered and said to him, 'Thou art the teacher of Israel, and these things thou dost not know! 11. 'Verily, verily, I say to thee, What we have known we speak, and what we have seen we testify, and our testimony ye do not receive; 12. if the earthly things I said to you, and ye do not believe, how, if I shall say to you the heavenly things, will ye believe? 13. and no one hath gone up to the heaven, except he who out of the heaven came down, the Son of Man who is in the heaven. 14. 'And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up, 15. that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during,"

"16. for God did so love the world, that His Son, the only begotten, He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during. 17. For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him;" (John 3:1-17, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

H3820 - lev

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.