1-2 One night, a man went to talk to Jesus. His name was Nicodemus. He was a leader of the Jewish people, and he was one of the mob called Pharisees, that were strong for the Jewish law. He said to Jesus, “Teacher, we’ve been watching you do powerful things, so now we know that God has sent you to teach us. Only somebody with God’s power can do those things.”

3 Jesus said to him, “Listen, I am telling you straight, people have to get born again, and then they can be in God’s family.”

4 Nicodemus said, “How can a big man like me get back into his mother’s body and get born again?”

5 Jesus said, “Listen, I am telling you straight, if anyone wants to be in God’s family, they have to get born again God’s way. God has to make them clean, and he has to put his spirit in them. 6 You see, everybody is born from a human mother, that’s how our bodies get life. But if people get born again from God’s Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit gives new life to their spirits too.

7 I said, ‘You have to get born again.’ Don’t get shocked by that. 8 You know that the wind goes wherever it wants to go. You hear the sound it makes, but you don’t know where it came from, and you don’t know where it’s going. Just like that, we don’t know how God’s spirit makes people get born again.”

9 Nicodemus said, “What? How can somebody get born again from God’s spirit?”

10 Jesus said, “I am shocked. You are an important teacher here in Israel, and you don’t understand what I’m saying. 11 Listen, I am telling you straight, I talk about the things I know, and about the things I have seen, but you don’t take any notice of what I tell you. 12 I told you about things that happen here on earth, and you don’t believe me. So if I tell you about things that happen in heaven, I reckon you will still not believe me.

13 I am the only person here that has been in heaven. I am the special man from God. I came down from heaven. So you have to believe what I say.

14 Think about the story about our grand-fathers that lived a long time ago. They walked through the desert, and they started to complain to God, so he sent snakes to bite them and kill them. Then God told Moses to make a metal snake and put it up on a pole. Then, whenever a snake bit somebody, if that person looked at that metal snake up on the pole, they didn’t die. Well, I am God’s special man from heaven. Just like Moses lifted up that metal snake on a pole, people will lift me up on a cross,* Numbers 21:9 15 so that if anyone believes in me, then they will live with God for ever.”

16 You see, God loved all of the people in the world. He loved everyone so much that he sent them his only son, his special son. God sent him to die instead of them, so that if anyone trusts him, God will not finish them up, but they will live with him for ever.

17 You see, God sent his son into the world so that he can save the people of the world. He didn’t send him to judge people and do payback to them.

18 If anyone believes in God’s son, then God will not say they are guilty. But if anyone does not believe in him, God has already said they are guilty. You see, they do not believe in God’s only son, his special son. 19 So God will judge them. You see, the light has come into the world, but people don’t want the light. They love the darkness too much. They love doing bad things in the dark, and they want to keep on doing them. 20 If anyone does bad things, they hate the light. They will not come into the light. They know that if they come into the light, then everyone will see the bad things they are doing. 21 But anyone that lives the right way, comes into the light, so that everyone can see them living God’s way.

22 After that, Jesus went with his followers to Judea country, and he spent some time with them there. People went to Jesus there, and his followers baptised them.

23 At that time some people kept going to John too, and he baptised them. John was at a place called Aynon, near the place called Salim. There was a lot of water there. 24 John was free at that time, but later the soldiers grabbed him and put him in jail.* Matthew 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19-20

25 At that time, the Jewish people had laws about making themselves clean for their ceremonies, and some of John’s followers argued with a Jewish leader about the right way to get clean. 26 Then they went to John and said, “Teacher, remember that man you talked about, the man that was with you on the other side of the Jordan River. Lots of people are going to him, and he is baptising them.”

27 John said, “A person can only get what God gives them. Some people come to me, and some people go to Jesus, but don’t worry. Don’t be jealous. 28 Jesus is the special man that God sent to the world. Remember, I told you, ‘I am not the Christ, the special man that God promised to send to save his people. But God sent me to get people ready, so that they will listen to that special man.’ You heard me say that.* John 1:20

29 Listen to this picture story about wedding parties. The man that marries the woman is the important man. The man’s good friend waits for him, and the friend is really happy when the man comes. Well, in the same way, I am like the good friend of Jesus. He came, so I am really happy. And people are going to him, and I am happy about that too. 30 He has to get more and more important. But I am not important, and later I will be like nothing.

31 Yes, Jesus is the most important one, he is the man that came from heaven. But we belong to the earth, so we can only talk about things we see and hear on earth. But Jesus came from heaven, so he knows about everything. 32 He talks about the things he saw and heard in heaven. But nobody believes him. 33 But if anyone does believe what he says, they clearly show that God’s words are true.

34 You see, Jesus only says God’s words. God sent him and gave him the full power of his Holy Spirit. 35 God, the father, loves his son very much and gave him power over everything.* Matthew 11:27; Luke 10:22 36 Anyone that believes in God’s son will live with him for ever. But anyone that does not do what God’s son says, will not live with God, and God will be angry with that person for ever.”