Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
John 9
A Man Born Blind Receives Sight
As Jesus was passing by, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. Rather, this is so that God’s works may be revealed in him. We must work the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” After saying this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes. He told him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam”—which means Sent. So the man went, washed, and came back seeing. His neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar asked, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” Some said, “He is.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” The man kept saying, “I am the man.” They asked him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went, washed, and received my sight.” They asked, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
The Pharisees Investigate
They brought the man who had formerly been blind to the Pharisees. The day Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath. So the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.” Some Pharisees said, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” So there was a division among them. They asked the man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.” The Jewish authorities did not believe he had been blind and received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received sight. They asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How then can he now see?” His parents answered, “We know this is our son and that he was born blind. But how he now sees, we do not know, and we do not know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is old enough; he can speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish authorities, because the authorities had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. This is why his parents said, “He is old enough. Ask him.”
The Healed Man Testifies
So they called the man who had been blind a second time and said, “Give glory to God! We know this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I know: I was blind, and now I see.” They asked, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too, do you?” They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. We know God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this man is from.” The man answered, “This is astonishing! You do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone worships God and does his will, God listens to that person. Never since the beginning of the world has anyone heard of someone opening the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and you are teaching us?” Then they threw him out.
Seeing and Blindness
Jesus heard they had thrown him out. When he found him, he said, “Do you trust in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir, so that I may trust in him?” Jesus said, “You have seen him, and he is the one speaking with you.” He said, “I trust, Lord,” and he bowed before him in worship. Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind.” Some Pharisees who were with him heard this and asked, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now you say, ‘We see,’ so your sin remains.”