Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Maryam and her sister, Martha. 2It was that Maryam who had anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother, Lazarus, was sick. 3The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.” 4But when ‘ISA1 heard it, he said, “This sickness is not to death, but for the glory of God2, that the SON OF GOD3 may be glorified by it.” 5Now ‘ISA loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 6When therefore he heard that he was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was. 7Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let’s go into Judea again.”
8The disciples told him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”
9‘ISA answered, “Aren’t there twelve hours of daylight? If a man walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. 10But if a man walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light isn’t in him.” 11He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
12The disciples therefore said, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
13Now ‘ISA had spoken of his death, but they thought that he spoke of taking rest in sleep. 14So ‘ISA said to them plainly then, “Lazarus is dead. 15I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe. Nevertheless, let’s go to him.”
16Thomas therefore, who is called Didymus4, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go also, that we may die with him.”
17So when ‘ISA came, he found that he had been in the tomb four days already. 18Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia5 away. 19Many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Maryam, to console them concerning their brother. 20Then when Martha heard that ‘ISA was coming, she went and met him, but Maryam stayed in the house. 21Therefore Martha said to ‘ISA, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died. 22Even now I know that, whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” 23‘ISA said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
24Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”
25‘ISA said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he die, yet will he live. 26Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
27She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are AL-MASIH6, the SON OF GOD, he who was to come into the world.”
28When she had said this, she went away, and called Maryam, her sister, secretly, saying, “The Teacher is here, and is calling you.”
29When she heard this, she arose quickly, and went to him. 30Now ‘ISA had not yet come into the village, but was in the place where Martha met him. 31Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and were consoling her, when they saw Maryam, that she rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.” 32Therefore when Maryam came to where ‘ISA was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you would have been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.”
33When ‘ISA therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews weeping who came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, 34and said, “Where have you laid him?”
They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
35‘ISA wept.
36The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!” 37Some of them said, “Couldn’t this man, who opened the eyes of him who was blind, have also kept this man from dying?”
38‘ISA therefore, again groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it. 39‘ISA said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
40‘ISA said to her, “Didn’t I tell you that if you believed, you would see God’s glory?”
41So they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. ‘ISA lifted up his eyes, and said, “Father, I thank you that you listened to me. 42I know that you always listen to me, but because of the multitude that stands around I said this, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
44He who was dead came out, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth.
‘ISA said to them, “Free him, and let him go.”
45Therefore many of the Jews, who came to Maryam and saw what ‘ISA did, believed in him. 46But some of them went away to the Pharisees, and told them the things which ‘ISA had done. 47The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, “What are we doing? For this man does many signs. 48If we leave him alone like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
49But a certain one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” 51Now he didn’t say this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that ‘ISA would die for the nation, 52and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. 53So from that day forward they took counsel that they might put him to death. 54‘ISA therefore walked no more openly among the Jews, but departed from there into the country near the wilderness, to a city called Ephraim. He stayed there with his disciples.
55Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand. Many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. 56Then they searched for ‘ISA and spoke one with another, as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think–that he isn’t coming to the feast at all?” 57Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had commanded that if anyone knew where he was, he should report it, that they might seize him.
- 11:4 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
- 11:4 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 11:4 SON OF GOD, a title of the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed through Prophet Dawud in the Zabur 2:7-9, which says: I will tell of the decree. YAHWEH said to me, “You are my SON. Today I have become your FATHER. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, The ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” ↩︎
- 11:16 Didymus, means “Twin”. ↩︎
- 11:18 15 stadia is about 2.8 kilometers or 1.7 miles. ↩︎
- 11:27 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎