Chapter 9

¹As he passed along, he saw a man who had been blind from his birth. ²His disciples asked him,

“Master, for whose sin was this man born blind? For his own, or for that of his parents?”

³Jesus answered,

“It was neither for his own sin nor for that of his parents, but to let what God can do be illustrated in his case. ⁴We must carry on the work of him who has sent me while the daylight lasts. Night is coming, when no one can do any work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am a light for the world.”

⁶As he said this he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and he put the clay on the man’s eyes, ⁷and said to him,

“Go and wash them in the Pool of Siloam”—a name which means One who has been sent. So he went and washed them, and went home able to see.

⁸Then his neighbors and people who had formerly seen him begging, said,

“Is not this the man who used to sit and beg?”

⁹Some said,

“Yes! It is he!”

Others said,

“No! but he looks like him.”

He himself said,

“I am the man.”

¹⁰So they said to him,

“Then how does it happen that you can see?”

¹¹He answered,

“The man they call Jesus made some clay and rubbed it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash them.’ So I went and when I had washed them I could see.”

¹²They said to him,

“Where is he?”

He answered,

“I do not know.”

¹³They took the man who had been blind to the Pharisees. ¹⁴Now it was on the Sabbath that Jesus had made the clay and made him able to see. ¹⁵So once more the Pharisees asked him how he had become able to see, and he said to them,

“He put some clay on my eyes, and I washed them, and I can see.”

¹⁶Then some of the Pharisees said,

“This man does not come from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”

But others said,

“How can a sinful man show such signs as this?”

And there was a division of opinion among them. ¹⁷So they asked the blind man again,

“What have you to say about him, because he has made you able to see?”

He said,

“He is a prophet!”

¹⁸But the Jews would not believe that he had been blind and had become able to see until they summoned the parents of the man who had been given his sight, ¹⁹and asked them,

“Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How is it that he can see now?”

²⁰His parents answered,

“We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind. ²¹But we do not know how it is that he can see now, or who has made him able to see. You must ask him. He is grown up. Let him tell you about himself.”

²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already made an agreement that if anyone acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, he should be excluded from the synagogues. ²³That was why his parents said, “He is grown up; you must ask him.” ²⁴So they again summoned the man who had been blind, and they said to him,

“Give God the praise. This man we know is a sinful man.”

²⁵He answered,

“I do not know about his being a sinful man. All I know is that I was blind before and now I can see.”

²⁶They said to him,

“What did he do to you? How did he make you able to see?”

²⁷He answered,

“I have already told you and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become disciples of his too?”

²⁸Then they sneered at him, and said,

“You are a disciple of his yourself, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this man came from.”

³⁰The man answered,

“There is something very strange about this! You do not know where he came from, and yet he has made me able to see! ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinful people, but if a man is devout and obeys God, God will listen to him. ³²It was never heard of in this world that anyone made a man born blind able to see. ³³If this man were not from God, he could not do anything.”

³⁴They answered,

“You were born in utter sin, and are you trying to teach us?”

So they excluded him from the synagogue.

³⁵Jesus learned that they had excluded him, and he found the man and said to him,

“Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

³⁶The man answered,

“Who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.”

³⁷Jesus said to him,

“You have seen him already, and it is he who is now talking to you.”

³⁸And he said,

“I believe, sir!” and he fell on his knees before him.

³⁹And Jesus said,

“I have come into this world to judge men, that those who cannot see may see, and that those who can see may become blind.”

⁴⁰Some Pharisees who were present heard this, and they said to him,

“Then are we blind too?”

⁴¹Jesus said to them,

“If you were blind, you would be guilty of no sin, but as it is, you say ‘We can see’; so your sin continues.