Gospel according to John 9

¹ As he went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.

² His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, for him to have been born blind?’

³ ‘Neither he nor his parents sinned,’ Jesus answered ‘he was born blind so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

⁴ ‘As long as the day lasts I must carry out the work of the one who sent me; the night will soon be here when no one can work.

⁵ As long as I am in the world I am the light of the world.’

⁶ Having said this, he spat on the ground, made a paste with the spittle, put this over the eyes of the blind man.

⁷ and said to him, ‘Go and wash in the Pool of Siloam[*a] (a name that means ‘sent’). So the blind man went off and washed himself, and came away with his sight restored.

⁸ His neighbours and people who earlier had seen him begging said, ‘Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?’

⁹ Some said, ‘Yes, it is the same one’. Others said, ‘No, he only looks like him’. The man himself said, ‘I am the man’.

¹⁰ So they said to him, ‘Then how do your eyes come to be open?’

¹¹ ‘The man called Jesus’ he answered ‘made a paste, daubed my eyes with it and said to me, “Go and wash at Siloam”; so I went, and when I washed I could see.’

¹² They asked, ‘Where is he?’ ‘I don’t know’ he answered.

¹³ They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees.

¹⁴ It had been a sabbath day when Jesus made the paste and opened the man’s eyes,

¹⁵ so when the Pharisees asked him how he had come to see, he said, ‘He put a paste on my eyes, and I washed, and I can see’.

¹⁶ Then some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man cannot be from God: he does not keep the sabbath’. Others said, ‘How could a sinner produce signs like this?’ And there was disagreement among them.

¹⁷ So they spoke to the blind man again, ‘What have you to say about him yourself, now that he has opened your eyes?’ ‘He is a prophet’ replied the man.

¹⁸ However, the Jews would not believe that the man had been blind and had gained his sight, without first sending for his parents and

¹⁹ asking them, ‘Is this man really your son who you say was born blind? If so, how is it that he is now able to see?’

²⁰ His parents answered, ‘We know he is our son and we know he was born blind,

²¹ but we don’t know how it is that he can see now, or who opened his eyes. He is old enough: let him speak for himself.’

²² His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to expel from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ.

²³ This was why his parents said, ‘He is old enough; ask him’.

²⁴ So the Jews again sent for the man and said to him, ‘Give glory to God![*b] For our part, we know that this man is a sinner.’

²⁵ The man answered, ‘I don’t know if he is a sinner; I only know that I was blind and now I can see’.

²⁶ They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’

²⁷ He replied, ‘I have told you once and you wouldn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it all again? Do you want to become his disciples too?’

²⁸ At this they hurled abuse at him: ‘You can be his disciple,’ they said ‘we are disciples of Moses:

²⁹ we know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from’.

³⁰ The man replied, ‘Now here is an astonishing thing! He has opened my eyes, and you don’t know where he comes from!

³¹ We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but God does listen to men who are devout and do his will.

³² Ever since the world began it is unheard of for anyone to open the eyes of a man who was born blind;

³³ if this man were not from God, he couldn’t do a thing.’

³⁴ ‘Are you trying to teach us,’ they replied ‘and you a sinner through and through, since you were born!’ And they drove him away.

³⁵ Jesus heard they had driven him away, and when he found him he said to him, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’

³⁶ ‘Sir,’ the man replied ‘tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.’

³⁷ Jesus said, ‘You are looking at him; he is speaking to you’.

³⁸ The man said, ‘Lord, I believe’, and worshipped him.

³⁹ Jesus said: ‘It is for judgement that I have come into this world, so that those without sight may see and those with sight turn blind’.

⁴⁰ Hearing this, some Pharisees who were present said to him, ‘We are not blind, surely?’

⁴¹ Jesus replied: ‘Blind? If you were, you would not be guilty, but since you say, “We see”, your guilt remains.