¹And there was a man of the Pharisees, Nicodemus his name, a ruler of the Jews,

¹ከፈሪሳውያንም ወገን የአይሁድ አለቃ የሆነ ኒቆዲሞስ የሚባል አንድ ሰው ነበረ፤ እርሱም በሌሊት ወደ ኢየሱስ መጥቶ።

²this one came unto him by night, and said to him, `Rabbi, we have known that from God thou hast come — a teacher, for no one these signs is able to do that thou dost, if God may not be with him.`

²መምህር ሆይ፥ እግዚአብሔር ከእርሱ ጋር ከሆነ በቀር አንተ የምታደርጋቸውን እነዚህን ምልክቶች ሊያደርግ የሚችል የለምና መምህር ሆነህ ከእግዚአብሔር ዘንድ እንደ መጣህ እናውቃለን አለው።

³Jesus answered and said to him, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born from above, he is not able to see the reign of God;`

³ኢየሱስም መልሶ። እውነት እውነት እልሃለሁ፥ ሰው ዳግመኛ ካልተወለደ በቀር የእግዚአብሔርን መንግሥት ሊያይ አይችልም አለው።

⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, `How is a man able to be born, being old? is he able into the womb of his mother a second time to enter, and to be born?`

⁴ኒቆዲሞስም። ሰው ከሸመገለ በኋላ እንዴት ሊወለድ ይችላል? ሁለተኛ ወደ እናቱ ማኅፀን ገብቶ ይወለድ ዘንድ ይችላልን? አለው።

⁵Jesus answered, `Verily, verily, I say to thee, If any one may not be born of water, and the Spirit, he is not able to enter into the reign of God;

⁵ኢየሱስም መለሰ፥ እንዲህ ሲል። እውነት እውነት እልሃለሁ፥ ሰው ከውኃና ከመንፈስ ካልተወለደ በቀር ወደ እግዚአብሔር መንግሥት ሊገባ አይችልም።

⁶that which hath been born of the flesh is flesh, and that which hath been born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁶ከሥጋ የተወለደ ሥጋ ነው፥ ከመንፈስም የተወለደ መንፈስ ነው።

⁷`Thou mayest not wonder that I said to thee, It behoveth you to be born from above;

⁷ዳግመኛ ልትወለዱ ያስፈልጋችኋል ስላልሁህ አታድንቅ።

⁸the Spirit where he willeth doth blow, and his voice thou dost hear, but thou hast not known whence he cometh, and whither he goeth; thus is every one who hath been born of the Spirit.`

⁸ነፋስ ወደሚወደው ይነፍሳል፥ ድምፁንም ትሰማለህ፥ ነገር ግን ከወዴት እንደ መጣ ወዴትም እንዲሄድ አታውቅም፤ ከመንፈስ የተወለደ ሁሉ እንዲሁ ነው።

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to him, `How are these things able to happen?`

⁹ኒቆዲሞስ መልሶ። ይህ እንዴት ሊሆን ይችላል? አለው።

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, `Thou art the teacher of Israel — and these things thou dost not know!

¹⁰ኢየሱስም መልሶ እንዲህ አለው። አንተ የእስራኤል መምህር ስትሆን ይህን አታውቅምን?

¹¹`Verily, verily, I say to thee — What we have known we speak, and what we have seen we testify, and our testimony ye do not receive;

¹¹እውነት እውነት እልሃለሁ፥ የምናውቀውን እንናገራለን ያየነውንም እንመሰክራለን፥ ምስክራችንንም አትቀበሉትም።

¹²if the earthly things I said to you, and ye do not believe, how, if I shall say to you the heavenly things, will ye believe?

¹²ስለ ምድራዊ ነገር በነገርኋችሁ ጊዜ ካላመናችሁ፥ ስለ ሰማያዊ ነገር ብነግራችሁ እንዴት ታምናላችሁ?

¹³and no one hath gone up to the heaven, except he who out of the heaven came down — the Son of Man who is in the heaven.

¹³ከሰማይም ከወረደ በቀር ወደ ሰማይ የወጣ ማንም የለም፥ እርሱም በሰማይ የሚኖረው የሰው ልጅ ነው።

¹⁴`And as Moses did lift up the serpent in the wilderness, so it behoveth the Son of Man to be lifted up,

¹⁴ሙሴም በምድረ በዳ እባብን እንደ ሰቀለ እንዲሁ በእርሱ የሚያምን ሁሉ የዘላለም ሕይወት እንዲኖረው እንጂ እንዳይጠፋ የሰው ልጅ ይሰቀል ይገባዋል።

¹⁵that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during,

¹⁶በእርሱ የሚያምን ሁሉ የዘላለም ሕይወት እንዲኖረው እንጂ እንዳይጠፋ እግዚአብሔር አንድያ ልጁን እስኪሰጥ ድረስ ዓለሙን እንዲሁ ወዶአልና።

¹⁶for God did so love the world, that His Son — the only begotten — He gave, that every one who is believing in him may not perish, but may have life age-during.

¹⁷ዓለም በልጁ እንዲድን ነው እንጂ፥ በዓለም እንዲፈርድ እግዚአብሔር ወደ ዓለም አልላከውምና።

¹⁷For God did not send His Son to the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him;

¹⁸በእርሱ በሚያምን አይፈረድበትም፤ በማያምን ግን በአንዱ በእግዚአብሔር ልጅ ስም ስላላመነ አሁን ተፈርዶበታል።

¹⁸he who is believing in him is not judged, but he who is not believing hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

¹⁹ብርሃንም ወደ ዓለም ስለ መጣ ሰዎችም ሥራቸው ክፉ ነበርና ከብርሃን ይልቅ ጨለማን ስለ ወደዱ ፍርዱ ይህ ነው።

¹⁹`And this is the judgment, that the light hath come to the world, and men did love the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil;

²⁰ክፉ የሚያደርግ ሁሉ ብርሃንን ይጠላልና፥ ሥራውም እንዳይገለጥ ወደ ብርሃን አይመጣም፤

²⁰for every one who is doing wicked things hateth the light, and doth not come unto the light, that his works may not be detected;

²¹እውነትን የሚያደርግ ግን ሥራው በእግዚአብሔር ተደርጎ እንደ ሆነ ይገለጥ ዘንድ ወደ ብርሃን ይመጣል።

²¹but he who is doing the truth doth come to the light, that his works may be manifested, that in God they are having been wrought.`

²²ከዚህ በኋላ ኢየሱስ ከደቀ መዛሙርቱ ጋር ወደ ይሁዳ አገር መጣ፥ በዚያም ከእነርሱ ጋር ተቀምጦ ያጠምቅ ነበር።

²²After these things came Jesus and his disciples to the land of Judea, and there he did tarry with them, and was baptizing;

²³ዮሐንስም ደግሞ በሳሌም አቅራቢያ በሄኖን በዚያ ብዙ ውኃ ነበርና ያጠምቅ ነበር፥

²³and John was also baptizing in Aenon, nigh to Salem, because there were many waters there, and they were coming and were being baptized —

²⁴እየመጡም ይጠመቁ ነበር ዮሐንስ ገና ወደ ወኅኒ አልተጨመረም ነበርና።

²⁴for John was not yet cast into the prison —

²⁵ስለዚህም በዮሐንስ ደቀ መዛሙርትና በአይሁድ መካከል ስለ ማንጻት ክርክር ሆነ።

²⁵there arose then a question from the disciples of John with [some] Jews about purifying,

²⁶ወደ ዮሐንስም መጥተው። መምህር ሆይ፥ በዮርዳኖስ ማዶ ከአንተ ጋር የነበረው አንተም የመሰከርህለት፥ እነሆ፥ እርሱ ያጠምቃል ሁሉም ወደ እርሱ ይመጣሉ አሉት።

²⁶and they came unto John, and said to him, `Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou didst testify, lo, this one is baptizing, and all are coming unto him.`

²⁷ዮሐንስ መለሰ፥ እንዲህ ሲል። ከሰማይ ካልተሰጠው ሰው እንዳች ሊቀበል አይችልም።

²⁷John answered and said, `A man is not able to receive anything, if it may not have been given him from the heaven;

²⁸እናንተ። እኔ ክርስቶስ አይደለሁም፥ ነገር ግን። ከእርሱ በፊት ተልኬአለሁ እንዳልሁ ራሳችሁ ትመሰክሩልኛላችሁ።

²⁸ye yourselves do testify to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am having been sent before him;

²⁹ሙሽራይቱ ያለችው እርሱ ሙሽራ ነው፤ ቆሞ የሚሰማው ሚዜው ግን በሙሽራው ድምጽ እጅግ ደስ ይለዋል። እንግዲህ ይህ ደስታዬ ተፈጸመ።

²⁹he who is having the bride is bridegroom, and the friend of the bridegroom, who is standing and hearing him, with joy doth rejoice because of the voice of the bridegroom; this, then, my joy hath been fulfilled.

³⁰እርሱ ሊልቅ እኔ ግን ላንስ ያስፈልጋል።

³⁰`Him it behoveth to increase, and me to become less;

³¹ከላይ የሚመጣው ከሁሉ በላይ ነው፤ ከምድር የሚሆነው የምድር ነው የምድሩንም ይናገራል። ከሰማይ የሚመጣው ከሁሉ በላይ ነው።

³¹he who from above is coming is above all; he who is from the earth, from the earth he is, and from the earth he speaketh; he who from the heaven is coming is above all.

³²ያየውንና የሰማውንም ይህን ይመሰክራል፥ ምስክሩንም የሚቀበለው የለም።

³²`And what he hath seen and heard this he doth testify, and his testimony none receiveth;

³³ምስክሩን የተቀበለ እግዚአብሔር እውነተኛ እንደ ሆነ አተመ።

³³he who is receiving his testimony did seal that God is true;

³⁴እግዚአብሔር የላከው የእግዚአብሔርን ቃል ይናገራልና፤ እግዚአብሔር መንፈሱን ሰፍሮ አይሰጥምና።

³⁴for he whom God sent, the sayings of God he speaketh; for not by measure doth God give the Spirit;

³⁵አባት ልጁን ይወዳል ሁሉንም በእጁ ሰጥቶታል።

³⁵the Father doth love the Son, and all things hath given into his hand;

³⁶በልጁ የሚያምን የዘላለም ሕይወት አለው፤ በልጁ የማያምን ግን የእግዚአብሔር ቍጣ በእርሱ ላይ ይኖራል እንጂ ሕይወትን አያይም።

³⁶he who is believing in the Son, hath life age-during; and he who is not believing the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God doth remain upon him.`