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

¹But there was a man from among the Pharisees, his name Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

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

²he came to him by night, and said to him, Rabbi, we know that thou art come a teacher from God, for none can do these signs that thou doest unless God be with him.

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

³Jesus answered and said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born anew he cannot see the kingdom of God.

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

⁴Nicodemus says to him, How can a man be born being old? can he enter a second time into the womb of his mother and be born?

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

⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except any one be born of water and of Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

⁶ከሥጋ የተወለደ ሥጋ ነው፥ ከመንፈስም የተወለደ መንፈስ ነው።

⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷ዳግመኛ ልትወለዱ ያስፈልጋችኋል ስላልሁህ አታድንቅ።

⁷Do not wonder that I said to thee, It is needful that *ye* should be born anew.

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

⁸The wind blows where it will, and thou hearest its voice, but knowest not whence it comes and where it goes: thus is every one that is born of the Spirit.

⁹ኒቆዲሞስ መልሶ። ይህ እንዴት ሊሆን ይችላል? አለው።

⁹Nicodemus answered and said to him, How can these things be?

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

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, Thou art the teacher of Israel and knowest not these things!

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

¹¹Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that which we know, and we bear witness of that which we have seen, and ye receive not our witness.

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

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

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

¹³And no one has gone up into heaven, save he who came down out of heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven.

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

¹⁴And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, thus must the Son of man be lifted up,

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

¹⁵that every one who believes on him may [not perish, but] have life eternal.

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

¹⁶For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal.

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

¹⁷For God has not sent his Son into the world that he may judge the world, but that the world may be saved through him.

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

¹⁸He that believes on him is not judged: but he that believes not has been already judged, because he has not believed on the name of the only-begotten Son of God.

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

¹⁹And this is the judgment, that light is come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil.

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

²⁰For every one that does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light that his works may not be shewn as they are;

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

²¹but he that practises the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God.

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

²²After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he abode with them and baptised.

²⁴እየመጡም ይጠመቁ ነበር ዮሐንስ ገና ወደ ወኅኒ አልተጨመረም ነበርና።

²³And John also was baptising in Aenon, near Salim, because there was a great deal of water there; and they came to [him] and were baptised:

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

²⁴for John was not yet cast into prison.

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

²⁵There was therefore a reasoning of the disciples of John with a Jew about purification.

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

²⁶And they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with thee beyond the Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, he baptises, and all come to him.

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

²⁷John answered and said, A man can receive nothing unless it be given him out of heaven.

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

²⁸Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am sent before him.

³⁰እርሱ ሊልቅ እኔ ግን ላንስ ያስፈልጋል።

²⁹He that has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices in heart because of the voice of the bridegroom: this my joy then is fulfilled.

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

³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

³²ያየውንና የሰማውንም ይህን ይመሰክራል፥ ምስክሩንም የሚቀበለው የለም።

³¹He who comes from above is above all. He who has his origin in the earth is of the earth, and speaks [as] of the earth. He who comes out of heaven is above all,

³³ምስክሩን የተቀበለ እግዚአብሔር እውነተኛ እንደ ሆነ አተመ።

³²[and] what he has seen and has heard, this he testifies; and no one receives his testimony.

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

³³He that has received his testimony has set to his seal that God is true;

³⁵አባት ልጁን ይወዳል ሁሉንም በእጁ ሰጥቶታል።

³⁴for he whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives not the Spirit by measure.

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

³⁵The Father loves the Son, and has given all things [to be] in his hand.

³⁶He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.