Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Parallel translations
- KJV And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
- BSB And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
- ESV and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
- NKJV And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
- NASB and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
- NLT Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Those who live and believe in Jesus will never ultimately die. He presses Martha to personal faith with a direct question.
Overview
Building on the previous verse, Jesus promises that spiritual life in him is unbroken by physical death; the believer will never suffer the second, eternal death. His question, 'Do you believe this?', shows that the gospel demands personal trust, not mere assent to doctrine. The promise anchors Christian hope in Christ's victory over death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 10:28I give eternal life to them. They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
- John 5:24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
- Rom 8:13For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- 1 Jn 5:10–12He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.
- John 8:51–53Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”
- John 6:54–58He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- John 3:15–18that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- John 6:50–51This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.
- John 4:14but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never thirst again; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
- John 14:10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- Matt 9:28When he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They told him, “Yes, Lord.”
- John 9:35Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”
- Mark 9:23Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
- Matt 26:53Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 11:26 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.