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So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
John 11:3 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB The sisters therefore sent to him, saying, “Lord, behold, he for whom you have great affection is sick.”
  • KJV Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
  • BSB So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
  • NKJV Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
  • NLT So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”

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

The sisters send word to Jesus that the one He loves is sick. They appeal to His affection rather than make a demand.

Overview

Their message expresses trust in Jesus' love and an implicit hope for His help. They do not dictate what He should do but lay the need before Him. Their faith-filled appeal models how believers bring their troubles to Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • John 11:5Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.
  • Rev 3:19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.
  • Heb 12:6–7For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
  • Ps 16:3As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.
  • John 13:23One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ breast.
  • Phil 2:26–27since he longed for you all, and was very troubled, because you had heard that he was sick.
  • John 11:11He said these things, and after that, he said to them, “Our friend, Lazarus, has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may awake him out of sleep.”
  • Gen 22:2He said, “Now take your son, your only son, whom you love, even Isaac, and go into the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I will tell you of.”
  • John 11:36The Jews therefore said, “See how much affection he had for him!”
  • 2 Tim 4:20Erastus remained at Corinth, but I left Trophimus at Miletus sick.
  • Jas 5:14–15Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord,
  • John 11:1Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus from Bethany, of the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 11:3YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 11:3 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.