For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn’t come to the light, lest his works would be exposed.
Parallel translations
- KJV For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
- BSB Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
- NKJV For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
- NASB For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.
- NLT All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
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.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Eph 5:11–13Have no fellowship with the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather even reprove them.
- John 7:7The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.
- Job 24:13–17“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
- Prov 1:29because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
- Prov 4:18But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Jas 1:23–25For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror;
- 1 Kgs 22:8The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Yahweh, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.” Jehoshaphat said, “Don’t let the king say so.”
- Ps 50:17since you hate instruction, and throw my words behind you?
- Prov 5:12and say, “How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;
- Amos 5:10–11They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.
- Prov 15:12A scoffer doesn’t love to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.
- Luke 11:45One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying this you insult us also.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
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 3:20 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.