The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Parallel translations
- WEB The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don’t know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
- KJV The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
- BSB The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
- NASB The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so is everyone who has been born of the Spirit.”
- NLT The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
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
Jesus compares the Spirit to the wind: real and effective, yet beyond our control or full comprehension. So is everyone born of the Spirit.
Overview
The same word means both 'wind' and 'Spirit' in Greek, making Jesus' analogy vivid. We perceive the wind's effects without mastering its source or direction, and likewise the Spirit's regenerating work is sovereign and mysterious yet evident in its fruit. The new birth is therefore God's free, sovereign act, not something humans manufacture or fully explain.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Eccl 11:4–5He who observes the wind won’t sow; and he who regards the clouds won’t reap.
- 1 Cor 2:11For who among men knows the things of a man, except the spirit of the man, which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God, except God’s Spirit.
- Acts 2:2Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.
- Ezek 37:9Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.
- 1 Jn 2:29If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
- Mark 4:26–29He said, “God’s Kingdom is as if a man should cast seed on the earth,
- Acts 4:31When they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were gathered together. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
- John 1:13who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
- 1 Cor 12:11But the one and the same Spirit produces all of these, distributing to each one separately as he desires.
- Job 37:21–23Now men don’t see the light which is bright in the skies, but the wind passes, and clears them.
- Job 37:16–17Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?
- Job 37:10–13By the breath of God, ice is given, and the width of the waters is frozen.
- Isa 55:9–13“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
- 1 Jn 3:8–9He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.
- Ps 107:29He makes the storm a calm, so that its waves are still.
- Ps 107:25For he commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up its waves.
- Luke 6:43–44For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that produces good fruit.
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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 3:8 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.