4. Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?”
5. Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, unless a person is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
6. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’
8. The wind blows wherever it will, and you hear the sound it makes, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9. Nicodemus replied, “How can these things be?”
10. Jesus answered, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you don’t understand these things?
11. I tell you the solemn truth, we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but you people do not accept our testimony.
12. If I have told you people about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?
13. No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven – the Son of Man.
14. Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
15. so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”
16. For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.