The time for the Passover Festival was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to perform the ritual of purification before the festival.

A man named Lazarus, who lived in Bethany, became sick. Bethany was the town where Mary and her sister Martha lived.

He came out, his hands and feet wrapped in grave cloths, and with a cloth around his face. "Untie him," Jesus told them, "and let him go."

Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

Jesus entered Jerusalem, went into the Temple, and looked around at everything. But since it was already late in the day, he went out to Bethany with the twelve disciples.

Then he led them out of the city as far as Bethany, where he raised his hands and blessed them.