Gospel of John 5:1–47 Catholic Bible study Lesson 6

The Gospel According to John:
An Encounter with Grace & Truth

Lesson 6 Do You Want to Be Healed?
the Gospel According to John 5:1–47

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)*
New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE)*
Catechism of the Catholic Church
ex libris (in our library)
Veritatas Splendor (Splendor of Truth)
glossary for the Gospel According to John
cross references in the Gospel According to John
next lesson: A Lad with Five Barley Loaves

This material coordinates with Lesson 6 on pages 33–38 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

“Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.”—the Gospel According to John 20:30–31

welcome to our in-depth study of the Gospel According to John
We invite interested groups and individuals to check out the sample first lesson from this 25-lesson Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study. These online study pages link to our free lesson videos, as well as to a glossary and cross references in the biblical text. Other study aids include maps, additional commentary, and prayers based on the primary Scripture in each lesson. The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth has been granted an imprimatur and can be purchased from our website shop. If you have a Bible-study question or comment, click on one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons on any online study page.

open with prayer
It’s always wise to begin any Bible study with prayer, whether reading the Scriptures alone or meeting with others in a discussion study group. You can pray using your own words or use one of the opening prayers on our website. We especially like the following:

Lord Jesus, you promised to send your Holy Spirit
to teach us all things.
As we read and study your word today,
allow it to touch our hearts and change our lives. Amen.

let’s review—the Gospel According to John 4:1–54
In Lesson 5 There Came a Woman of Samaria, while talking with a Samaritan woman at a well, Jesus reveals information crucial to understanding the necessity of the sacrament of Baptism as the means of obtaining eternal life. Jesus also directly states that he’s the Messiah. The Samaritan woman then brings people from the nearby town to meet Jesus. Jesus instructs his followers—who’d been to the same town to buy food—that their mission is to reap what others have sown. After meeting Jesus, the Samaritans accept him as Savior of the world. Jesus stays with them two days, then travels on to Cana in Galilee where an official from Capernaum whose son is at the point of death asks Jesus to heal the boy. Jesus tells the official to return home and that the man’s son will live—and the son is healed. The Fourth Gospel identifies this healing as the second of Jesus’ signs performed in Galilee.

map notes—what feast has drawn Jesus to Jerusalem?
At the end of the previous lesson covering the fourth chapter in the Gospel According to John, Jesus and his followers were hanging out again in the vicinity of Cana and Capernaum in Galilee. At the beginning of the fifth chapter in the Gospel According to John, the scene shifts. We now find Jesus in Jerusalem for an unnamed feast of the Jews. Scholars are divided about whether this unidentified feast is Passover or the feast of Pentecost. The Old Testament feast of Pentecost (also called the feast of Weeks) commemorates God’s law being given to the people through Moses, and at this point in the biblical narrative it can seem to be a better fit with the content in the fifth chapter in the Gospel According to John. Moving forward in the Fourth Gospel, however, we’ll see biblical text that strongly suggests Jesus has been attending the feast of Passover. The book of Deuteronomy 16:16 lists three religious feasts that were mandatory for Jews to celebrate. Over time, Jerusalem became the designated location where these celebrations were to take place. You can read more in “The Three Major Jewish Feasts” on page 38 in the study book. Click on the image (right) to enlarge the map, which appears on page 37 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

building on a theme of life & death (01:02:38)
In the video for this lesson, Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps discusses the underlying theme of Jesus’ previous conversations—life. In the fifth chapter in the Gospel According to John, Jesus is seen having power over life and death. For Jesus, both life and death have double meanings. In the Fourth Gospel, the decision about whether someone or something is alive or dead is based on directionality: What’s the end point toward which the person is moving? If death is inevitable, that person can be considered already dead. Matthew explains that for those who have come to trust in Jesus, however, a broader context applies to the word life, and that those who have faith are moving in the direction toward life instead of toward death.

The Scripture ranges for the videos that accompany this Catholic Bible study match the Scripture ranges for the sets of questions in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth. You can follow along as author Matthew Phelps discusses Lesson 6, “Do You Want to Be Healed?” on pages 33–38 in the study book.

have you seen these cats?
Alert viewers may have spotted Matthew’s pets making occasional cameo appearances in the videos. We apologize for this distraction. Matthew lives in a loft apartment with no interior doors, so we can’t shut them away while we shoot videos. To learn the biblical names Matthew chose for his cats, click on the picture. Participants in Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume I: A Kingdom Divided will have an advantage guessing the cats’ names.

about that troubled water
In the Gospel According to John 5:7, the lame man speaks to Jesus about the water in the pool having healing properties at times that it is troubled. This indicates that an underground spring occasionally bubbled up, causing turbulence that was thought to lead to healing. A later explanation suggested that an angel was responsible, although scholars believe that material isn’t original to the Fourth Gospel.

‘see, you are well’
After he has healed the man, Jesus seeks him out in order to warn him that his well-being is contingent on not sinning. Jesus understands how easy it is for men and women, once the difficulties of our lives subside a bit, to begin to veer from the path of righteousness. We all tend to take God’s providential love for granted at times, but Jesus’ warning to the formerly ill man suggests that we need to be more vigilant once we’ve experienced God’s healing action in our lives.

authority—you could look it up in our archives
As we move forward in our study of the Gospel According to John, the idea of authority becomes more important. The religious leaders in Jerusalem are going to continue to press Jesus regarding how it is that he has the authority to heal people and to perform other signs. To learn more about divine “authority” manifested in Jesus, read Lost in Translation, an online column in which Turning to God’s Word author Matthew Phelps helps readers connect with ideas expressed in the original languages of the Scriptures. New Lost in Translation entries are posted on Mondays, and past entries are archived on our website. Contact us if you’d like to receive Lost in Translation by email every week.

WHAT DO YOU THINK about Jesus healing on the sabbath?
Picking up the thread regarding healing that the Evangelist introduced in the Gospel According to John 4:52, in the Gospel According to John 5:9 he plainly states when it was that Jesus healed the man at the pool in Jerusalem: “Now that day was the sabbath.”

? The sabbath falls on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. In the first account of Creation in the book of Genesis, what’s significant about what God does on the seventh day?
? How has the seventh day of Creation been reflected in traditional Jewish worship practices? You can learn more about the first account of Creation inLesson 1 And God Said, Let There Be Light in The Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study In the Beginning: The Book of Genesis.
? Either Jesus is unaware that he’s healing the man on the sabbath, Jesus knows and just doesn’t care, or Jesus knows and is trying to make a point. Which option do you think seems most likely?
? If Jesus is trying to make a point, it probably is related in some way to Jewish religious law surrounding sabbath practice. What do you think Jesus might be trying to emphasize by healing a man on the sabbath?
? When the Bible was written, there were no chapters and verses, so the end of the fourth chapter in the Gospel According to John wouldn’t have been separated from the beginning of the fifth chapter in that Gospel. Consider how the Evangelist might have been trying to link the healing of the official’s son at the end of the fourth chapter of the Gospel According to John with the healing of the man at the pool in the fifth chapter? If necessary, refer to questions under “what’s the number six got to do with anything?” in the supplemental material for Lesson 5.
? What is Jesus suggesting in the Gospel According to John 5:17 when he tells the Jewish religious leaders: “My Father is working still, and I am working.”

Jesus’ two wills
Jesus’ two natures—human and divine—are at the heart of who he is and how he’s able to overcome death and bring about the possibility of salvation for all men and women. In the Gospel According to John 5:30, Jesus teaches more about this: “I can do nothing of my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.” One of the traits Jesus shares with humanity is a human will, which means that he’s completely able to understand our temptations to act on our own behalf and in our own best interest. As humans, it’s difficult for us to do anything else. In this passage Jesus explains that he’s able to overcome his human will in order to serve the will of his Father. In his person, Jesus unites the human and the divine, and he brings his human will into conformity with the Father’s divine will.

read the Catechism—human & divine will
This is a difficult concept to grasp, but it’s essential to understanding how Jesus is able to overcome the power of sin and death. Yes, Jesus has a divine will, so theoretically it should be relatively easy for him to do whatever God wants. The stickler is that Jesus also has a human will, and in subjecting his human will to the divine will of God the Father, Jesus makes it possible for all of humanity to enter into closer relationship with God. Learn more about the interaction of Jesus’ two wills by reading paragraph 2824 in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

2824 In Christ, and through his human will, the will of the Father has been perfectly fulfilled once for all. Jesus said on entering into this world: “Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.” Only Jesus can say: “I always do what is pleasing to him.” In the prayer of his agony, he consents totally to this will: “not my will, but yours be done.” For this reason Jesus “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” “And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

the dead will hear
As Christians we’re used to thinking that when Jesus speaks of life and death he’s speaking spiritually. In the Gospel According to John 5:28–29, Jesus teaches: “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” From this passage, it should be clear that Jesus isn’t always speaking in mere symbols. “All who are in the tombs” will hear his voice and come forth to be judged. This indicates a bodily resurrection, although Jesus explains that whether a person will be resurrected to eternal life or to judgment is entirely dependent on whether he or she has done good or evil.

Jesus & Joshua—two successors to Moses
Although Joshua isn’t mentioned in the fifth chapter in the Gospel According to John, Moses is. Jesus speaks about his role as a judge, then in the Gospel According to John 5:45 he issues this warning to the Pharisees: “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope.” The religion of Judaism is based on following the law of Moses, and the Pharisees especially were determined to know and follow the law, going to much greater lengths than required by the Ten Commandments. Jesus here sets himself up as a successor of Moses, but he doesn’t seek to negate what Moses taught. Instead, he claims to have the support of Moses.

a shared name
By bringing Moses into the discussion with the Jews, Jesus also indirectly is pointing to the original successor to Moses, Joshua. The name Joshua, which means “Yahweh is salvation,” is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. This should cause us to look more closely at Joshua and his role in the history of God’s people. In the book of Deuteronomy 29:1–4, Moses chastised the Israelites for their failure to understand God’s law, pointing to the need for the Second Law. Deuteronomic law bound the Israelites until the coming of the Messiah. To maintain possession of the land, the 12 tribes had agreed to keep the law. After arriving in Canaan, Joshua oversaw ratification of the Deuteronomic covenant, called the Second Law to distinguish it from the Ten Commandments.

It’s mystifying that the Jewish religious leaders, who pride themselves on following the law to the letter in order to achieve holiness, fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. In contrast, the Gospel According to John 1:45 records that Philip became a disciple of Jesus because, as he told Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote.”

613 rules & interpretations
In Veritatas Splendor (Splendor of Truth) Pope St. John Paul II explains that Deuteronomic law was temporary, given in order that the Israelites would seek grace. You can find links to other magisterial documents referred to in Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. The Acts of the Apostles 15:1–29 describes how the first Council of Jerusalem dismissed Christians from following Deuteronomic law but not from keeping the Ten Commandments. Jewish tradition dating to the 3rd century recognizes 613 additional rules that had developed by then based on interpretation of passages found in the first five books of the Old Testament (the Torah). Religious scholars disagree about a definitive list of these 613 rules, many of which have been impossible for Jews to observe after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

the popes inspire us—looking at the Son of man
In “Veiled Meaning” on page 37 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth, Pope St. John Paul II looks at the title “Son of Man” to determine what meaning Jesus may have had in mind when he repeatedly used that phrase to refer to himself. To learn more about the phrase, which appears in the Book of Daniel 7:13–14 and in the book of Revelation 1:13–16, you also can read “Who Is the Son of Man?” on page 36 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth. You can learn more about the apocalyptic prophecies of Daniel in Lesson 18 Daniel: A Model Jew and Lesson 19 Old Testament Eschatology, both in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Thus Says the LORD: God Speaks Through His Servants the Prophets—Volume II: Restoration & Redemption. The term “son of man” is used throughout the final book of the New Testament, especially in Lesson 2 Behold, I Am Alive for Evermore in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The Revelation of Jesus Christ: The Faithful Witness.

Q&A—how is it that Galileans are practicing Judaism?
A participant in one of our study groups has asked a question that undoubtedly confuses many people who begin a serious study of the Gospels. It’s a great question, with a complicated answer.

Q: If the whole of northern Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, and the inhabitants mixed with Gentiles from other conquered nations, how did people in Galilee stay true to Jewish rules and still go to Jerusalem on holy days to worship, while Samaritans worshiped on Mount Gerizim and had different expectations about what kind of Messiah was to come?

A: Although Galilee was indeed part of the geographical territory of the former northern kingdom, by the time of Jesus some people who practiced Judaism had settled there. The area was by no means all Jewish, and many Jews in Jerusalem looked down their noses on people who lived outside Judea, even the ones who practiced Judaism.

The word Galilee is of Hebrew origin, and it means “district.” It appears to have first come into use as Galilee of the Gentiles (a term that shows up in the New Testament Gospel According to Matthew 4:15 in a reference to the Old Testament Book of Isaiah 9:1), where it was used to mean “district of the Gentiles.” The word “Gentile” refers to anyone who doesn’t follow traditional Hebrew worship practices. Sometimes in Scripture it’s used in the plural to mean “nations,” referring to nations or groups of people that don’t follow Hebrew worship practices. Although Galilee had developed a fairly large Jewish population by the time of Jesus, it remained primarily Gentile territory. The Jews in Judea, most of whom were descended from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin, reflected the anti-northern bias that had developed during the time of the divided kingdom. It’s significant that Jesus (and therefore God) never shares this bias.

some descendants of Jacob return to Galilee
There was no mass resettling of the former northern kingdom in the same way that Cyrus of Persia allowed captives from the south to return to their homeland as a group if they wished, but some individual descendants of Jacob had found their way back and settled in Galilee. We can only speculate about why they avoided Samaria, but perhaps the Assyrians had resettled more foreigners in that region and the area was more closely connected with worship practices opposed to Hebrew religious roots. The First and Second Books of the Kings make it seem that almost every person in the former northern kingdom had completely abandoned the God of their forefathers, but there were people who had not. Some of these people are the ones who moved back as soon as they had a chance.

In addition, around the time of the Maccabean Revolt (160–167 B.C.) Jews living in and around Jerusalem faced intense persecution. Some emigrated north to Galilee at that time. (The Gospel According to Matthew tells us that Jesus’ family was descended from the tribe of Judah but ended up in Nazareth in Galilee because when they returned from Egypt, Bethlehem in Judea was unsafe for them.) Because traditional Hebrew worship practices had evolved into the religion of Judaism, anyone living in Galilee who was serious about worshiping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob would have followed Jewish practices.

where does Jesus come from?
In the Fourth Gospel, one reason the Pharisees are so critical of Jesus is that they don’t know where he comes from. We’ll see that they keep asking that question. They think because Jesus’ family has been living in Galilee that means he can’t possibly be the Messiah, since it was well known that the Messiah would be born into the line of David in the tribe of Judah. The Evangelist doesn’t care at all about Jesus’ human pedigree and never mentions anything about that lineage. Instead, John the Evangelist focuses on Jesus as the son of God who has come from heaven. The Pharisees have no frame of reference to understand that Jesus is from God, however, even though that’s what Jesus keeps telling them. Now 2,000 years later, it’s relatively easy for us to get it, but it wouldn’t have been an easy thing to understand at the time of Jesus’ ministry.

so how do Galileans differ from Samaritans?
Samaritan refers to people living in Samaria, and that region had very few people living there who practiced Judaism. Descendants of Jacob had intermarried with foreigners as a result of the resettlement enforced by the Assyrians when they conquered the northern kingdom. The resulting worship practices in Samaria were a hodgepodge, but did include familiarity with the earliest Hebrew traditions tied to the Old Testament books of the Torah. The people of the southern kingdom who were deported to Babylon took their religious law with them, and they recorded and edited the wisdom literature and books of the prophets while they were in captivity. This explains why the people living in Samaria generally were unfamiliar with those books of Scripture, even though some of them were attempting to remain faithful to their Hebrew religious roots. In general, they were far more familiar with the early patriarchs and with the prophets Elijah and Elisha who had been sent to the northern kingdom than they were with the law of Moses and with the writing prophets sent to the southern kingdom. Also, while we know from Jesus’ conversation with the Samaritan woman that the Samaritans worshiped on Mt. Gerazim, they actually worshiped on any number of mountains or high places, a Gentile practice that had become popular in the northern kingdom long before it fell to the Assyrians. Many Samaritans also worshiped a variety of idols in addition to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

priest, prophet, or king?
In the north, people were expecting the Messiah to be a prophet, primarily because that was their most recent experience of whom God had sent to help them in the past. The word Messiah means anointed one, and so it can refer to any of the three classes commonly anointed in Hebrew religious tradition—priests, prophets, or kings. In the south, people were expecting the Messiah to be a king, mostly because of the prophecy that God was going to send a king born into the line of David. This idea strongly appealed to the Jews who resented Roman rule in Judea and wanted a warrior king to show up and overthrow Rome. Because few people in Samaria were in the tribe of Judah—and because the Jews were so prejudiced against the Samaritans—the idea of a Messiah-king born into the line of David had little or no appeal for Samaritans. You can learn more in Lesson 14 God’s Promise to David in the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study The United Kingdom of Israel: Saul, David & Solomon Foreshadow Christ the King.

how does Herod fit in?
Those practicing Judaism in Galilee could have sided with either the north or the south. Galilee was part of the territory ruled by Herod, so the Galileans were under the rule of King Herod, who held his figurehead position as a flunky of Rome. While Rome thought of Herod as a Jew, he wasn’t a descendant of Jacob but instead was an Idumean or descendant of Jacob’s twin brother Esau (also known as Edom). Nevertheless, the bulk of the Galileans Jesus encounters in the Fourth Gospel seem to want to force him into the role of Messiah-king, a role that Jesus continues to resist.

for additional reflection
In the biblical text for this lesson, the Evangelist points out that Jesus performs healing actions only when a person wants to be healed. The question Jesus asks the sick man is the same question asked of each of us in our personal encounters with Jesus. The following questions are designed to help readers begin to form their own thoughts and ideas related to the Gospel According to John 5:1–47. For more reflection questions, refer to the introduction to Lesson 6 on page 33 in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

? Occasionally, if we answer in complete honesty, our response to Jesus’ question can be somewhat surprising. What is the big question that Jesus asks people who approach him?
? How might this question apply to you?
? Remaining incapacitated can be more comfortable than taking responsibility for a choice that will change our lives for the better. When might you have grown complacent about the things that prevent you from living fully as a Christian?
? What might be holding you back from picking up the pieces of your own life now and moving forward?
? What can you do to prepare to receive the healing graces that Jesus wants to give you?

Passover & the feast of Unleavened Bread aren’t the same
The Passover and the feast of Unleavened Bread often are referred to by Protestants as the same celebration. Although these two events are related, technically they aren’t identical. The book of Leviticus 23:4–8 and the book of Exodus 13:3–10 establish the Passover as a commemoration of the Israelites’ firstborn being spared in the tenth plague against Egypt. The mandatory feast of Unleavened Bread is celebrated the next day.

the best Catholic commentary about Scripture
To find out more about how Church teaching is supported by Scripture passages in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth, check out the Index of Citations in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Links (Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition [RSVCE*]) to the primary Scripture passages in the lesson and relevant paragraphs in the Catechism are provided here. Not every passage in the biblical text for this study is referenced in a Catechism paragraph, however.

ways our glossary might prove helpful
In addition to providing extra information about geographical locations, our glossary also points out persons and places mentioned in the biblical text under multiple names or spellings. If you can remember a name but aren’t sure in which lesson it shows up, you can find it in the glossary, which lists every proper noun that appears in the primary biblical text for The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

to learn more, read more Scripture
If you’re having difficulty with a passage of Scripture, it can be helpful to read the relevant cross references—but looking these up can take time. To make that easier, we’ve compiled the cross references from the Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE)—the translation that we reprint in our study books. That list can be found at the top of every online study page accompanying this study, and it includes links to each of the cross references in the primary biblical text for The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth.

don’t forget about our indexes & extra online material
If you’re trying to locate information about a specific Scripture passage, you can look it up in the index at the back of the study book or sample lesson. If you want to find a particular commentary, you can look up its title in the topics index. To learn more about another book of the Bible for which there’s a Turning to God’s Word study, visit the online study directories to read the commentaries and watch any accompanying videos. Finally, if you have a question or would like to make a comment about any of our studies, you can use one of the “ask us your question” or “what do you think” buttons to email our authors.

ex libris—Church documents & books about religious topics
You can find links to magisterial documents referred to in Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible studies at ex libris—magisterial documents. This page includes a listing of significant recent encyclicals as well as a number of historical Church documents. Recommended books related to Scripture study can be found at ex libris—main bookshelf.

wondering how to pronounce some of these words?
The following link is to a reading from the New International Version (NIV) Bible. To listen, click on the audio icon above the printed text. Although not taken from the translations used in our study materials, the NIV reading provides an audio guide to pronunciation of words in this lesson’s primary biblical text. A close online version of the translation of the Bible used in Catholic liturgy in the United States as well as an audio guide for daily Mass readings for the current month can be found on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

the Gospel According to John 5:1–47 (NIV)

close with Bible-based prayer related to this lesson
Many of our Catholic study groups like to conclude their discussions with a prayer based on the scriptural focus of their lesson, and some participants include Scripture-specific prayer in their individual study. If you’re uncomfortable composing your own Bible-based prayers, you can follow our four easy steps, or you can use the following prayer based on this lesson’s text from the Gospel According to John.

God our Father, you have life in yourself
and you have granted to your Son also to have life in himself.
Grant that we may be counted among those
who hear Jesus’ word and believe in him
in order that we might pass from death to eternal life.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Lesson 7 A Lad with Five Barley Loaves—the Gospel According to John 6:1–21
Lesson 5 There Came a Woman of Samaria—the Gospel According to John 4:1–54

you also may like our study of the book of Exodus
You Shall Have No Other Gods: The Book of Exodus, a 28-lesson Catholic Bible study with an imprimatur, provides an in-depth look at how significant events in biblical history that occurred thousands of years ago to descendants of Jacob remain relevant and even critical for present-day Christians to understand. The deliverance of the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt and the giving of Ten Commandments are examined along with the development of Moses’ relationship to God. Click on the book’s cover to view a sample lesson.

start a Turning to God’s Word Bible study
Thank you for your interest in The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth. Information about beginning a Turning to God’s Word Bible study can be found at start a Bible study. Tami, Matthew, and I are available to answer questions and offer support. Contact us if you’d like to start one of our studies or have your schedule listed with other TtGW study groups on our website. —Jennifer

*There are seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament—the Books of Tobit, Judith, Wisdom, Sirach, Baruch, and First and Second Maccabees, as well as some passages in the Books of Esther and Daniel. Protestants usually refer to these works as “apocryphal,” a word that means “outside the (Protestant) canon” because they’re excluded from most Protestant Bibles. The word “deuterocanonical” means “second canon”; Catholics use that word to refer to any section of the Catholic Old Testament for which there are no extant, or existing, Hebrew manuscripts. All of the deuterocanonical books appear in the Septuagint, the earliest remaining versions of which date to the 1st century B.C. This Greek translation of the Old Testament was in common use by Jews at the time of Jesus—but the same books aren’t found in existing Hebrew manuscripts, which aren’t as old as the oldest version of the Septuagint. Learn more by reading How Do Catholic & Protestant Bibles Differ?

Turning to God’s Word printed Bible studies use the 2006 Revised Standard Version Second Catholic Edition (RSV2CE) translation for all Scripture references except those to the Psalms, which are taken from The Abbey Psalms and Canticles, prepared by the Benedictine monks of Conception Abbey and published in 2020 by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). All Scripture links for the online study pages for The Gospel According to John: An Encounter with Grace & Truth are to the 1966 Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE) translation. The New International Version (NIV) audio recordings follow the same chapter and verse numbering as the RSV Catholic translations, but the NIV translation doesn’t include the deuterocanonical books and passages.

The 1966 RSVCE uses archaic pronouns and verb forms such as “thee,” “thou,” “didst” in the Psalms and in direct quotations attributed to God. The 2006 RSV2CE replaces those with more accessible English. The few significant translation changes in the RSV2CE include rendering almah as “virgin” in the Book of Isaiah 7:14 and restoring the term “begotten” in the Gospel According to John 3:16.

Numbering varies for some passages in this Bible study. Turning to God’s Word studies (print and digital) follow the numbering in the Revised Standard Version Catholic translations (RSV2CE and RSVCE). Discrepancies in the New American Bible Revised Edition (NABRE) are noted in the Index of Scripture Citations in the study book and the online sample.

You can learn more about the Psalms by viewing a sample lesson from the Turning to God’s Word Catholic Bible study Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume I: Lauds & Vespers. The second part of that study, Sing a New Psalm: Communicating with God Through the Prayers of the Church—Volume II: Vigils, Day Prayer & Compline, is scheduled for publication in 2025. Some verse numbers may vary in different translations of the Psalms.