Bethesda is a pool near the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem. There was a legend that an angel would occasionally come and stir the water, and the first patient to enter at that time would be cured of whatever illness they had. Because of this, many sick people lay around waiting. Jesus came here and healed a man who had been ill for 38 years.
John 5:1After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.John 5:2Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porticoes.John 5:3In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, paralyzed—waiting for the moving of the water.John 5:4For an angel went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water; whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he had.John 5:5One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.John 5:6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?”John 5:7The invalid answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred, and while I am going, another steps down before me.”John 5:8Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”John 5:9And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.