Now a certain man was sick, Lazar of Beit-Hini, the village of Miriam and her sister Marta, his sisters. So they sent word to the Rabbi, saying, "Master, behold, he whom you love is sick." But when the Rabbi heard this, he said, "This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of Hashem, so that the son of G-d may be glorified by it."
Now the Rabbi loved Marta and her sister and Lazar. So when he heard that Lazar was sick, he then stayed two days longer in the place where he was. Then after this he said to the talmidim, "Let us go to Judea again."
The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, some of the Judeans were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?" The Rabbi answered, "Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him."
This he said, and after that he said to them, "Our friend Lazar has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep." The talmidim then said to him, "Master, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."
Now the Rabbi had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So the Rabbi then said to them plainly, "Lazar is dead and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him." Therefore Toma, who is called Didumos, said to his fellow talmidim, "Let us also go, so that we may die with the Rabbi."
So when the Rabbi came, he found that Lazar had already been in the tomb four days. Now Beit-Hini was near Jerusalem, about two miles off; and many Jews had come to Marta and Miriam, to console them concerning their brother. Marta therefore, when she heard that the Rabbi was coming, went to meet him, but Miriam stayed at the house.
Marta said to the Rabbi, "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever you ask of Hashem, He will give You." The Rabbi said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Marta said to Him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." The Rabbi said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
She said to him, "Yes, master; I have believed that you are the Mashiach, the son of G-d, even he who has come to the world." When she had said this, she went away and called Miriam her sister, saying secretly, "The Rabbi is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and came to him.
Now the Rabbi had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Marta met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Miriam got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
When Miriam came where the Rabbi was, she saw him, and fell at his feet, saying to him, "Master, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When the Rabbi therefore saw her weeping, and the mourners who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Master, come and see."
The Rabbi wept and the mourners were saying, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?" So the Rabbi, again being deeply moved within, came to the tomb.
Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. The Rabbi said, "Remove the stone." Marta, the sister of the deceased, said to him, "Master, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days."
The Rabbi said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of Hashem?" So they removed the stone.
Then the Rabbi raised His eyes, and said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I knew that You always hear me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent me."
After he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazar, come forth."
Lazar, the man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth in the traditional custom for burial.
The Rabbi said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
Therefore many of the mourners who came to Miriam and saw what the Rabbi had done, believed in him.
-- This is the life of The Rabbi. --