John 1
1
In praise of the Word
The Word of life
1In the beginning was the one
who is called the Word.
The Word was with God
and was truly God.
2From the very beginning
the Word was with God.
3And with this Word,
God created all things.
Nothing was made
without the Word.
Everything that was created
4received its life from him,
and his life gave light
to everyone.
5The light keeps shining
in the dark,
and darkness has never
put it out.#1.5 put it out: Or “understood it.”
6God sent a man named John,#Mt 3.1; Mk 1.4; Lk 3.1,2.
7who came to tell
about the light
and to lead all people
to have faith.
8John wasn't that light.
He came only to tell
about the light.
9The true light that shines
on everyone
was coming into the world.
10The Word was in the world,
but no one knew him,
though God had made the world
with his Word.
11He came into his own world,
but his own nation
did not welcome him.
12Yet some people accepted him
and put their faith in him.
So he gave them the right
to be the children of God.
13They were not God's children
by nature or because
of any human desires.
God himself was the one
who made them his children.
14The Word became
a human being
and lived here with us.
We saw his true glory,
the glory of the only Son
of the Father.
From him all the kindness
and all the truth of God
have come down to us.
15John spoke about him and shouted, “This is the one I told you would come! He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.”
16Because of all that the Son is, we have been given one blessing after another.#1.16 one blessing after another: Or “one blessing in place of another.” 17The Law was given by Moses, but Jesus Christ brought us undeserved kindness and truth. 18No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.
The message of John the Baptist
John the Baptist tells about Jesus
(Matthew 3.1-12; Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.15-17)
19-20The Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.” 21Then when they asked him if he were Elijah, he said, “No, I am not!” And when they asked if he were the Prophet,#1.21 the Prophet: Many of the Jewish people expected God to send them a prophet who would be like Moses, but with even greater power. See Deuteronomy 18.15,18. he also said “No!”#Ml 4.5; Dt 18.15,18.
22Finally, they said, “Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!”
23John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’ ”#Is 40.3 (LXX).
24Some Pharisees had also been sent to John. 25They asked him, “Why are you baptizing people, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”
26John told them, “I use water to baptize people. But here with you is someone you don't know. 27Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals.” 28John said this as he was baptizing east of the River Jordan in Bethany.#1.28 Bethany: An unknown village east of the Jordan with the same name as the village near Jerusalem.
The Lamb of God
29The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said:
Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! 30He is the one I told you about when I said, “Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.” 31I didn't know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him.
32I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. 33Before this I didn't know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, “You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. Then you will know that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” 34I saw this happen, and I tell you that he is the Son of God.
Jesus chooses his first disciples
35The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. 36When he saw Jesus walking by, he said, “Here is the Lamb of God!” 37John's two followers heard him, and they went with Jesus.
38When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, “What do you want?”
They answered, “Rabbi, where do you live?” The Hebrew word “Rabbi” means “Teacher”.
39Jesus replied, “Come and see!” It was already about four o'clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day.
40One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” The Hebrew word “Messiah” means the same as the Greek word “Christ”.
42Andrew brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, “Simon son of John, you will be called Cephas.” This name can be translated as “Peter”.#1.42 Peter: The Aramaic name “Cephas” and the Greek name “Peter” each mean “rock”.
Jesus chooses Philip and Nathanael
43-44The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the home town of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Come with me.”
45Philip then found Nathanael and said, “We have found the one that Moses and the Prophets#1.45 Moses and the Prophets: The Jewish Scriptures, that is, the Old Testament. wrote about. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth.”
46Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.”
47When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said, “Here is a true descendant of our ancestor Israel. And he isn't deceitful.”#1.47 Israel…isn't deceitful: Israel (meaning “a man who wrestled with God” or “a prince of God”) was the name that the Lord gave to Jacob (meaning “cheater” or “deceiver”), the famous ancestor of the Jewish people.
48“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.
Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49Nathanael said, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!”
50Jesus answered, “Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater. 51I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”#1.51 going up and coming down on the Son of Man: When Jacob (see the note at verse 47) was running from his brother Esau, he had a dream in which he saw angels going up and down on a ladder from earth to heaven. See Genesis 32.22-32.#Gn 28.12.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012
John 1
1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things received being through him, and without him not one thing received being which has received being. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5And the light appears in darkness, and the darkness apprehended it not. 6There was a man sent from God, his name John. 7He came for witness, that he might witness concerning the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but that he might witness concerning the light. 9The true light was that which, coming into the world, lightens every man. 10He was in the world, and the world had its being through him, and the world knew him not. 11He came to his own, and his own received him not; 12but as many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name; 13who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh's will, nor of man's will, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we have contemplated his glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a father), full of grace and truth;
15(John bears witness of him, and he has cried, saying, This was he of whom I said, He that comes after me is preferred before me, for he was before me;) 16for of his fulness we all have received, and grace upon grace. 17For the law was given by Moses: grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ. 18No one has seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
19And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites that they might ask him, Thou, who art thou? 20And he acknowledged and denied not, and acknowledged, I am not the Christ. 21And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he says, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No. 22They said therefore to him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the path of the Lord, as said Esaias the prophet. 24And they were sent from among the Pharisees. 25And they asked him and said to him, Why baptisest thou then, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? 26John answered them saying, I baptise with water. In the midst of you stands, whom ye do not know, 27he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to unloose. 28These things took place in Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptising.
29On the morrow he sees Jesus coming to him, and says, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. 30He it is of whom I said, A man comes after me who takes a place before me, because he was before me; 31and I knew him not; but that he might be manifested to Israel, therefore have I come baptising with water. 32And John bore witness, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove from heaven, and it abode upon him. 33And I knew him not; but he who sent me to baptise with water, he said to me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and abiding on him, he it is who baptises with the Holy Spirit. 34And I have seen and borne witness that this is the Son of God. 35Again, on the morrow, there stood John and two of his disciples. 36And, looking at Jesus as he walked, he says, Behold the Lamb of God.
37And the two disciples heard him speaking, and followed Jesus. 38But Jesus having turned, and seeing them following, says to them, What seek ye? And they said to him, Rabbi (which, being interpreted, signifies Teacher), where abidest thou? 39He says to them, Come and see. They went therefore, and saw where he abode; and they abode with him that day. It was about the tenth hour. 40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard this from John and followed him. 41He first finds his own brother Simon, and says to him, We have found the Messias (which being interpreted is Christ). 42And he led him to Jesus. Jesus looking at him said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas; thou shalt be called Cephas (which interpreted is stone).
43On the morrow he would go forth into Galilee, and Jesus finds Philip, and says to him, Follow me. 44And Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip finds Nathanael, and says to him, We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, Jesus, the son of Joseph, who is from Nazareth. 46And Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip says to him, Come and see. 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and says of him, Behold one truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile. 48Nathanael says to him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee. 49Nathanael answered and said to him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel. 50Jesus answered and said to him, Because I said to thee, I saw thee under the fig-tree, believest thou? Thou shalt see greater things than these. 51And he says to him, Verily, verily, I say to you, Henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of man.
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First published in 1890. This edition is maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.