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
The Word Becomes Human
1In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was already with God in the beginning.
3Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him.
4He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity.
5The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it.
6God sent a man named John to be his messenger. 7John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message. 8John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light.
9The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him. 11He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him. 12However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him. 13These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire ⌞to have a child⌟. They were born from God.
14The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness #1:14 Or “grace.” and truth.
15(John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ ”)
16Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is. 17Laws were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known.
John Prepares the Way
(Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–18)
19This was John’s answer when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20John didn’t refuse to answer. He told them clearly, “I’m not the Messiah.”
21They asked him, “Well, are you Elijah?”
John answered, “No, I’m not.”
Then they asked, “Are you the prophet?”
John replied, “No.”
22So they asked him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23John said, “I’m a voice crying out in the desert, ‘Make the way for the Lord straight,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24Some of those who had been sent were Pharisees. 25They asked John, “Why do you baptize if you’re not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?”
26John answered them, “I baptize with water. Someone you don’t know is standing among you. 27He’s the one who comes after me. I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap.”
28This happened in Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing.
John Identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God
29John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 30He is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ 31I didn’t know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel.”
32John said, “I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him. 33I didn’t know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, ‘When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you’ll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God.”
Calling of the First Disciples
35The next day John was standing with two of his disciples. 36John saw Jesus walk by. John said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God.” 37When the two disciples heard John say this, they followed Jesus.
38Jesus turned around and saw them following him. He asked them, “What are you looking for?”
They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means “teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39Jesus told them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went to see where he was staying and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about ten o’clock in the morning.
40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two disciples who heard John and followed Jesus. 41Andrew at once found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). 42Andrew brought Simon to Jesus.
Jesus looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon, son of John. Your name will be Cephas” (which means “Peter”).
43The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me!” 44(Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.)
45Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the man whom Moses wrote about in his teachings and whom the prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from the city of Nazareth.”
46Nathanael said to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip told him, “Come and see!”
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and remarked, “Here is a true Israelite who is sincere.”
48Nathanael asked Jesus, “How do you know anything about me?”
Jesus answered him, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”
49Nathanael said to Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!”
50Jesus replied, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” 51Jesus said to Nathanael, “I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God’s angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man.”
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