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;
2this one was in the beginning with God;
3all things through him did happen, and without him happened not even one thing that hath happened.
4In him was life, and the life was the light of men,
5and the light in the darkness did shine, and the darkness did not perceive it.
6There came a man — having been sent from God — whose name [is] John,
7this one came for testimony, that he might testify about the Light, that all might believe through him;
8that one was not the Light, but — that he might testify about the Light.
9He was the true Light, which doth enlighten every man, coming to the world;
10in the world he was, and the world through him was made, and the world did not know him:
11to his own things he came, and his own people did not receive him;
12but as many as did receive him to them he gave authority to become sons of God — to those believing in his name,
13who — not of blood nor of a will of flesh, nor of a will of man but — of God were begotten.
14And the Word became flesh, and did tabernacle among us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of an only begotten of a father, full of grace and truth.
15John doth testify concerning him, and hath cried, saying, ‘This was he of whom I said, He who after me is coming, hath come before me, for he was before me;’
16and out of his fulness did we all receive, and grace over-against grace;
17for the law through Moses was given, the grace and the truth through Jesus Christ did come;
18God no one hath ever seen; the only begotten Son, who is on the bosom of the Father — he did declare.
19And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent out of Jerusalem priests and Levites, that they might question him, ‘Who art thou?’
20and he confessed and did not deny, and confessed — ‘I am not the Christ.’
21And they questioned him, ‘What then? Elijah art thou?’ and he saith, ‘I am not.’ — ‘The prophet art thou?’ and he answered, ‘No.’
22They said then to him, ‘Who art thou, that we may give an answer to those sending us? what dost thou say concerning thyself?’
23He said, ‘I [am] a voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.’
24And those sent were of the Pharisees,
25and they questioned him and said to him, ‘Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’
26John answered them, saying, ‘I baptize with water, but in midst of you he hath stood whom ye have not known, this one it is who is coming after me, who hath been before me,
27of whom I am not worthy that I may loose the cord of his sandal.’
28These things came to pass in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing,
29on the morrow John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, ‘Lo, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world;
30this is he concerning whom I said, After me doth come a man, who hath come before me, because he was before me:
31and I knew him not, but, that he might be manifested to Israel, because of this I came with the water baptizing.
32And John testified, saying — ‘I have seen the Spirit coming down, as a dove, out of heaven, and it remained on him;
33and I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, He said to me, On whomsoever thou mayest see the Spirit coming down, and remaining on him, this is he who is baptizing with the Holy Spirit;
34and I have seen, and have testified, that this is the Son of God.’
35On the morrow, again, John was standing, and two of his disciples,
36and having looked on Jesus walking, he saith, ‘Lo, the Lamb of God;’
37and the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus.
38And Jesus having turned, and having beheld them following, saith to them, ‘What seek ye?’ and they said to them, ‘Rabbi, (which is, being interpreted, Teacher,) where remainest thou?’
39He saith to them, ‘Come and see;’ they came, and saw where he doth remain, and with him they remained that day and the hour was about the tenth.
40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John, and followed him;
41this one doth first find his own brother Simon, and saith to him, ‘We have found the Messiah,’ (which is, being interpreted, The Anointed,)
42and he brought him unto Jesus: and having looked upon him, Jesus saith, ‘Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas, thou shalt be called Cephas,’ (which is interpreted, A rock.)
43On the morrow, he willed to go forth to Galilee, and he findeth Philip, and saith to him, ‘Be following me.’
44And Philip was from Bethsaida, of the city of Andrew and Peter;
45Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith to him, ‘Him of whom Moses wrote in the Law, and the prophets, we have found, Jesus the son of Joseph, who [is] from Nazareth;’
46and Nathanael said to him, ‘Out of Nazareth is any good thing able to be?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’
47Jesus saw Nathanael coming unto him, and he saith concerning him, ‘Lo, truly an Israelite, in whom guile is not;’
48Nathanael saith to him, ‘Whence me dost thou know?’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip's calling thee — thou being under the fig-tree — I saw thee.’
49Nathanael answered and saith 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, thou dost believe; greater things than these thou shalt see;’
51and he saith to him, ‘Verily, verily, I say to you, henceforth ye shall see the heaven opened, and the messengers of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.’
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