John 1
1
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.”
6 #
Mt 3.1; Mk 1.4; Lk 3.1,2. God sent a man named John,
7who came to tell
about the light
and to lead all people
to have faith.
8John wasn't this 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 the complete gifts
of undeserved grace and truth
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.
John the Baptist Tells about Jesus
(Matthew 3.1-12; Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.15-17)
19-20The religious authorities in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, “I am not the Messiah.” 21#Ml 4.5; Dt 18.15,18; Si 48.10,11. Then 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!”
22Finally, they said, “Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!”
23 # Is 40.3 (LXX). John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I am only someone shouting in the desert, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord!’ ”
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 Jordan River 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 toward 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, who 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.
The First Disciples of Jesus
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 hometown of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, “Follow 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 toward 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. 51#Gn 28.12. I tell you for certain 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 1.47) 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 28.10-22).
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John 1: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
John 1
1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.
2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 All things were made through Him, and nothing that was made was made without Him.
4 Life was in Him, and Life was the light of men.
5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
6 There was a man sent by God, whose name was John.
7 He arrived as a witness to offer testimony about the Light, so that all would believe through him.
8 He was not the Light, but he was to offer testimony about the Light.
9 The true Light, which illuminates every man, was coming into this world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not recognize him.
11 He went to his own, and his own did not accept him.
12 Yet whoever did accept him, those who believed in his name, he gave them the power to become the sons of God.
13 These are born, not of blood, nor of the will of flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
14 And the Word became flesh, and he lived among us, and we saw his glory, glory like that of an only-begotten son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John offers testimony about him, and he cries out, saying: "This is the one about whom I said: 'He who is to come after me, has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.' "
16 And from his fullness, we all have received, even grace for grace.
17 For the law was given though Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
18 No one ever saw God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he himself has described him.
19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him, so that they might ask him, "Who are you?"
20 And he confessed it and did not deny it; and what he confessed was: "I am not the Christ."
21 And they questioned him: "Then what are you? Are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."
22 Therefore, they said to him: "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"
23 He said, "I am a voice crying out in the desert, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' just as the prophet Isaiah said."
24 And some of those who had been sent were from among the Pharisees.
25 And they questioned him and said to him, "Then why do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet?"
26 John answered them by saying: "I baptize with water. But in your midst stands one, whom you do not know.
27 The same is he who is to come after me, who has been placed ahead of me, the laces of whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen."
28 These things happened in Bethania, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 On the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and so he said: "Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold, he who takes away the sin of the world.
30 This is the one about whom I said, 'After me arrives a man, who has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.'
31 And I did not know him. Yet it is for this reason that I come baptizing with water: so that he may be made manifest in Israel."
32 And John offered testimony, saying: "For I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove; and he remained upon him.
33 And I did not know him. But he who sent me to baptize with water said to me: 'He over whom you will see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.'
34 And I saw, and I gave testimony: that this one is the Son of God."
35 The next day again, John was standing with two of his disciples.
36 And catching sight of Jesus walking, he said, "Behold, the Lamb of God."
37 And two disciples were listening to him speaking. And they followed Jesus.
38 Then Jesus, turning around and seeing them following him, said to them, "What are you seeking?" And they said to him, "Rabbi (which means in translation, Teacher), where do you live?"
39 He said to them, "Come and see." They went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about the tenth hour.
40 And Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who had heard about him from John and had followed him.
41 First, he found his brother Simon, and he said to him, "We have found the Messiah," (which is translated as the Christ).
42 And he led him to Jesus. And Jesus, gazing at him, said: "You are Simon, son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas," (which is translated as Peter).
43 On the next day, he wanted to go into Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, "Follow me."
44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael, and he said to him, "We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth."
46 And Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good be from Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, and he said about him, "Behold, an Israelite in whom truly there is no deceit."
48 Nathanael said to him, "From where do you know me?" Jesus responded and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
49 Nathanael answered him and said: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel."
50 Jesus responded and said to him: "Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, you believe. Greater things than these, you will see."
51 And he said to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the Angels of God ascending and descending over the Son of man."
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