John 1
1
The Life-Light
1-2The Word was first,
the Word present to God,
God present to the Word.
The Word was God,
in readiness for God from day one.
3-5Everything was created through him;
nothing—not one thing!—
came into being without him.
What came into existence was Life,
and the Life was Light to live by.
The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;
the darkness couldn’t put it out.
6-8There once was a man, his name John, sent by God to point out the way to the Life-Light. He came to show everyone where to look, who to believe in. John was not himself the Light; he was there to show the way to the Light.
9-13The Life-Light was the real thing:
Every person entering Life
he brings into Light.
He was in the world,
the world was there through him,
and yet the world didn’t even notice.
He came to his own people,
but they didn’t want him.
But whoever did want him,
who believed he was who he claimed
and would do what he said,
He made to be their true selves,
their child-of-God selves.
These are the God-begotten,
not blood-begotten,
not flesh-begotten,
not sex-begotten.
14The Word became flesh and blood,
and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
the one-of-a-kind glory,
like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
true from start to finish.
15John pointed him out and called, “This is the One! The One I told you was coming after me but in fact was ahead of me. He has always been ahead of me, has always had the first word.”
16-18We all live off his generous abundance,
gift after gift after gift.
We got the basics from Moses,
and then this exuberant giving and receiving,
This endless knowing and understanding—
all this came through Jesus, the Messiah.
No one has ever seen God,
not so much as a glimpse.
This one-of-a-kind God-Expression,
who exists at the very heart of the Father,
has made him plain as day.
Thunder in the Desert
19-20When Jews from Jerusalem sent a group of priests and officials to ask John who he was, he was completely honest. He didn’t evade the question. He told the plain truth: “I am not the Messiah.”
21They pressed him, “Who, then? Elijah?”
“I am not.”
“The Prophet?”
“No.”
22Exasperated, they said, “Who, then? We need an answer for those who sent us. Tell us something—anything!—about yourself.”
23“I’m thunder in the desert: ‘Make the road straight for God!’ I’m doing what the prophet Isaiah preached.”
24-25Those sent to question him were from the Pharisee party. Now they had a question of their own: “If you’re neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”
26-27John answered, “I only baptize using water. A person you don’t recognize has taken his stand in your midst. He comes after me, but he is not in second place to me. I’m not even worthy to hold his coat for him.”
28These conversations took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing at the time.
The God-Revealer
29-31The very next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and yelled out, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the One who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’ I knew nothing about who he was—only this: that my task has been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer. That is why I came here baptizing with water, giving you a good bath and scrubbing sins from your life so you can get a fresh start with God.”
32-34John clinched his witness with this: “I watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him. I repeat, I know nothing about him except this: The One who authorized me to baptize with water told me, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ That’s exactly what I saw happen, and I’m telling you, there’s no question about it: This is the Son of God.”
Come, See for Yourself
35-36The next day John was back at his post with two disciples, who were watching. He looked up, saw Jesus walking nearby, and said, “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb.”
37-38The two disciples heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.”
They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day. It was late afternoon when this happened.
40-42Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John’s witness and followed Jesus. The first thing he did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, “We’ve found the Messiah” (that is, “Christ”). He immediately led him to Jesus.
Jesus took one look up and said, “You’re John’s son, Simon? From now on your name is Cephas” (or Peter, which means “Rock”).
43-44The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. When he got there, he ran across Philip and said, “Come, follow me.” (Philip’s hometown was Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter.)
45-46Philip went and found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the One Moses wrote of in the Law, the One preached by the prophets. It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, the one from Nazareth!” Nathanael said, “Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding.”
But Philip said, “Come, see for yourself.”
47When Jesus saw him coming he said, “There’s a real Israelite, not a false bone in his body.”
48Nathanael said, “Where did you get that idea? You don’t know me.”
Jesus answered, “One day, long before Philip called you here, I saw you under the fig tree.”
49Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi! You are the Son of God, the King of Israel!”
50-51Jesus said, “You’ve become a believer simply because I say I saw you one day sitting under the fig tree? You haven’t seen anything yet! Before this is over you’re going to see heaven open and God’s angels descending to the Son of Man and ascending again.”
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John 1: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Yoḥanan (John) 1
1
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with Elohim, and the Word was Elohim.
2He was in the beginning with Elohim.
3All came to be through Him,#See Eph. 3:9; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2; Heb. 11:3; 2Pet. 3:5; Psa. 33:6 and without Him not even one came to be that came to be.
4In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
5And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from Elohim, whose name was Yoḥanan.
7This one came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all might believe through him.
8He was not that Light, but that he might bear witness of that Light.
9He was the true Light, which enlightens every man, coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the world came to be through Him, and the world did not know Him.
11He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.
12But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of Elohim, to those believing in His Name,
13who were born, not of blood nor of the desire of flesh nor of the desire of man, but of Elohim.
14And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us, and we saw His esteem, esteem as of an only brought-forth of a father, complete in favour and truth.
15Yoḥanan bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has become before me, because He was before me.’ ”
16And out of His completeness we all did receive, and favour upon favour,
17for the Torah was given through Mosheh – the favour and the truth came through יהושע Messiah.
18No one has ever seen Elohim. All came to be through Him,#See John 5:37; John 6:46; 1John 4:12 The only brought-forth Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He did declare.
19Now this was the witness of Yoḥanan when the Yehuḏim sent from Yerushalayim priests and Lĕwites to ask him, “Who are you?”
20And he confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”
21And they asked him, “What then, are you Ěliyahu?” So he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
22Therefore they said to him, “Who are you, so that we give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”
23He said, “I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of יהוה,’# Isa. 40:3 as the prophet Yeshayahu said.”
24And those sent were of the Pharisees,
25and they asked him, saying, “Why then do you immerse if you are not the Messiah, nor Ěliyahu, nor the Prophet?”
26Yoḥanan answered them, saying, “I immerse in water, but in your midst stands One whom you do not know,
27the One coming after me, who has become before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loosen.”
28This took place in Bĕyth Anyah beyond the Yardĕn, where Yoḥanan was immersing.
29On the next day Yoḥanan saw יהושע coming toward him, and said, “See, the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the world!#See Mat. 1:21; Titus 2:14; 1John 3:5; 1John 3:8
30This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has become before me, for He was before me.’#See John 1:15
31And I did not know Him, but that He might be revealed to Yisra’ĕl, therefore I came immersing in water.
32And Yoḥanan bore witness, saying, “I have seen the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and remain on Him.
33“And I did not know Him, but He who sent me to immerse in water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit coming down and remaining on Him, this is He who immerses in the Set-apart Spirit.’
34“And I have seen and have witnessed that this is the Son of Elohim.”
35Again the following day, Yoḥanan was standing with two of his taught ones,
36and looking at יהושע walking, he said, “See the Lamb of Elohim!”
37And the two taught ones heard him speaking, and they followed יהושע.
38And יהושע turning, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are You staying?”
39He said to them, “Come and see.” They went and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day. Now it was about the tenth hour.
40Andri, the brother of Shim‛on Kĕpha, was one of the two who heard from Yoḥanan, and followed Him.
41First he found his own brother Shim‛on, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means the Anointed).
42And he brought him to יהושע. And looking at him, יהושע said, “You are Shim‛on the son of Yonah, you shall be called Kĕpha” (which means a Stone).
43On the following day יהושע wished to go to Galil, and He found Philip and said to him, “Follow Me.”
44And Philip was from Bĕyth Tsaiḏa, the city of Andri and Kĕpha.
45Philip found Nethan’ĕl and said to him, “We have found Him whom Mosheh wrote of in the Torah, and the prophets: יהושע of Natsareth – the son of Yosĕph.”
46And Nethan’ĕl said to him, “Is it possible for any good matter to come out of Natsareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
47יהושע saw Nethan’ĕl coming toward Him, and said of him, “See, truly a Yisra’ĕli, in whom is no deceit!”
48Nethan’ĕl said to Him, “From where do You know me?” יהושע answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
49Nethan’ĕl answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of Elohim! You are the Sovereign of Yisra’ĕl!”
50יהושע answered and said to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? Greater than that you shall see.”
51And He said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, from now on you shall see the heaven opened, and the messengers of Elohim ascending and descending upon the Son of Aḏam.”#See Gen. 28:12
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