JohnChapter 1

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¹In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning. ³All things were made through him. Nothing that has been made was made without him. ⁴Life was in him. And that life was the light for all people.a ⁵The Light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overcome it.b ⁶A man came who was sent from God. His name was John. ⁷He came as a witness to tell about the Light. He came so that everyone might believe through him. ⁸John himself was not the Light. He came to tell about the Light. ⁹The true Light was coming into the world. He gives light to everyone. ¹⁰He was in the world. The world was made through him, but the world did not know who he was. ¹¹He came to his own people, but his own people did not welcome him. ¹²But some people did welcome him. They believed in his name. To all of them, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³They are children who were not born from blood, or from human desire, or from a man's will. They were born of God. ¹⁴The Word became flesh and lived among us. We have seen his glory. It is the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father. He is full of grace and truth.c ¹⁵John told about him. He called out, "This is the one I was talking about. I said, 'He comes after me, but he is greater than me. That's because he was before me.'" ¹⁶From all that he is, we have all received grace after grace.d ¹⁷For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. But the one and only Son, who is God himself, is at the Father's side. He has made God known.e ¹⁹This is what John told the Jewish leaders. They sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"f ²⁰John did not refuse to answer. He said plainly, "I am not the Messiah." ²¹"Then who are you?" they asked. "Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No." ²²So they said to him, "Who are you? We need an answer for the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" ²³John answered with the words of Isaiah the prophet. He said, "I am a voice of someone calling out in the wilderness, 'Make the road straight for the Lord.'" ²⁴Then the Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵asked him, "Then why do you baptize, if you are not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?" ²⁶"I baptize with water," John answered. "But someone is standing among you that you do not know. ²⁷He is the one who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie the straps of his sandals." ²⁸All this happened at Bethany, across the Jordan River. That's where John was baptizing. ²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. He said, "Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is the one I was talking about. I said, 'A man comes after me, but he is greater than me. That's because he was before me.' ³¹I myself did not know him. But I came baptizing with water for this reason: so that he might be shown to Israel." ³²Then John told them, "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove. It stayed on him. ³³I myself did not know him. But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' ³⁴I have seen this. And I tell you that this is the Son of God." ³⁵The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶He saw Jesus walking by. He said, "Look! The Lamb of God!" ³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸Jesus turned and saw them following. "What do you want?" he asked. They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" ³⁹"Come and see," he answered. So they went and saw where he was staying. They spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.g ⁴⁰Andrew was one of the two who heard what John said and followed Jesus. He was Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was find his brother Simon. He told him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). ⁴²Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which means Peter).h ⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and told him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴Philip was from Bethsaida. It was the same town Andrew and Peter came from. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law. The prophets wrote about him too. He is Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." ⁴⁶"Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip. ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. He said about him, "Here is a true Israelite. There is nothing false in him." ⁴⁸"How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." ⁴⁹"Rabbi," Nathanael answered, "you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, "I told you I saw you under the fig tree. Do you believe just because of that? You will see greater things than these." ⁵¹Then he said, "I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open. You will see the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man."