John 1–16

PROLOGUE

1In the beginning^a was the Word,^b and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.^{c 2}He was with God in the beginning.^{d 3}All things were created^e through him,^f and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. ⁴In him was life,^Ag and that life was the light^h of men. ⁵That light shinesⁱ in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.^j

⁶There was a man sent from God whose name was John.^{k 7}He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him.^{C 8}He was not the light, but he came to testify^l about the light.

⁹The true light^m that gives light to everyone was coming into the world.^Dn

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was created^o through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. ¹¹He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹²But to all who did receive^p him,^q he gave them the right^r to be^E children^s of God,^t to those who believe^u in his name,^{v 13}who were born,^w not of natural descent,^F or of the will^x of the flesh,^y or of the will of man,^G but of God.^z

¹⁴The Word^aa became flesh^ab and dwelt^H among us. We observed his glory,^ac the glory as the one and only^ad Son^I from the Father, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me^ae ranks ahead of me,^af because he existed before me.’ ”)^{ag 16}Indeed, we have all received grace^ah upon^J grace from his fullness, ¹⁷for the law was given through Moses;^ai grace and truth^aj came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. The one and only^ak Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s^al side^K—he has revealed him.^am

JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY

¹⁹This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem^an sent priests^ao and Levites^ap to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰He didn’t deny it but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”^aq

²¹“What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?”^ar

“I am not,” he said.

“Are you the Prophet?”^as

“No,” he answered.

²²“Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”

²³He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord^Lat—just as Isaiah^au the prophet said.”

²⁴Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.^{av 25}So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize with water,”^aw John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him. ²⁷He is the one coming after me,^Bax whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.” ²⁸All this happened in Bethany^C across the Jordan,^ay where John was baptizing.

THE LAMB OF GOD

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God,^az who takes away the sin^ba of the world! ³⁰This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ³¹I didn’t know him,^bb but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed^bc to Israel.” ³²And John testified, “I saw the Spirit^bd descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him.^{be 33}I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’^{bf 34}I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”^Da

³⁵The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. ³⁸When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi”^b (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹“Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.^E

⁴⁰Andrew,^c Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him. ⁴¹He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah”^Fd (which is translated “the Christ”),^{e 42}and he brought Simon to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, he said, “You are Simon, son of John.^G You will be called Cephas”^f (which is translated “Peter”^H).

PHILIP AND NATHANAEL

⁴³The next day Jesus^I decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip^g and told him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida,^h the hometown of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanaelⁱ and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets^j): Jesus the son of Joseph,^k from Nazareth.”^l

⁴⁶“Can anything good^m come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael asked him.

“Come and see,” Philip answered.

⁴⁷Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israeliteⁿ in whom there is no deceit.”

⁴⁸“How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

“Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Jesus answered.

⁴⁹“Rabbi,”^o Nathanael replied, “You are the Son^p of God; you are the King of Israel!”^q

⁵⁰Jesus responded to him, “Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than this.” ⁵¹Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God^r ascending and descending^s on the Son of Man.”^t

THE FIRST SIGN: TURNING WATER INTO WINE

2On the third day a wedding took place in Cana^u of Galilee.^v Jesus’s mother^w was there, ²and Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding as well. ³When the wine ran out, Jesus’s mother told him, “They don’t have any wine.”

⁴“What has this concern of yours to do with me,^x woman?”^y Jesus asked. “My hour has not yet come.”

⁵“Do whatever he tells you,” his mother told the servants.

⁶Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification.^z Each contained twenty or thirty gallons.^B

⁷“Fill the jars with water,” Jesus told them. So they filled them to the brim. ⁸Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the headwaiter.”^C And they did.

⁹When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from—though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom ¹⁰and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.”

¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana^aa of Galilee.^ab He revealed^ac his glory,^ad and his disciples believed in him.

¹²After this, he went down to Capernaum,^ae together with his mother, his brothers,^af and his disciples, and they stayed there only a few days.

CLEANSING THE TEMPLE

¹³The Jewish Passover^ag was near, and so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{ah 14}In the temple^ai he found people selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and he also found the money changers sitting there. ¹⁵After making a whip out of cords,^aj he drove everyone out of the temple with their sheep^ak and oxen. He also poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned the tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father’s^al house^am into a marketplace!”^Dan

¹⁷And his disciples remembered that it is written: Zeal^ao for your house will consume^ap me.^Eaq

¹⁸So the Jews replied to him, “What sign will you show us for doing these things?”

¹⁹Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple,^a and I will raise it up in three days.”^b

²⁰Therefore the Jews said, “This temple took forty-six years to build,^G and will you raise it up in three days?”^c

²¹But he was speaking about the temple of his body.^{d 22}So when he was raised from the dead,^e his disciples remembered that he had said this,^f and they believed the Scripture^g and the statement Jesus had made.

²³While he was in Jerusalem^h during the Passover Festival,ⁱ many believed in his name^j when they saw the signs he was doing. ²⁴Jesus, however, would not entrust himself to them, since he knew them all ²⁵and because he did not need anyone to testify about man; for he himself knew what was in man.^k

JESUS AND NICODEMUS

3There was a man from the Pharisees^l named Nicodemus,^m a rulerⁿ of the Jews. ²This man came to him at night and said, “Rabbi,^o we know that you are a teacher^p who has come from God,^q for no one could perform these signs you do unless God were with him.”^r

³Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born again,^s he cannot see the kingdom of God.”^t

⁴“How can anyone be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked him. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”

⁵Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, unless someone is born^u of water and the Spirit,^v he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶Whatever is born of the flesh^w is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit^x is spirit. ⁷Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born^y again. ⁸The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going.^z So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”^aa

⁹“How can these things be?” asked Nicodemus.

¹⁰“Are you a teacher^B of Israel and don’t know these things?” Jesus replied. ¹¹“Truly I tell you,^ab we speak what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but you do not accept our testimony. ¹² If I have told you about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended^ac into heaven^ad except the one who descended from heaven^ae—the Son of Man.^Caf

¹⁴“Just as Moses^ag lifted up the snake in the wilderness,^ah so the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may^D have eternal life.^{ai 16}For God loved^aj the world in this way:^E He gave^F his one and only^ak Son,^al so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.^{am 17}For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn^an the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned,^ao because he has not believed in the…