John 1:29–51

The Lamb of God

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “There is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘A man is coming after me, but he is greater than I am, because he existed before I was born.’ ³¹I did not know who he would be, but I came baptizing with water in order to make him known to the people of Israel.”

³²And John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down like a dove from heaven and stay on him. ³³I still did not know that he was the one, but God, who sent me to baptize with water, had said to me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and stay on a man; he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have seen it,” said John, “and I tell you that he is the Son of God.”

The First Disciples of Jesus

³⁵The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples, ³⁶when he saw Jesus walking by. “There is the Lamb of God!” he said.

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this and went with Jesus. ³⁸Jesus turned, saw them following him, and asked, “What are you looking for?”

They answered, “Where do you live, Rabbi?” (This word means “Teacher”.)

³⁹“Come and see,” he answered. (It was then about four o’clock in the afternoon.) So they went with him and saw where he lived, and spent the rest of that day with him.

⁴⁰One of them was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹At once he found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah.” (This word means “Christ”.) ⁴²Then he took Simon to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, “Your name is Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (This is the same as Peter and means “a rock”.)

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Come with me!” ⁴⁴(Philip was from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter lived.) ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one whom Moses wrote about in the book of the Law and whom the prophets also wrote about. He is Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

⁴⁶“Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Nathanael asked.

“Come and see,” answered Philip.

⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, he said about him, “Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him!”

⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, “How do you know me?”

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

⁴⁹“Teacher,” answered Nathanael, “you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

⁵⁰Jesus said, “Do you believe just because I told you I saw you when you were under the fig tree? You will see much greater things than this!” ^51*And he said to them, “I am telling you the truth: you will see heaven open and God’s angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man.”