John 1–16

1ST CHAPTER

The Word Becomes Human

¹In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was already with God in the beginning. 

³Everything came into existence through him. Not one thing that exists was made without him. 

⁴He was the source of life, and that life was the light for humanity. 

⁵The light shines in the dark, and the dark has never extinguished it. 

⁶God sent a man named John to be his messenger. ⁷John came to declare the truth about the light so that everyone would become believers through his message. ⁸John was not the light, but he came to declare the truth about the light. 

⁹The real light, which shines on everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world came into existence through him. Yet, the world didn’t recognize him. ¹¹He went to his own people, and his own people didn’t accept him. ¹²However, he gave the right to become God’s children to everyone who believed in him. ¹³These people didn’t become God’s children in a physical way—from a human impulse or from a husband’s desire ⸤to have a child⸥. They were born from God. 

¹⁴The Word became human and lived among us. We saw his glory. It was the glory that the Father shares with his only Son, a glory full of kindness^band truth. 

¹⁵(John declared the truth about him when he said loudly, “This is the person about whom I said, ‘The one who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ ”) 

¹⁶Each of us has received one gift after another because of all that the Word is. ¹⁷Laws were given through Moses, but kindness and truth came into existence through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known. 

John Prepares the Way—Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; Luke 3:1–18

¹⁹This was John’s answer when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰John didn’t refuse to answer. He told them clearly, “I’m not the Messiah.” 

²¹They asked him, “Well, are you Elijah?” 

John answered, “No, I’m not.” 

Then they asked, “Are you the prophet?” 

John replied, “No.” 

²²So they asked him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 

²³John said, “I’m a voice crying out in the desert, ‘Make the way for the Lord straight,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” 

²⁴Some of those who had been sent were Pharisees. ²⁵They asked John, “Why do you baptize if you’re not the Messiah or Elijah or the prophet?” 

²⁶John answered them, “I baptize with water. Someone you don’t know is standing among you. ²⁷He’s the one who comes after me. I am not worthy to untie his sandal strap.” 

²⁸This happened in Bethany on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing. 

John Identifies Jesus as the Lamb of God

²⁹John saw Jesus coming toward him the next day and said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. ³⁰He is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘A man who comes after me was before me because he existed before I did.’ ³¹I didn’t know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel.” 

³²John said, “I saw the Spirit come down as a dove from heaven and stay on him. ³³I didn’t know who he was. But God, who sent me to baptize with water, had told me, ‘When you see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, you’ll know that person is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴I have seen this and have declared that this is the Son of God.” 

Calling of the First Disciples

³⁵The next day John was standing with two of his disciples. ³⁶John saw Jesus walk by. John said, “Look! This is the Lamb of God.” ³⁷When the two disciples heard John say this, they followed Jesus. 

³⁸Jesus turned around and saw them following him. He asked them, “What are you looking for?” 

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

³⁹Jesus told them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went to see where he was staying and spent the rest of that day with him. It was about ten o’clock in the morning. 

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two disciples who heard John and followed Jesus. ⁴¹Andrew at once found his brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means “Christ”). ⁴²Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. 

Jesus looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon, son of John. Your name will be Cephas” (which means “Peter”). 

⁴³The next day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me!” ⁴⁴(Philip was from Bethsaida, the hometown of Andrew and Peter.) 

⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the man whom Moses wrote about in his teachings and whom the prophets wrote about. He is Jesus, son of Joseph, from the city of Nazareth.” 

⁴⁶Nathanael said to Philip, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” 

Philip told him, “Come and see!” 

⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and remarked, “Here is a true Israelite who is sincere.” 

⁴⁸Nathanael asked Jesus, “How do you know anything about me?” 

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

⁴⁹Nathanael said to Jesus, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!” 

⁵⁰Jesus replied, “You believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” ⁵¹Jesus said to Nathanael, “I can guarantee this truth: You will see the sky open and God’s angels going up and coming down to the Son of Man.” 

2ND CHAPTER

Jesus Changes Water into Wine

¹Three days later a wedding took place in the city of Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there. ²Jesus and his disciples had been invited too. 

³When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They’re out of wine.” 

⁴Jesus said to her, “Why did you come to me? My time has not yet come.” 

⁵His mother told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” 

⁶Six stone water jars were there. They were used for Jewish purification rituals. Each jar held 18 to 27 gallons. 

⁷Jesus told the servers, “Fill the jars with water.” The servers filled the jars to the brim. ⁸Jesus said to them, “Pour some, and take it to the person in charge.” The servers did as they were told. 

⁹The person in charge tasted the water that had become wine. He didn’t know where it had come from, although the servers who had poured the water knew. The person in charge called the groom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the best wine first. When people are drunk, the host serves cheap wine. But you have saved the best wine for now.” 

¹¹Cana in Galilee was the place where Jesus began to perform miracles. He made his glory public there, and his disciples believed in him. 

¹²After this, Jesus, his mother, brothers, and disciples went to the city of Capernaum and stayed there for a few days. 

Jesus Throws Merchants and Moneychangers out of the Temple Courtyard

¹³The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. ¹⁴He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. ¹⁵He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers’ coins and knocked over their tables. 

¹⁶He told those who sold pigeons, “Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 

¹⁷His disciples remembered that Scripture said, “Devotion for your house will consume me.” 

¹⁸The Jews reacted by asking Jesus, “What miracle can you show us to justify what you’re doing?” 

¹⁹Jesus replied, “Tear down this temple, and I’ll rebuild it in three days.” 

²⁰The Jews said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple. Do you really think you’re going to rebuild it in three days?” 

²¹But the temple Jesus spoke about was his own body. ²²After he came back to life, his disciples remembered that he had said this. So they believed the Scripture and this statement that Jesus had made. 

²³While Jesus was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many people believed in him because they saw the miracles that he performed. ²⁴Jesus, however, was wary of these believers. He understood people ²⁵and didn’t need anyone to tell him about human nature. He knew what people were really like. 

3RD CHAPTER

A Conversation with Nicodemus

¹Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Jewish council. ²He came to Jesus one night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that God has sent you as a teacher. No one can perform the miracles you perform unless God is with him.” 

³Jesus replied to Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one can see God’s kingdom without being born from above.”^a

⁴Nicodemus asked him, “How can anyone be born when he’s an old man? He can’t go back inside his mother a second time to be born, can he?” 

⁵Jesus answered Nicodemus, “I can guarantee this truth: No one can enter God’s kingdom without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual. ⁷Don’t be surprised when I tell you that all of you must be born from above. ⁸The wind^bblows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where the wind comes from or where it’s going. That’s the way it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” 

⁹Nicodemus replied, “How can that be?” 

¹⁰Jesus told Nicodemus, “You’re a well-known teacher of Israel. Can’t you understand this? ¹¹I can guarantee this truth: We know what we’re talking about, and we confirm what we’ve seen. Yet, you don’t accept our message. ¹²If you don’t believe me when I tell you about things on earth, how will you believe me when I tell you about things in heaven? ¹³No one has gone to heaven except the Son of Man, who came from heaven. 

¹⁴“As Moses lifted up the snake ⸤on a pole⸥ in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up. ¹⁵Then everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.” 

¹⁶God loved the world this way: He gave his only Son…