The Word Became Flesh

1 aIn the beginning was bthe Word, and cthe Word was with God, and dthe Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 eAll things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 fIn him was life,1 and gthe life was the light of men. 5 hThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

6 There was a man isent from God, whose name was jJohn. 7He came as a kwitness, to bear witness about the light, lthat all might believe through him. 8 mHe was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

9 nThe true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet othe world did not know him. 11 He came to phis own,2 and qhis own people3 rdid not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, swho believed in his name, the gave the right uto become vchildren of God, 13 who wwere born, xnot of blood ynor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And zthe Word abecame flesh and bdwelt among us, cand we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of dgrace and etruth. 15 (fJohn bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, g‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from hhis fullness we have all received, igrace upon grace.5 17 For jthe law was given through Moses; kgrace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 lNo one has ever seen God; mthe only God,6 who is at the Father’s side,7 nhe has made him known.

The Testimony of John the Baptist

19 And this is the otestimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, p“Who are you?” 20 qHe confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? rAre you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you sthe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23 He said, “I am tthe voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight8 the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, u“Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answered them, v“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even whe who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Behold, the Lamb of God

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, xthe Lamb of God, who ytakes away the sin zof the world! 30 This is he of whom I said, a‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but bfor this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John cbore witness: d“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and eit remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but fhe who sent me to baptize gwith water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, hthis is he who baptizes gwith the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son9 of God.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, ithe Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, j“What are you seeking?” And they said to him, k“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.10 40 lOne of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus11 was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found mthe Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of nJohn. You shall be called oCephas” (which means pPeter12).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 qThe next day Jesus decided rto go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now sPhilip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found tNathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom uMoses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus vof Nazareth, wthe son of Joseph.” 46 Nathanael said to him, x“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, yan Israelite indeed, zin whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael said to him, “How ado you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” 49 Nathanael answered him, b“Rabbi, cyou are the Son of God! You are the dKing of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,13 you will see eheaven opened, and fthe angels of God ascending and descending on gthe Son of Man.”

Key Topics for the Dragon and Sea Imagery

In the Bible:

• Leviathan

• Rahab the Sea Monster

• Tannin

• Yam

• Tehom

• Nachash

• Nehushtan

• Chaos

• Cosmology

• Creation

In ancient Near Eastern mythology:

• Creation Myths

• Enuma Elish

• Marduk

• Tiamat

• the Baal Cycle

• Baal

• Yamm

• Lotan

• Mot

• Egyptian Memphite Theology

• Egyptian Book of the Dead

Bibliography

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Armerding, Carl E. “The Brazen Serpent.” Bibliotheca Sacra 102 (1945): 110–16.

Batto, Bernard F. Slaying the Dragon: Mythmaking in the Biblical Tradition. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1992.

Blust, Robert. “The Origin of Dragons.” Anthropos 95 (2000): 519–36.

Caquot, André. “Le Léviathan de Job 40:25–41:26.” Revue biblique 99 (1992): 40–69.

Cross, Frank Moore. Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic: Essays in the History of the Religion of Israel. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1973.

Dafni, Evangelia G. נחש (nchsh)–ΟΦΙΣ (OPHIS). Genesis 3 und Jesaja 27,1 auch im Lichte von IKön 22,19–23, Hiob 1,6–12; 2,1–7 und Sach 3,1–2. Ein Beitrag zur Erforschung der Sprache und der Theologie des Alten Testaments aus der Sicht des Masoretischen Textes und der Septuaginta. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000.

Day, John. God’s Conflict with the Dragon and the Sea: Echoes of a Canaanite Myth in the Old Testament. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

———. “God and Leviathan in Isaiah 27:1.” Bibliotheca Sacra 155 (1998): 423–36.

Gibson, John C. L. “A New Look at Job 41.1–4 (English 41.9–12).” Pages 129–139 in Text as Pretext: Essays in Honour of Robert Davidson. Edited by Robert P. Carroll. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992.

Görg, Manfred. “Leviathon und Nehuschtan.” Biblische Notizen 118 (2003): 27–33.

Groenbaek, Jakob H. “Baal’s Battle with Yam: A Canaanite Creation Fight.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 33 (1985): 27–44.

Gunkel, Hermann. Creation and Chaos in the Primeval Era and the Eschaton: A Religio-Historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12. Translated by K. William Whitney Jr. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006.

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Trent C. Butler and Douglas Mangum

Dream (חֲלוֹם, chalom; ἐνύπνιον, enypnion). The visual and aural sensations that a sleeping person experiences. Dreams in the Bible are often a medium for divine oracles.

Ancient Dream Interpretation

The interpretation of dreams was a significant form of divination in the ancient world. Ancient Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman societies distinguished between oracular dreams and nonoracular dreams. Following the ancient Greek writer Artemidorus, most oracular dreams can be divided into two types. Message dreams typically do not require interpretation, and they often involve direct instructions that are delivered by a deity or a divine assistant. Symbolic dreams require an interpretation because they contain symbols and other nonliteral elements (Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers, 6–7).

Archaeologists have recovered numerous ancient Near Eastern narrated dream reports and manuals for divinatory dream interpretation (Husser, Dreams and Interpretation, 27–85; Oppenheim, Interpretation of Dreams; 179–373; Szpakowska, “Open Portal,” 111–24). These ancient texts demonstrate that ancient Near Eastern dream interpreters used puns and other forms of wordplay to develop interpretations for symbolic dreams. For example, one Assyrian dream interpretation reads, “If a man dreams that he is eating a raven (arbu); he will have income (irbu) (Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers, 20, adapted from Oppenheim, Interpretation of Dreams, 272) According to Scott B. Noegel, dream interpreters attempted through wordplay to manipulate the meaning of the dream in order to bring good fortune to the dreamer, to avert impending misfortune, and even to redirect misfortune toward an enemy (Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers, 36–45, 59–62, 219–20, 253–79). Thus, dream interpretation itself was a creative endeavor for influencing future events. Nevertheless, the existence of manuals for dream interpretation suggests that there were limits to the interpreter’s verbal manipulations.

The creative aspect of dream interpretation provided the interpreter with a degree of social and political influence. An unfavorable interpretation may arouse the anger of the dreamer. If the dreamer were the king or some other powerful person, an unfavorable interpretation might earn the interpreter execution, imprisonment, or some other punishment (Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers, 40–45; 92). The following dialogue between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar in Dan 4 illustrates the precarious political position of dream interpreters. “Then Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar, was severely distressed for a while. His thoughts terrified him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or the interpretation terrify you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies’ ” (Dan 4:19). Daniel likely wishes to manipulate the dream in Nebuchadnezzar’s favor, but he is unable to do so. He is afraid that Nebuchadnezzar will hold him responsible for the unfavorable interpretation, but Daniel’s knowledge that the true, albeit unfavorable, interpretation is from God places the prophet in a dangerous position. Daniel proclaims the interpretation only after assurance from Nebuchadnezzar.

Although the ancient Near Eastern dream interpreter typically was responsible for the interpretation he gave, both Joseph and Daniel explicitly attribute their interpretations to God (Gen 41:16; Daniel 2:23-28) (Husser, Dreams and Interpretation, 101). Naming God as the source of an interpretation—at least in some contexts—may be a rhetorical maneuver rather than a unique feature of Hebrew dream interpretation; nevertheless, the theological implications of attributing the interpretations to God is profound in that the biblical writers claim that the significance of dreams from the Hebrew God are inherent to the dream and not the creation of the interpreter.

Dream interpretation was a significant divinatory practice also within Graeco-Roman society (Graf, Magic, 197, 200; Struck, Viscera and Divine, 125–36). The Greeks likely borrowed from neighboring Near Eastern societies. For example, the Greek writer Artemidorus’ Oneirocritica—a comprehensive study of dream interpretation—probably borrows its interpretation techniques from Mesopotamia (Geer, “Theories of Dream Interpretation,” 663–70; Husser, Dreams and Interpretation, 22–24; Noegel, Nocturnal Ciphers, 231–33). A popular form of oracular dream in Graeco-Roman culture was the therapeutic dreams of the Asclepius cult. While sleeping at one of Asclepius’ temples, the patient would have a dream in which the god Asclepius would heal the patient or provide ritual instructions for healing (Avalos, Illness and Healthcare, 37–98). Additionally, archaeologists have recovered various votive offerings and public inscriptions recording patients’ gratitude to Asclepius for successful healings.

Biblical Relevance

The Bible refers to dreams in three contexts: messages of impending misfortune or good fortune, warnings about false prophets, and nonoracular dreams.