1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word resided with God, and the Word was God;

1:2 he was there all along.

1:3 Everything that exists is because of him, and not one thing exists that he didn’t make.

1:4 That which came into being in him was life, and this life was the light of people.

1:5 This light is shining into the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.

1:6 Along came someone named John, who was commissioned by God.

1:7 His assignment was to serve as a witness to the Light so that everyone could believe through his testimony.

1:8 He was not the Light himself, but only came as a witness to it.

1:9 This was the true Light which illuminates every person coming into the world.

1:10 But even though he came into the world he made, it didn’t recognize him;

1:11 he came to his own, but they didn’t accept him.

1:12 Yet to those who accepted him by putting their trust in him, he granted the privilege of becoming children of God.

1:13 These were not children born of a woman, or the will of the flesh or a husband, but generated by God.

1:14 The Word became flesh and made his home among us, and we observed his majesty— the majesty of the Unique One who is with the Father, full of favor and truth.

1:15 John testifies about him and has shouted out, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘The one coming after me is really in front of me, because he existed before me.’ ”

1:16 So we all received limitless favor from him,

1:17 since though the law was given through Moses, favor and truth came through Jesus the Anointed.

1:18 Though no one has ever seen God, he is now disclosed by the Unique God, who is the closest to the Father.

1:19 This is the testimony John gave when the Judeans in Jerusalem sent out priests and Levites to interrogate him:“Who are you?”

1:20 And he freely admitted: “I am not the Anointed.”

1:21 So they asked him: “Then who are you— Elijah?”And he says, “I am not.”“Are you The Prophet?”And he answered, “No.”

1:22 So they said, “Then who are you? Tell us what you say about yourself, so we have something to report to those who sent us.”

1:23 He replied, “I am ‘the voice of one shouting in the desert, “Straighten the road of the Master”’, according to what the prophet Isaiah said.”

1:24 Now those who had been sent to him were Pharisees.

1:25 And they asked him, “Then why are you immersing, if you are not the Anointed, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

1:26 John replied, “I immerse with water, but you don’t realize that

1:27 the one coming after me has been standing among you. I am not even worthy to untie his shoes!”

1:28 All this happened in Bethany, on the other side of the Jordan River where John was immersing.

1:29 The next day John sees Jesus coming toward him and says, “Look! The Lamb of God, the one taking away the failure of the world!

1:30 This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘After me will come a man who has surpassed me, because he preceded me.’

1:31 And though I didn’t even recognize him, it was for this very purpose I came immersing in water: that he may be made known to Israel.”

1:32 John continued his testimony: “For I have seen the Spirit come down from the sky like a dove and remain on him.

1:33 And I had not recognized him, but the one who sent me to immerse in water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit land on is the one who immerses in the Holy Spirit.’

1:34 I have seen this, so I testified that this is the God-Man.”

1:35 The next day John and two of his disciples were there again

1:36 and, seeing Jesus walking around, John says “Look, the Lamb of God!”

1:37 The two disciples heard him say this and became followers of Jesus.

1:38 Now Jesus turned around and observed them following him and he says, “What are you looking for?” But they said to him, “Rabbi” (which is translated “teacher”), “where are you staying?”

1:39 He says to them, “Come and you’ll see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and remained with him for the day. It was about 4 p.m.

1:40 Andrew, brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.

1:41 The first thing he does is to find his own brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated “Anointed”).

1:42 He led him to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon, son of John; you shall be called Cephas” (which is translated “Peter”).

1:43 The next day Jesus decided to go into Galilee. He finds Philip and says to him, “Follow me.”

1:44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the same city as Andrew and Peter.

1:45 Philip finds Nathaniel and says, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law and the Prophets: Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”

1:46 And Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”“Come and see,” replied Philip.

1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and says about him, “Now there’s a genuine Israeli, in whom there is no treachery.”

1:48 Nathanael says to him, “How do you know me?”Jesus replied, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

1:49 “Rabbi, you are the God-Man!” Nathanael exclaimed. “You are the King of Israel!”

1:50 And Jesus replied, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree; you will be seeing greater things than that!”

1:51 He added, “Very truly I tell you all, you will be seeing the sky opened up and the Messengers of God ascending and descending to and from the Human.”