¹ In the beginning the Word was; and the Word was with God; and the Word was God.

² He was in the beginning with God;

³ through him all things came into being, and nothing came into being apart from him.

⁴ That which came into being in him was life; and the life was the light of humanity;

⁵ and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness never overpowered it.

⁶ There appeared a man sent from God, whose name was John;

⁷ he came as a witness — to bear witness to the light so that through him everyone might believe.

⁸ He was not the light, but he came to bear witness to the light.

⁹ That was the true light which enlightens everyone coming into the world.

¹⁰ He was in the world; and through him the world came into being — yet the world did not know him.

¹¹ He came to his own — yet his own did not receive him.

¹² But to all who did receive him he gave power to become children of God — to those who believe in his name.

¹³ For not to natural conception, nor to human instincts, nor to human will did they owe the new life, but to God.

¹⁴ And the Word became human, and lived among us, (We saw his glory — the glory of the Only Son sent from the Father), full of love and truth.

¹⁵ (John bears witness to him; he cried aloud — for it was he who spoke — “‘He who is coming’ after me is now before me, for he was ever first”);

¹⁶ out of his fullness we have all received some gift, gift after gift of love;

¹⁷ for the law was given through Moses, love and truth came through Jesus Christ.

¹⁸ No one has ever yet seen God; God the Only Son, who is ever with the Father — He has revealed him.

The Preparation

¹⁹ When the religious authorities in Jerusalem sent some Priests and Levites to ask John — “Who are you?”,

²⁰ he told them clearly and simply: “I am not the Christ.”

²¹ “What then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No,” he said, “I am not.” “Are you ‘the prophet’?” He answered, “No.”

²² “Who then are you?” they continued; “tell us so that we have an answer to give to those who have sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ “I,” he answered, “am — ‘The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness — “make a straight road for the Lord”’, as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ These men had been sent from the Pharisees;

²⁵ and their next question was: “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ or Elijah or ‘the prophet’?”

²⁶ John’s answer was — “I baptize with water, but among you stands one whom you do not know;

²⁷ he is coming after me, yet I am not worthy even to unfasten his sandal.”

²⁸ This happened at Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him, and exclaimed: “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

³⁰ I was taking about him when I said ‘After me there is coming a man who ranks ahead of me, because before I was born he already was.’

³¹ I did not know who he was, but I have come baptizing with water to make him known to Israel.”

³² John also said: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on him.

³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, he said to me ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him — he it is who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

³⁴ This I have seen myself, and I have declared my belief that he is the Son of God.”

³⁵ The next day, when John was standing with two of his disciples,

³⁶ he looked at Jesus as he passed and exclaimed: “There is the Lamb of God!”

³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and followed Jesus.

³⁸ But Jesus turned around, and saw them following. “What are you looking for?”he asked. “Rabbi,” they answered (or, as we should say, ‘teacher’), “where are you staying?”

³⁹ “Come, and you will see,”he replied. So they went, and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was then about four in the afternoon.

⁴⁰ One of the two, who heard what John said and followed Jesus, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him: “We have found the Messiah!” (a word which means ‘Christ,’ or ‘Consecrated’.)

⁴² Then he brought him to Jesus. Looking straight at him, Jesus said: “You are Simon, the son of John; you will be called Cephas”(which means ‘Peter,’ or ‘Rock’).

⁴³ The following day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. He found Philip, and said to him: “Follow me.”

⁴⁴ Philip was from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.

⁴⁵ He found Nathanael and said to him: “We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and of whom the prophets also wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, Joseph’s son!”

⁴⁶ “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” asked Nathanael. “Come and see,” replied Philip.

⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said: “Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!”

⁴⁸ “How do you know me?” asked Nathanael. “Even before Philip called you,”replied Jesus, “when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”

⁴⁹ “Rabbi,” Nathanael exclaimed, “you are the Son of God, you are king of Israel!”

⁵⁰ “Do you believe in me,”asked Jesus, “because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than those!

⁵¹ In truth I tell you,”he added, “you will all see heaven open, and ‘the angels of God ascending and descending’ on the Son of Man.”