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 Man;

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 that through him all men 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 every man 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 will of man did they owe the new Life, but to God.

¹⁴ And the Word became Man, and dwelt 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 man has ever yet seen God; God the Only Son, who is ever with the Father — He has revealed him.

The Preparation

¹⁹ When the Jews sent some Priests and Levites to John from Jerusalem, to ask — “Who are you?”, his statement was this:

²⁰ He confessed and did not deny it, he confessed — “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, that we may have some 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 — “straighten the way of 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, nor Elijah, nor yet ‘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 All this took place at Bethany, across the Jordan, where John was then baptizing.

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

³⁰ It was of him that I spoke when I said ‘After me there is coming a man who is now before me, for he was ever First.’

³¹ I myself did not know him, but, that he may be made known to Israel, I have come, baptizing with water.”

³² John also made this statement — “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of the heavens, and it remained upon him.

³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water, he said to me ‘He upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining upon 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 round, 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 shall 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. Fixing his eyes on him, Jesus said: “You are Simon, the son of John; you shall be called Kephas” (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, and a fellow-townsman of 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 shall see greater things than those!

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