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Introduction

We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning,[a] whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:1 Greek What was from the beginning.

20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”

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27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”

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14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.

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Prologue: Christ, the Eternal Word

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,[a]
    and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.[b]

God sent a man, John the Baptist,[c] to tell about the light so that everyone might believe because of his testimony. John himself was not the light; he was simply a witness to tell about the light. The one who is the true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

10 He came into the very world he created, but the world didn’t recognize him. 11 He came to his own people, and even they rejected him. 12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

14 So the Word became human[d] and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.[e] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.

15 John testified about him when he shouted to the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming after me who is far greater than I am, for he existed long before me.’”

16 From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another.[f] 17 For the law was given through Moses, but God’s unfailing love and faithfulness came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God,[g] is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

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Footnotes

  1. 1:3-4 Or and nothing that was created was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything.
  2. 1:5 Or and the darkness has not understood it.
  3. 1:6 Greek a man named John.
  4. 1:14a Greek became flesh.
  5. 1:14b Or grace and truth; also in 1:17.
  6. 1:16 Or received the grace of Christ rather than the grace of the law; Greek reads received grace upon grace.
  7. 1:18 Some manuscripts read But the one and only Son.

26 The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son.

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39 Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.”

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58 Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am![a]

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Footnotes

  1. 8:58 Or before Abraham was even born, I have always been alive; Greek reads before Abraham was, I am. See Exod 3:14.

16 For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw his majestic splendor with our own eyes 17 when he received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to him, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy.”[a] 18 We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

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This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

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17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as if I were dead. But he laid his right hand on me and said, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1:18 Greek and Hades.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,”[a] says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1:8 Greek I am the Alpha and the Omega, referring to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

35 (This report is from an eyewitness giving an accurate account. He speaks the truth so that you also may continue to believe.[a])

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Footnotes

  1. 19:35 Some manuscripts read that you also may believe.

During the forty days after he suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God.

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13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his title was the Word of God.

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The Message to the Church in Smyrna

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the one who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive:

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They used the eyewitness reports circulating among us from the early disciples.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 1:2 Greek from those who from the beginning were servants of the word.

A Ruler from Bethlehem

[a]But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    are only a small village among all the people of Judah.
Yet a ruler of Israel,
    whose origins are in the distant past,
    will come from you on my behalf.

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Footnotes

  1. 5:2 Verses 5:2-15 are numbered 5:1-14 in Hebrew text.

22 “The Lord formed me from the beginning,
    before he created anything else.
23 I was appointed in ages past,
    at the very first, before the earth began.
24 I was born before the oceans were created,
    before the springs bubbled forth their waters.
25 Before the mountains were formed,
    before the hills, I was born—
26 before he had made the earth and fields
    and the first handfuls of soil.
27 I was there when he established the heavens,
    when he drew the horizon on the oceans.
28 I was there when he set the clouds above,
    when he established springs deep in the earth.
29 I was there when he set the limits of the seas,
    so they would not spread beyond their boundaries.
And when he marked off the earth’s foundations,
30     I was the architect at his side.
I was his constant delight,
    rejoicing always in his presence.
31 And how happy I was with the world he created;
    how I rejoiced with the human family!

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11 It said, “Write in a book[a] everything you see, and send it to the seven churches in the cities of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1:11 Or on a scroll.

Who has done such mighty deeds,
    summoning each new generation from the beginning of time?
It is I, the Lord, the First and the Last.
    I alone am he.”

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