Add parallel Print Page Options

The Account of Creation

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.[a] The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:1 Or In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, . . . Or When God began to create the heavens and the earth, . . .

The Foolishness of Idols

This is what the Lord says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies:

“I am the First and the Last;
    there is no other God.
Who is like me?
    Let him step forward and prove to you his power.
Let him do as I have done since ancient times
    when I established a people and explained its future.
Do not tremble; do not be afraid.
    Did I not proclaim my purposes for you long ago?
You are my witnesses—is there any other God?
    No! There is no other Rock—not one!”

Read full chapter

The Lord, Not Idols

“This is what the Lord says—
    Israel’s King(A) and Redeemer,(B) the Lord Almighty:
I am the first and I am the last;(C)
    apart from me there is no God.(D)
Who then is like me?(E) Let him proclaim it.
    Let him declare and lay out before me
what has happened since I established my ancient people,
    and what is yet to come—
    yes, let them foretell(F) what will come.
Do not tremble, do not be afraid.
    Did I not proclaim(G) this and foretell it long ago?
You are my witnesses. Is there any God(H) besides me?
    No, there is no other Rock;(I) I know not one.”

Read full chapter

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.

Read full chapter

The Word Became Flesh

In the beginning was the Word,(A) and the Word was with God,(B) and the Word was God.(C) He was with God in the beginning.(D) Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.(E)

Read full chapter

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

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:14a Greek became flesh.
  2. 1:14b Or grace and truth; also in 1:17.

14 The Word became flesh(A) and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,(B) the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace(C) and truth.(D)

Read full chapter

That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
    and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
    for those who love him.”[a]

10 But[b] it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11 No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12 And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2:9 Isa 64:4.
  2. 2:10 Some manuscripts read For.

However, as it is written:

“What no eye has seen,
    what no ear has heard,
and what no human mind has conceived”[a]
    the things God has prepared for those who love him—(A)

10 these are the things God has revealed(B) to us by his Spirit.(C)

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts(D) except their own spirit(E) within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 What we have received is not the spirit(F) of the world,(G) but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Isaiah 64:4

Christ Is Supreme

15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,[a]
16 for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 1:15 Or He is the firstborn of all creation.

The Supremacy of the Son of God

15 The Son is the image(A) of the invisible God,(B) the firstborn(C) over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created:(D) things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities;(E) all things have been created through him and for him.(F)

Read full chapter

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body.[a]

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. 2:9 Or in him dwells all the completeness of the Godhead bodily.

For in Christ all the fullness(A) of the Deity lives in bodily form,

Read full chapter

The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

Read full chapter

The Son is the radiance of God’s glory(A) and the exact representation of his being,(B) sustaining all things(C) by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins,(D) he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.(E)

Read full chapter