Jacob's Dream

¹⁰ Jacob left ^(A)Beersheba and went toward ^(B)Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² And he ^(C)dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder^[a] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, ^(D)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ¹³ And behold, ^(E)the Lord stood above it^[b] and said, ^(F)“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^(G)The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like ^(H)the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and ^(I)your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, ^(J)I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and ^(K)will bring you back to this land. For I will ^(L)not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is ^(M)in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up ^(N)for a pillar ^(O)and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place ^(P)Bethel,^[c] but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Then Jacob ^(Q)made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ^21 (R)so that I come again to my father's house in peace, ^(S)then the Lord shall be my God, ²² and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, ^(T)shall be God's house. And ^(U)of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

The Testimony of John the Baptist

¹⁹ And this is the ^(A)testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ^(B)“Who are you?” ^20 (C)He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹ And they asked him, “What then? ^(D)Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you ^(E)the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²² So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said, “I am ^(F)the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight^[a] the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵ They asked him, ^(G)“Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them, ^(H)“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷ even ^(I)he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” ²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Behold, the Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, ^(J)the Lamb of God, who ^(K)takes away the sin ^(L)of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ^(M)‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him, but ^(N)for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John ^(O)bore witness: ^(P)“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and ^(Q)it remained on him. ³³ I myself did not know him, but ^(R)he who sent me to baptize ^(S)with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, ^(T)this is he who baptizes ^(U)with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son^[b] of God.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

³⁵ The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, ^(V)the Lamb of God!” ³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, ^(W)“What are you seeking?” And they said to him, ^(X)“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹ He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.^{[c] 40 (Y)}One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus^[d] was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found ^(Z)the Messiah” (which means Christ). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of ^(AA)John. You shall be called ^(AB)Cephas” (which means ^(AC)Peter^[e]).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

^43 (AD)The next day Jesus decided ^(AE)to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴ Now ^(AF)Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵ Philip found ^(AG)Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom ^(AH)Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus ^(AI)of Nazareth, ^(AJ)the son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, ^(AK)“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, ^(AL)an Israelite indeed, ^(AM)in whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How ^(AN)do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, ^(AO)“Rabbi, ^(AP)you are the Son of God! You are the ^(AQ)King of Israel!” ⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,^[f] you will see ^(AR)heaven opened, and ^(AS)the angels of God ascending and descending on ^(AT)the Son of Man.”