The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.^{(A) 2} He was in the beginning with God. ³ All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being^{(B) 4} in him was life,^[a] and the life was the light of all people.^{(C) 5} The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. ⁹ The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.^[b](D)

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.^{(E) 11} He came to what was his own,^[c] and his own people did not accept him. ¹² But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God,^{(F) 13} who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.^(G)

¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son,^[d] full of grace and truth.^{(H) 15} (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ”) ¹⁶ From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.^{[e](I) 17} The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.^{(J) 18} No one has ever seen God. It is the only Son, himself God, who^[f] is close to the Father’s heart,^[g] who has made him known.^(K)

The Testimony of John the Baptist

¹⁹ This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰ He confessed and did not deny it, but he confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”^{[h](L) 21} And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”^{(M) 22} Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³ He said,

as the prophet Isaiah said.^(N)

²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵ They asked him, “Why, then, are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah,^[i] nor Elijah, nor the prophet?” ²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, ²⁷ the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal.” ²⁸ This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

The Lamb of God

²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and declared, “Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!^{(O) 30} This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’ ³¹ I myself did not know him, but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³² And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.^{(P) 33} I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’^{(Q) 34} And I myself have seen and have testified that this is the Chosen One.”^[j]

The First Disciples of Jesus

³⁵ The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶ and as he watched Jesus walk by he exclaimed, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!”^{(R) 37} The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸ When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, “What are you looking for?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which translated means Teacher), “where are you staying?”^{(S) 39} He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.^{(T) 41} He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed^[k]).^{(U) 42} He brought Simon^[l] to Jesus, who looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas”^[m] (which is translated Peter^[n]).^(V)

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”^{(W) 44} Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.^{(X) 45} Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.”^{(Y) 46} Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”^{(Z) 47} When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!”^{(AA) 48} Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” ⁴⁹ Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”^{(AB) 50} Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹ And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you,^[o] you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”^(AC)

The Wedding at Cana

2 On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.^{(A) 2} Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to me and to you?^[a] My hour has not yet come.”^{(B) 5} His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” ⁶ Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.^{(C) 7} Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸ He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the person in charge of the banquet.” So they took it. ⁹ When the person in charge tasted the water that had become wine and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), that person called the bridegroom ¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee and revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.^(D)

¹² After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples, and they remained there a few days.^(E)

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(F) 14} In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”^{(G) 17} His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”^{(H) 18} The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”^{(I) 19} Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”^{(J) 20} The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body.^{(K) 22} After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

²³ When he was in Jerusalem during the Passover festival, many believed in his name because they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴ But Jesus on his part would not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people ²⁵ and needed no one to testify about anyone, for he himself knew what was in everyone.^(L)

Nicodemus Visits Jesus

3 Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ² He came to Jesus^[a] by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with that person.”^{(A) 3} Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.”^{[b](B) 4} Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.^{(C) 6} What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You^[c] must be born from above.’^{[d] 8} The wind^[e] blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”^{(D) 9} Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”^{(E) 10} Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?

¹¹ “Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen, yet you^[f] do not receive our testimony.^{(F) 12} If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^{[g](G) 14} And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,^{(H) 15} that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.^[h](I)

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.^(J)

¹⁷ “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.^{(K) 18} Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.^{(L) 19} And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.^{(M) 20} For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.^{(N) 21} But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”^[i](O)

Jesus and John the Baptist

²² After this Jesus and his disciples went into the region of Judea, and he spent some time there with them and baptized. ²³ John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was abundant there, and people kept coming and were being baptized. ²⁴ (John, of course, had not yet been thrown into prison.)^(P)

²⁵ Now a discussion about purification arose between John’s disciples and a Jew.^{[j] 26} They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you testified, here he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”^{(Q) 27} John answered, “No one can receive anything except what has been given from heaven.^{(R) 28} You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,^[k] but I have been sent ahead of him.’^{(S) 29} He who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled.^{(T) 30} He must increase, but I must decrease.”^[l]

The One Who Comes from Heaven

³¹ The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is above all.^{(U) 32} He testifies to what he has seen and heard, yet no one accepts his testimony.^{(V) 33} Whoever has accepted his testimony has certified^[m] this, that God is true.^{(W) 34} He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.^{(X) 35} The Father loves the Son and has placed all things in his hands.^{(Y) 36} Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever disobeys the Son will not see life but must endure God’s wrath.^(Z)