John 1:35-51

New Testament for Everyone

The first disciples

³⁵ The following day John was again standing there, with two of his disciples. ³⁶ He saw Jesus walking by, and said, “Look! There goes God’s lamb!”

³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

³⁸ Jesus turned and saw them following him.

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Rabbi,” they said (the word means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

³⁹ “Come and see,” he replied.

So they came, and saw where he was staying, and stayed with him that day. It was late in the afternoon.

⁴⁰ One of the two who heard what John said and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ The first person he found was his own brother Simon.

“We’ve found the Messiah!” he said (that means “the anointed one,” like our word “Christ”). ⁴² He brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him.

“So,” he said, “you’re Simon, John’s son, are you? We’d better call you Cephas!” (That means “the Rock,” like our word “Peter.”)

Philip and Nathanael

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee, where he found Philip.

“Follow me,” he said to him.

⁴⁴ Philip came from Bethsaida, the town where Andrew and Peter hailed from. ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael.

“We’ve found him!” he said. “The one Moses wrote about in the law! And the prophets, too! We’ve found him! It’s Jesus, Joseph’s son, from Nazareth!”

⁴⁶ “Really?” replied Nathanael. “Are you telling me that something good can come out of Nazareth?”

“Come and see,” replied Philip.

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him.

“Here he comes,” he said. “Look at him! He’s a real Israelite. Genuine through and through.”

⁴⁸ “How did you get to know me?” asked Nathanael.

“Oh,” replied Jesus, “I saw you under the fig tree, before Philip spoke to you.”

⁴⁹ “Rabbi,” replied Nathanael, “you’re the son of God! You’re the king of Israel!”

⁵⁰ “Wait a minute,” said Jesus. “Are you telling me that you believe just because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? You’ll see a lot more than that!

⁵¹ “In fact,” he went on, “I’m telling you the solemn truth. You’ll see heaven opened, and God’s angels going up and down upon the son of man.”