John 1
International Children’s Bible
Christ Comes to the World
1 Before the world began, there was the Word.[a] The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made through him. Nothing was made without him. 4 In him there was life. That life was light for the people of the world. 5 The Light shines in the darkness. And the darkness has not overpowered[b] the Light.
6 There was a man named John[c] who was sent by God. 7 He came to tell people about the Light. Through him all people could hear about the Light and believe. 8 John was not the Light, but he came to tell people about the Light. 9 The true Light was coming into the world. The true Light gives light to all.
10 The Word was in the world. The world was made through him, but the world did not know him. 11 He came to the world that was his own. But his own people did not accept him. 12 But some people did accept him. They believed in him. To them he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They did not become his children in the human way. They were not born because of the desire or wish of some man. They were born of God.
14 The Word became a man and lived among us. We saw his glory—the glory that belongs to the only Son of the Father. The Word was full of grace and truth. 15 John told about him. He said, “This is the One I was talking about. I said, ‘The One who comes after me is greater than I am. He was living before me.’”
16 The Word was full of grace and truth. From him we all received more and more blessings. 17 The law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No man has ever seen God. But God the only Son is very close to the Father.[d] And the Son has shown us what God is like.
John Tells People About Jesus
19 The Jews in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites to John.[e] The Jews sent them to ask, “Who are you?”
20 John spoke freely and did not refuse to answer. He said clearly, “I am not the Christ.”
21 So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”[f]
He answered, “No, I am not Elijah.”
Then they asked, “Are you the Prophet?”[g]
He answered, “No, I am not the Prophet.”
22 Then they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to tell those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23 John told them in the words of the prophet Isaiah:
“I am the voice of a man
calling out in the desert:
‘Make the road straight for the Lord.’” Isaiah 40:3
24 In the group of Jews who were sent, there were some Pharisees. 25 They said to John: “You say you are not the Christ. You say you are not Elijah or the Prophet. Then why do you baptize people?”
26 John answered, “I baptize people with water. But there is one here with you that you don’t know. 27 He is the One who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie the strings of his sandals.”
28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. This is where John was baptizing people.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, “Look, the Lamb of God.[h] He takes away the sins of the world! 30 This is the One I was talking about. I said, ‘A man will come after me, but he is greater than I am, because he was living before me.’ 31 Even I did not know who he was. But I came baptizing with water so that the people of Israel could know who he is.”
32-33 Then John said, “I did not know who the Christ was. But God sent me to baptize with water. And God told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man. That man is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” John said, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven. The Spirit looked like a dove and rested on him. 34 I have seen this happen. So I tell people: ‘He is the Son of God.’”[i]
The First Followers of Jesus
35 The next day John[j] was there again with two of his followers. 36 He saw Jesus walking by and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”[k]
37 The two followers heard John say this. So they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following him. He asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (“Rabbi” means “Teacher.”)
39 Jesus answered, “Come with me and you will see.” So the two men went with Jesus. They saw the place where Jesus was staying and stayed there with him that day. It was then about four o’clock.
40 These two men followed Jesus after they heard about him from John. One of the men was Andrew. He was Simon Peter’s brother. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon. He said to Simon, “We have found the Messiah.” (“Messiah” means “Christ.”)
42 Then Andrew took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas.” (“Cephas” means “Peter.”[l])
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, where Andrew and Peter lived. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “Remember that Moses wrote in the law about a man who was coming, and the prophets also wrote about him. We have found him. He is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth.”
46 But Nathanael said to Philip, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
Philip answered, “Come and see.”
47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. He said, “Here is truly a person of Israel. There is nothing false in him.”
48 Nathanael asked, “How do you know me?”
Jesus answered, “I saw you when you were under the fig tree. That was before Philip told you about me.”
49 Then Nathanael said to Jesus, “Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel.”
50 Jesus said to Nathanael, “You believe in me because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. But you will see greater things than that!” 51 And Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth. You will all see heaven open. You will see ‘angels of God going up and coming down’[m] on the Son of Man.”
Footnotes
- 1:1 Word The Greek word is “logos,” meaning any kind of communication. It could be translated “message.” Here, it means Christ. Christ was the way God told people about himself.
- 1:5 overpowered This can also be translated, “understood.”
- 1:6 John John the Baptist, who preached to people about Christ’s coming (Matthew 3; Luke 3).
- 1:18 But . . . Father. This could be translated, “But the only God is very close to the Father.” Also, some Greek copies read “But the only Son is very close to the Father.”
- 1:19 John John the Baptist, who preached to people about Christ’s coming (Matthew 3; Luke 3).
- 1:21 Elijah A man who spoke for God. He lived hundreds of years before Christ.
- 1:21 Prophet They probably meant the prophet that God told Moses he would send (Deuteronomy 18:15–19).
- 1:29, 36 Lamb of God Name for Jesus. Jesus is like the lambs that were offered for a sacrifice to God.
- 1:34 the Son of God Some Greek copies read “God’s Chosen One.”
- 1:35 John John the Baptist, who preached to people about Christ’s coming (Matthew 3; Luke 3).
- 1:29, 36 Lamb of God Name for Jesus. Jesus is like the lambs that were offered for a sacrifice to God.
- 1:42 Peter The Greek name “Peter,” like the Aramaic name “Cephas,” means “rock.”
- 1:51 ‘angels . . . down’ These words are from Genesis 28:12.
John 1
Living Bible
1 1-2 Before anything else existed,[a] there was Christ, with God. He has always been alive and is himself God. 3 He created everything there is—nothing exists that he didn’t make. 4 Eternal life is in him, and this life gives light to all mankind. 5 His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.
6-7 God sent John the Baptist as a witness to the fact that Jesus Christ is the true Light. 8 John himself was not the Light; he was only a witness to identify it.
9 Later on, the one who is the true Light arrived to shine on everyone coming into the world.
10 But although he made the world, the world didn’t recognize him when he came. 11-12 Even in his own land and among his own people, the Jews, he was not accepted. Only a few would welcome and receive him. But to all who received him, he gave the right to become children of God. All they needed to do was to trust him to save them.[b] 13 All those who believe this are reborn!—not a physical rebirth[c] resulting from human passion or plan—but from the will of God.
14 And Christ[d] became a human being and lived here on earth among us and was full of loving forgiveness and truth. And some of us have seen his glory—the glory of the only Son of the heavenly Father!
15 John pointed him out to the people, telling the crowds, “This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Someone is coming who is greater by far than I am—for he existed long before I did!’” 16 We have all benefited from the rich blessings he brought to us—blessing upon blessing heaped upon us! 17 For Moses gave us only the Law with its rigid demands and merciless justice, while Jesus Christ brought us loving forgiveness as well. 18 No one has ever actually seen God, but, of course, his only Son has, for he is the companion of the Father and has told us all about him.
19 The Jewish leaders[e] sent priests and assistant priests from Jerusalem to ask John whether he claimed to be the Messiah.
20 He denied it flatly. “I am not the Christ,” he said.
21 “Well then, who are you?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”
“No,” he replied.
“Are you the Prophet?”[f]
“No.”
22 “Then who are you? Tell us, so we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you have to say for yourself?”
23 He replied, “I am a voice from the barren wilderness, shouting as Isaiah prophesied, ‘Get ready for the coming of the Lord!’”
24-25 Then those who were sent by the Pharisees asked him, “If you aren’t the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet, what right do you have to baptize?”
26 John told them, “I merely baptize with[g] water, but right here in the crowd is someone you have never met, 27 who will soon begin his ministry among you, and I am not even fit to be his slave.”
28 This incident took place at Bethany, a village on the other side of the Jordan River where John was baptizing.
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin! 30 He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Soon a man far greater than I am is coming, who existed long before me!’ 31 I didn’t know he was the one, but I am here baptizing with water in order to point him out to the nation of Israel.”
32 Then John told about seeing the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending from heaven and resting upon Jesus.
33 “I didn’t know he was the one,” John said again, “but at the time God sent me to baptize he told me, ‘When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone—he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I saw it happen to this man, and I therefore testify that he is the Son of God.”
35 The following day as John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 Jesus walked by. John looked at him intently and then declared, “See! There is the Lamb of God!”
37 Then John’s two disciples turned and followed Jesus.
38 Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them.
“Sir,” they replied, “where do you live?”
39 “Come and see,” he said. So they went with him to the place where he was staying and were with him from about four o’clock that afternoon until the evening. 40 (One of these men was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.)
41 Andrew then went to find his brother Peter and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” 42 And he brought Peter to meet Jesus.
Jesus looked intently at Peter for a moment and then said, “You are Simon, John’s son—but you shall be called Peter, the rock!”
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Come with me.” 44 (Philip was from Bethsaida, Andrew and Peter’s hometown.)
45 Philip now went off to look for Nathanael and told him, “We have found the Messiah!—the very person Moses and the prophets told about! His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph from Nazareth!”
46 “Nazareth!” exclaimed Nathanael. “Can anything good come from there?”
“Just come and see for yourself,” Philip declared.
47 As they approached, Jesus said, “Here comes an honest man—a true son of Israel.”
48 “How do you know what I am like?” Nathanael demanded.
And Jesus replied, “I could see you under the fig tree before Philip found you.”
49 Nathanael replied, “Sir, you are the Son of God—the King of Israel!”
50 Jesus asked him, “Do you believe all this just because I told you I had seen you under the fig tree? You will see greater proofs than this. 51 You will even see heaven open and the angels of God coming back and forth to me, the Messiah.”[h]
Footnotes
- John 1:1 Before anything else existed, literally, “In the beginning.” Christ, literally, “the Word,” meaning Christ, the wisdom and power of God and the first cause of all things; God’s personal expression of himself to men.
- John 1:11 to trust him to save them, literally, “to believe on his name.”
- John 1:13 not a physical rebirth, literally, “not of blood.”
- John 1:14 Christ, literally, “the Word.” loving forgiveness, literally, “grace.” seen his glory, see Matthew 17:2. the only Son of the heavenly Father, literally, “his unique Son.”
- John 1:19 The Jewish leaders, literally, “The Jews.”
- John 1:21 See Deuteronomy 18:15, 18.
- John 1:26 with, or “in.” So also with, or “in” the Holy Spirit in vv. 31 and 33.
- John 1:51 the Messiah, literally, “the Son of Man.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.