Old/New Testament
The lamb and the spirit
29 The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him.
“Look!” he said. “There’s God’s lamb! He’s the one who takes away the world’s sin! 30 He’s the one I was speaking about when I said, ‘There’s a man coming after me who ranks ahead of me, because he was before me!’ 31 I didn’t know who it would be, but this was the reason I came to baptize with water—so that he could be revealed to Israel.”
32 So John gave this evidence: “I saw the spirit coming down like a dove out of heaven and remaining on him. 33 I didn’t know who it would be; but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘When you see the spirit coming down and resting on someone, that’s the person who will baptize with the holy spirit.’ 34 Well, that’s what I saw, and I’ve given you my evidence: he is the son of God.”
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.”
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.