Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

1 The Word already was, way back before anything began to be. The Word and God were together. The Word was God.

² Before anything began to be, the Word was there with God.

³ God made everything by the Word. Nothing has been made without him.

⁴ Life was in the Word. That life was Light for people.

⁵ The Light shone where it was dark and the darkness did not stop the Light from shining.

⁶ God sent a man named John.

⁷ He came to talk about the Light, so that all people might believe in the Light by what he said.

⁸ He himself was not that Light, but he was sent to talk about the Light.

⁹ The true Light which gives light to every person who comes into the world.

¹⁰ He, the Word, was in the world. Yes, he even made the world. And yet the world did not know him.

¹¹ He came into the world that was his own, but his own people did not receive him.

¹² But there were people who did believe in his name. They did receive him. He gave all those who received him and believed him the right to become children of God.

¹³ They were born into God's family by God. That is, they were not born into his family in the way a person is born into this world. It was not by any person's will.

¹⁴ The Word became man and he lived among us. We saw with our own eyes that he is great. He is great the way God the Father made his only Son great. We saw that he is full of loving kindness and truth.

¹⁵ John talked about him. He called out saying, `Here is the man I told you about. I said that the one who is coming after me is greater than I am, because he lived before I lived.'

¹⁶ He was full of loving kindness, and we have all received so much kindness from him.

¹⁷ Moses gave the law, but Jesus Christ gave this loving kindness and truth.

¹⁸ No one has ever seen God. But his only Son is very near to his Father's heart. He has told us plainly about God.