The Word Became Flesh

¹aIn the beginning was bthe Word, and cthe Word was with God, and dthe Word was God. ²He was in the beginning with God. ³eAll things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. ⁴fIn him was life,1 and gthe life was the light of men. ⁵hThe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

⁶There was a man isent from God, whose name was jJohn. ⁷He came as a kwitness, to bear witness about the light, lthat all might believe through him. ⁸mHe was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

⁹nThe true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. ¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet othe world did not know him. ¹¹He came to phis own,2 and qhis own people3 rdid not receive him. ¹²But to all who did receive him, swho believed in his name, the gave the right uto become vchildren of God, ¹³who wwere born, xnot of blood ynor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴And zthe Word abecame flesh and bdwelt among us, cand we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son4 from the Father, full of dgrace and etruth. ¹⁵(fJohn bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, g‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) ¹⁶For from hhis fullness we have all received, igrace upon grace.5 ¹⁷For jthe law was given through Moses; kgrace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸lNo one has ever seen God; mthe only God,6 who is at the Father's side,7 nhe has made him known.

The Testimony of John the Baptist

¹⁹And this is the otestimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, p“Who are you?” ²⁰qHe confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” ²¹And they asked him, “What then? rAre you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you sthe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²²So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” ²³He said, “I am tthe voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight8 the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

²⁴(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵They asked him, u“Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” ²⁶John answered them, v“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, ²⁷even whe who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” ²⁸These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Behold, the Lamb of God

²⁹The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, xthe Lamb of God, who ytakes away the sin zof the world! ³⁰This is he of whom I said, a‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ³¹I myself did not know him, but bfor this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” ³²And John cbore witness: d“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and eit remained on him. ³³I myself did not know him, but fhe who sent me to baptize gwith water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, hthis is he who baptizes gwith the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son9 of God.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

³⁵The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, ithe Lamb of God!” ³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, j“What are you seeking?” And they said to him, k“Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” ³⁹He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.10 ⁴⁰lOne of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus11 was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother. ⁴¹He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found mthe Messiah” (which means Christ). ⁴²He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of nJohn. You shall be called oCephas” (which means pPeter12).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

⁴³qThe next day Jesus decided rto go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁴Now sPhilip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found tNathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom uMoses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus vof Nazareth, wthe son of Joseph.” ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, x“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” ⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, yan Israelite indeed, zin whom there is no deceit!” ⁴⁸Nathanael said to him, “How ado you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” ⁴⁹Nathanael answered him, b“Rabbi, cyou are the Son of God! You are the dKing of Israel!” ⁵⁰Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ⁵¹And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you,13 you will see eheaven opened, and fthe angels of God ascending and descending on gthe Son of Man.”

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The Wedding at Cana

¹On hthe third day there was a wedding at iCana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus also was invited to the wedding with jhis disciples. ³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” ⁴And Jesus said to her, k“Woman, lwhat does this have to do with me? mMy hour has not yet come.” ⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Now there were six stone water jars there nfor the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty ogallons.1 ⁷Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. ⁸And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. ⁹When the master of the feast tasted pthe water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” ¹¹This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested qhis glory. And rhis disciples believed in him.

¹²After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and shis brothers2 and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹³tThe Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus uwent up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴vIn the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make wmy Father's house a house of trade.” ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, x“Zeal for your house will consume me.”

¹⁸So the Jews said to him, y“What sign do you show us for doing these things?” ¹⁹Jesus answered them, z“Destroy this temple, and in three days aI will raise it up.” ²⁰The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple,3 and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹But he was speaking about bthe temple of his body. ²²When therefore he was raised from the dead, chis disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed dthe Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

Jesus Knows What Is in Man

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name ewhen they saw the signs that he was doing. ²⁴But Jesus fon his part did not entrust himself to them, because ghe knew all people ²⁵and needed no one to bear witness about man, for ghe himself knew what was in man.

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You Must Be Born Again

¹Now there was a man of the Pharisees named hNicodemus, ia ruler of the Jews. ²This man came to Jesus1 jby night and said to him, k“Rabbi, lwe know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do munless God is with him.” ³Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is nborn oagain2 he cannot psee the kingdom of God.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born qof water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶rThat which is born of the flesh is sflesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.3 ⁷tDo not marvel that I said to you, ‘You4 must be born uagain.’ ⁸vThe wind5 blows wwhere it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹Nicodemus said to him, x“How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel yand yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹Truly, truly, I say to you, zwe speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but zyou6 do not receive our testimony. ¹²If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ¹³aNo one has bascended into heaven except che who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.7 ¹⁴And das Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man ebe lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes fin him gmay have eternal life.8

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶“For hGod so loved ithe world,9 jthat he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not kperish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For lGod did not send his Son into the world mto condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ¹⁸nWhoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not obelieved in the name of the only Son of God. ¹⁹pAnd this is the judgment: qthe light has come into the world, and rpeople loved the darkness rather than the light because stheir works were evil. ²⁰tFor everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ulest his works should be exposed. ²¹But whoever vdoes what is true wcomes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

²²After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and xwas baptizing. ²³John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized ²⁴(for yJohn had not yet been put in prison).

²⁵Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over zpurification. ²⁶And they came to John and said to him, a“Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, bto whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and call are going to him.” ²⁷John answered, d“A person cannot receive even one thing eunless it is given him ffrom heaven. ²⁸You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, g‘I am not the Christ, but hI have been sent before him.’ ²⁹iThe one who has the bride is the bridegroom. jThe friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, krejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰lHe must increase, but I must decrease.”10

³¹mHe who comes from above nis above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and ospeaks in an earthly way. pHe who comes from heaven nis above all. ³²qHe bears witness to what he has seen and heard, ryet no one receives his testimony. ³³Whoever receives his testimony ssets his seal to this, tthat God is true. ³⁴For he whom uGod has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit vwithout measure. ³⁵wThe Father loves the Son and xhas given all things into his hand. ³⁶yWhoever believes in the Son has eternal life; zwhoever does not obey the Son shall not asee life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

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Jesus and the Woman of Samaria

¹Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and bbaptizing more disciples than John ²(although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples), ³he left Judea and departed cagain for Galilee. ⁴dAnd he had to pass through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field ethat Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, fwearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.1

⁷A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, f“Give me a drink.” ⁸(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (gFor Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you hliving water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²iAre you greater than our father Jacob? jHe gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but kwhoever drinks of the water that I will give him lwill never be thirsty again.2 The water that I will give him will become min him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, ngive me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, ocall your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that pyou are qa prophet. ²⁰rOur fathers worshiped on sthis mountain, but you say that tin Jerusalem is uthe place where people ought to worship.” ²¹Jesus said to her, v“Woman, believe me, wthe hour is coming when xneither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ²²yYou worship what you do not know; zwe worship what we know, for zsalvation is afrom the Jews. ²³But bthe hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father cin spirit and dtruth, for the Father eis seeking such people to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that fMessiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, ghe will tell us all things.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, h“I who speak to you am he.”

²⁷Just then ihis disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see a man jwho told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” ³⁰They went out of the town and were coming to him.

³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, k“Rabbi, eat.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, l“Has anyone brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, m“My food is nto do the will of him who sent me and oto accomplish his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that pthe fields are white for harvest. ³⁶Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that qsower and rreaper smay rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, t‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap uthat for which you did not labor. Others have labored, vand you have entered into their labor.”

³⁹Many Samaritans wfrom that town believed in him xbecause of ythe woman's testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed zbecause of his word. ⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, aand we know that this is indeed bthe Savior cof the world.”

⁴³After dthe two days he departed for Galilee. ⁴⁴(For Jesus himself had testified ethat a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.) ⁴⁵So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, fhaving seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For gthey too had gone to the feast.

Jesus Heals an Official's Son

⁴⁶So he came again to hCana in Galilee, iwhere he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill. ⁴⁷When this man heard that Jesus jhad come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸So Jesus said to him, k“Unless you3 see signs and wonders you will not believe.” ⁴⁹The official said to him, “Sir, come down lbefore my child dies.” ⁵⁰Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way. ⁵¹As he was going down, his servants4 met him and told him that his son was recovering. ⁵²So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour5 the fever left him.” ⁵³The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, mand all his household. ⁵⁴nThis was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee.

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The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath

¹After this there was a ofeast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now there is in Jerusalem by pthe Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic1 called Bethesda,2 which has five roofed colonnades. ³In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and qparalyzed.3 ⁵One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸Jesus said to him, r“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” ⁹rAnd at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

sNow that day was the Sabbath. ¹⁰So the Jews4 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and tit is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” ¹¹But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’” ¹²They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” ¹³Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for uJesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. ¹⁴Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! vSin no more, wthat nothing worse may happen to you.” ¹⁵The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. ¹⁶And this was why the Jews xwere persecuting Jesus, ybecause he was doing these things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus Is Equal with God

¹⁸This was why the Jews zwere seeking all the more to kill him, abecause not only was he bbreaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God chis own Father, dmaking himself equal with God.

The Authority of the Son

¹⁹So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, ethe Son fcan do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father5 does, that the Son does likewise. ²⁰For gthe Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And hgreater works than these will he show him, so that iyou may marvel. ²¹For as the Father jraises the dead and kgives them life, so lalso the Son gives life mto whom he will. ²²nFor the Father judges no one, but ohas given all judgment to the Son, ²³that all may honor the Son, just as they phonor the Father. qWhoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. ²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, rwhoever hears my word and sbelieves him who sent me has eternal life. He tdoes not come into judgment, but uhas passed from death to life.

²⁵“Truly, truly, I say to you, van hour is coming, and is now here, when wthe dead will hear xthe voice of the Son of God, and those who hear wwill live. ²⁶yFor as the Father has life in himself, zso he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. ²⁷And he ahas given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. ²⁸Do not marvel at this, for van hour is coming when ball who are in the tombs will hear his voice ²⁹and come out, cthose who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰d“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and emy judgment is just, because fI seek not my own will gbut the will of him who sent me. ³¹hIf I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. ³²There is ianother who bears witness about me, and jI know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. ³³kYou sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴Not that lthe testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵He was a burning and mshining lamp, and nyou were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶But lthe testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For othe works that the Father has given me pto accomplish, the very works that I am doing, qbear witness about me that rthe Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me shas himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, this form you have never seen, ³⁸and uyou do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹vYou search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and wit is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰yet xyou refuse to come to me that you may have life. ⁴¹yI do not receive glory from people. ⁴²But zI know that you do not have athe love of God within you. ⁴³I have come bin my Father's name, and cyou do not receive me. dIf another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and edo not seek the glory that comes from fthe only God? ⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, gon whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for hhe wrote of me. ⁴⁷But iif you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

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