John 1 — BBE

1Verse 1From the first he was the Word, and the Word was in relation with God and was God.^{Verse 2}This Word was from the first in relation with God.^{Verse 3}All things came into existence through him, and without him nothing was.^{Verse 4}What came into existence in him was life, and the life was the light of men.^{Verse 5}And the light goes on shining in the dark; it is not overcome by the dark.^{Verse 6}There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.^{Verse 7}He came for witness, to give witness about the light, so that all men might have faith through him.^{Verse 8}He himself was not the light: he was sent to give witness about the light.^{Verse 9}The true light, which gives light to every man, was then coming into the world.^{Verse 10}He was in the world, the world which came into being through him, but the world had no knowledge of him.^{Verse 11}He came to the things which were his and his people did not take him to their hearts.^{Verse 12}To all those who did so take him, however, he gave the right of becoming children of God — that is, to those who had faith in his name:^{Verse 13}Whose birth was from God and not from blood, or from an impulse of the flesh and man's desire.^{Verse 14}And so the Word became flesh and took a place among us for a time; and we saw his glory — such glory as is given to an only son by his father — saw it to be true and full of grace.^{Verse 15}John gave witness about him, crying, This is he of whom I said, He who is coming after me is put over me because he was in existence before me.^{Verse 16}From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace.^{Verse 17}For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ.^{Verse 18}No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.^{Verse 19}And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him with the question, Who are you?^{Verse 20}He said quite openly and straightforwardly, I am not the Christ.^{Verse 21}And they said to him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And his answer was, I am not.^{Verse 22}So they said to him, Who are you then? We have to give some answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?^{Verse 23}He said, I am the voice of one crying in the waste land, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.^{Verse 24}Those who had been sent came from the Pharisees.^{Verse 25}And they put this question to him, saying, Why then are you giving baptism if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet?^{Verse 26}John's answer was: I give baptism with water; but there is one among you of whom you have no knowledge;^{Verse 27}It is he who is coming after me; I am not good enough to undo his shoes.^{Verse 28}These things took place at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was giving baptism.^{Verse 29}The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!^{Verse 30}This is he of whom I said, One is coming after me who is put over me because he was in existence before me.^{Verse 31}I myself had no knowledge of him, but I came giving baptism with water so that he might be seen openly by Israel.^{Verse 32}And John gave this witness, saying, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting on him.^{Verse 33}I had no knowledge who he was, but he who sent me to give baptism with water said to me, The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting, it is he who gives baptism with the Holy Spirit.^{Verse 34}This I saw myself and my witness is that he is the Son of God.^{Verse 35}The day after, John was there again with two of his disciples;^{Verse 36}And looking at Jesus while he was walking he said, See, there is the Lamb of God!^{Verse 37}Hearing what he said, the two disciples went after Jesus.^{Verse 38}And Jesus, turning round, saw them coming after him and said to them, What are you looking for? They said to him, Rabbi (which is to say, Master), where are you living?^{Verse 39}He said to them, Come and see. They went with him then and saw where he was living; and they were with him all that day: it was then about the tenth hour of the day.^{Verse 40}Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two men who, hearing what John said, went after Jesus.^{Verse 41}Early in the morning he came across his brother and said to him, We have made discovery! It is the Messiah! (which is to say, the Christ).^{Verse 42}And he took him to Jesus. Looking at him fixedly Jesus said, You are Simon, the son of John; your name will be Cephas (which is to say, Peter).^{Verse 43}The day after this, Jesus had a desire to go into Galilee. He came across Philip and said to him, Come and be my disciple.^{Verse 44}Now Philip's town was Beth-saida, where Andrew and Peter came from.^{Verse 45}Philip came across Nathanael and said to him, We have made a discovery! It is he of whom Moses, in the law, and the prophets were writing, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.^{Verse 46}Nazareth! said Nathanael, Is it possible for any good to come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see.^{Verse 47}Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, See, here is a true son of Israel in whom there is nothing false.^{Verse 48}Nathanael said to him, Where did you get knowledge of me? In answer Jesus said, Before Philip was talking with you, while you were still under the fig-tree, I saw you.^{Verse 49}Nathanael said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are King of Israel!^{Verse 50}In answer Jesus said to him, You have faith because I said to you, I saw you under the fig-tree. You will see greater things than these.^{Verse 51}And he said to him, Truly I say to you all, You will see heaven opening and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of man.