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¹ THE Word was in the beginning, and that very Word was with God, and God was that Word.² The same was in the beginning with God.³ Everything came to be by his hand; and without him not even one thing came to be of what was created.⁴ The life was in him, and the life is the light of men.

⁵ And the same light shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it.⁶ There was a man, sent from God, whose name was John.⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning the light, so that every man might believe by means of him.⁸ He was not the light, but to testify concerning the light.⁹ He was the true light, which lighteth every man who came into the world.¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was under his hand, and yet the world knew him not.¹¹ He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.¹² But those who received him, to them he gave power to become sons of God, especially to those who believed in his name;¹³ Those who are not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born of God.¹⁴ And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory, a glory like that of the firstborn of the Father, full of grace and truth.

¹⁵ John witnessed concerning him and cried and said, This is the one of whom I said, He is coming after me, and yet he is ahead of me, because he was before me.¹⁶ And of his fulness we have all received, grace for grace.¹⁷ For the law was given by Moses; but truth and grace came into being by Jesus Christ.¹⁸ No man has ever seen God; but the firstborn of God, who is in the bosom of his Father, he has declared him.

¹⁹ This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you?²⁰ And he confessed and did not deny it; but he declared, I am not the Christ.²¹ Then they asked him again, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you a prophet? And he said, No.²² Then they said to him, Who are you? so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say concerning yourself?²³ He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Straighten the highway of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.²⁴ Those who were sent were from the Pharisees.²⁵ And they asked him and said to him, Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor a prophet?²⁶ John answered and said to them, I baptize with water; but among you stands one whom you do not know;²⁷ This is the one who comes after me, and is ahead of me, the one even the strings of whose shoes I am not good enough to untie.²⁸ These things happened in Bethany, at the Jordan crossing, where John was baptizing.

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming to him, and he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!³⁰ This is the one of whom I said, The man who comes after me is yet ahead of me, because he was before me.³¹ And I did not know him; but that he might be made known to Israel, I came to baptize with water.³² And John testified and said, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it rested upon him.³³ And yet I did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water, said to me, The one upon whom you see the Spirit descending and resting, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.³⁴ And I saw and testified that this is the Son of God.³⁵ The next day John was standing, with two of his disciples;³⁶ And he looked at Jesus while he walked, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God!

³⁷ And when he said it, two of his disciples heard it; and they went after Jesus.³⁸ And Jesus turned around and saw them following him, and he said to them, What do you want? They said to him, Rabbi (Teacher), where do you live?³⁹ He said to them, Come, and you will see. And they came and saw where he stayed, and they remained with him that day; and it was about the tenth hour.⁴⁰ One of them who heard John and followed Jesus, was Andrew, the brother of Simon.⁴¹ He saw his brother Simon first, and said to him, We have found the Christ.⁴² And he brought him to Jesus. And Jesus looked at him and said, You are Simon the son of Jonah; you are called Kepa (a Stone).

⁴³ The next day Jesus wanted to leave for Galilee, and he found Philip, and said to him, Follow me.⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Simon.⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, We have found that Jesus, the son of Joseph, of Nazareth, is the one concerning whom Moses wrote in the law and the prophets.⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and you will see.⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and he said of him, Behold truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile!⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, Whence do you know me? Jesus said to him. Even before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you.⁴⁹ Nathanael answered, saying to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel.⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, Do you believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree? you shall see greater things than these.⁵¹ He said to him, Truly, truly, I say to all of you, that from now on you will see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending to the Son of man.