The Word [already] existed in the beginning [of time]. [Note: This is a reference to the preexistence of Jesus. See verse 14]. And the Word was with God and the Word was [what] God [was].

So the light continues to shine in the darkness, for the darkness has never overpowered it.

This one came for a witness, in order that he could testify about the light, so that all would believe through him.

But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name:

who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh's will, nor of man's will, but of God.

And the Word (Christ) became flesh, and lived among us; and we [actually] saw His glory, glory as belongs to the [One and] only begotten Son of the Father, [the Son who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, who is] full of grace and truth (absolutely free of deception).

For the law was given through Moses; [but] God's favor and truth came through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God.
The One and Only Son—
the One who is at the Father’s side—
He has revealed Him.

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem so that they could ask him, "Who are you?"

Then he declared openly, without denying it, "I am not the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one]."

So they asked him, "Well then, are you Elijah?" John said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" He answered, "No."

They said then to him, 'Who art thou, that we may give an answer to those sending us? what dost thou say concerning thyself?'

"I am the voice," he replied, "of one crying aloud, 'Make straight the Lord's way in the Desert,' fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah."

So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

John's answer was: I give baptism with water; but there is one among you of whom you have no knowledge;

He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah]; but I came baptizing in water so that He would be [publicly] revealed to Israel.”

And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him.

And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.

When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou?

He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!" --that is to say, the Anointed One.

and he brought Simon to Jesus.

When Jesus saw him, He said, “You are Simon, son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which means “Rock”).

The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. So He sought out Philip and said to him, "Follow me."

Now Philip's town was Beth-saida, where Andrew and Peter came from.

Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the One Moses wrote about in the Law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth!”

And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee.

"Rabbi," cried Nathanael, "you are the Son of God, you are Israel's King!"

Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these.

And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.

Then on the third day [i.e., since Jesus' conversation with Nathaniel. See 1:47], a wedding took place in Cana in Galilee. [Note: This was a small town near Nazareth]. Jesus' mother was there

So Jesus also, and his disciples, were invited to the marriage.

So, Jesus said to her, "[My dear] woman, what do you want me to do [about it]? My time [i.e., to be revealed to people as the Messiah] has not yet come."

His mother says to the servants, Whatever he may say to you, do.

Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the waterpots with water.” So they filled them up to the brim.

Then He said to them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter [of the banquet].” So they took it to him.

So they carried some to him. And no sooner had the President tasted the water now turned into wine, than--not knowing where it came from, though the attendants who had drawn the water knew--he called to the bridegroom

and said to him, “Everyone else serves his best wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then he serves that which is not so good; but you have kept back the good wine until now.”

Jesus performed this, the first of His wonder-works, at Cana in Galilee. By it He showed His glorious power, and so His disciples believed in Him.

Now the Passover of the Jews was approaching, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

And there in the Temple he saw men trading in oxen and sheep and doves, and he saw the changers of money in their seats:

So He plaited a whip of rushes, and drove all--both sheep and bullocks--out of the Temple. The small coin of the brokers He upset on the ground and overturned their tables.

And said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise.

And it came to the minds of the disciples that the Writings say, I am on fire with passion for your house.

So the Jews answered and said to him, "What sign do you show to us, because you are doing these [things]?"

So when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered what He had said. And they believed and trusted in and relied on the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did.

and He did not need anyone to testify concerning man [and human nature], for He Himself knew what was in man [in their hearts—in the very core of their being].

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.

Do not be surprised that I say to you, It is necessary for you to have a second birth.

The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.

If I have said the earthly things to you, and ye believe not, how, if I say the heavenly things to you, will ye believe?

And no man ascendeth up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, that is to say, the son of man which is in heaven.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:

so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life."

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God did not send his Son into the world to be judge of the world; he sent him so that the world might have salvation through him.

Whoever believes and has decided to trust in Him [as personal Savior and Lord] is not judged [for this one, there is no judgment, no rejection, no condemnation]; but the one who does not believe [and has decided to reject Him as personal Savior and Lord] is judged already [that one has been convicted and sentenced], because he has not believed and trusted in the name of the [One and] only begotten Son of God [the One who is truly unique, the only One of His kind, the One who alone can save him].

Now this is [how God's] judgment [works]: The Light [See 1:5-9] has come into the world, but people loved darkness [i.e., sin] rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil.

For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

But whoever practices truth [and does what is right—morally, ethically, spiritually] comes to the Light, so that his works may be plainly shown to be what they are—accomplished in God [divinely prompted, done with God’s help, in dependence on Him].”

John [the Immerser] was also immersing people in Aenon, near Salem [Note: These locations are thought to have been in northeastern Judea, near the Jordan River], because there was a lot of water there; so people were coming to be immersed.

Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying.

So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi (Teacher), the Man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan [at the Jordan River crossing]—and to whom you have testified—look, He is baptizing too, and everyone is going to Him!”

John responded, “No one can receive a single thing unless it’s given to him from heaven.

You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ [i.e., God's specially chosen one] but [rather] that I was sent [by God] ahead of Him.'

He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

He must increase [in prominence], but I must decrease.

And what he saw and heard, this be testifies: and none receives his testimony.

He who so takes his witness has made clear his faith that God is true.

For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God [proclaiming the Father’s own message]; for God gives the [gift of the] Spirit without measure [generously and boundlessly]!

The Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hands [See Eph. 1:20-22].

He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

So when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been told that he was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John??2 though it was not Jesus himself who baptized them, but his disciples??3 he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

And it was so that he must needs go through Samaria.

So he cometh to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph:

Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.

(For his disciples had gone away into the town so that they could buy food.)

So the Samaritan woman said to him, "How do you, being a Jew, ask from me [water] to drink, [since I] am a Samaritan woman?" (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).”

“Sir,” said the woman, “You don’t even have a bucket, and the well is deep. So where do You get this ‘living water’?

but whoever drinks the water I give him will never get thirsty [again]. For the water I will give him will become in him [i.e., in his spirit] a spring of water, bubbling up and producing never ending life." [See John 7:38].

The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.”

the woman answered and said, 'I have not a husband.' Jesus saith to her, 'Well didst thou say -- A husband I have not;

because you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not [really] your husband. So, you have told the truth."

The woman says to him, Sir, I see that thou art a prophet.

Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.

But the time will come, and is now [actually] here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [i.e., from the heart] and truth [i.e., according to God's revealed will], for these are the people whom the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

then said the woman to him, I know that the Messias (that is to say the Christ) is to come, and when he is come, he will tell us all things.

At that point the disciples came back, and they were surprised to see him talking to a woman; but not one of them said to him, What is your purpose? or, Why are you talking to her?