The Light shines on in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it or overpower it or appropriate it or absorb it [and is unreceptive to it].

This man came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe [in Christ, the Light] through him.

There it was—the true Light [the genuine, perfect, steadfast Light] which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone.

John testified [repeatedly] about Him and has cried out [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me has a higher rank than I and has priority over me, for He existed before me.’”

For out of His fullness [the superabundance of His grace and truth] we have all received grace upon grace [spiritual blessing upon spiritual blessing, favor upon favor, and gift heaped upon gift].

No one has seen God [His essence, His divine nature] at any time; the [One and] only begotten God [that is, the unique Son] who is in the intimate presence of the Father, He has explained Him [and interpreted and revealed the awesome wonder of the Father].

And he confessed [truthfully] and did not deny [that he was only a man], but acknowledged, “I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed)!”

They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the [promised] Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

He said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

It is He [the preeminent One] who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie [even as His slave].”

These things occurred in Bethany across the Jordan [at the Jordan River crossing], where John was baptizing.

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

John gave [further] evidence [testifying officially for the record, with validity and relevance], saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him.

I myself have [actually] seen [that happen], and my testimony is that this is the Son of God!”

and he looked at Jesus as He walked along, and said, “Look! The Lamb of God!”

And Jesus turned and saw them following Him, and asked them, “What do you want?” They answered Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?”

He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went [with Him] and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard what John said and [as a result] followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

He first looked for and found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah” (which translated means the Christ).

Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas (which is translated Peter).”

Nathanael answered him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see.”

Nathanael said to Jesus, “How do You know [these things about] me?” Jesus answered, “Before Philip called you, when you were still under the fig tree, I saw you.”

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there;

Jesus said to her, “[Dear] woman, what is that to you and to Me? My time [to act and to be revealed] has not yet come.”

His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

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

And when the headwaiter tasted the water which had turned into wine, not knowing where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew) he called the bridegroom,

This, the first of His signs (attesting miracles), Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and revealed His glory [displaying His deity and His great power openly], and His disciples believed [confidently] in Him [as the Messiah—they adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Him].

And in the temple [enclosure] He found the people who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers sitting at their tables.

He made a whip of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables;

then to those who sold the doves He said, “Take these things away! Stop making My Father’s house a place of commerce!”

His disciples remembered that it is written [in the Scriptures], “Zeal (love, concern) for Your house [and its honor] will consume Me.”

Then the Jews retorted, “What sign (attesting miracle) can You show us as [proof of] your authority for doing these things?”

Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

Then the Jews replied, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and You will raise it up in three days?”

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].

who came to Jesus at night and said to Him, “Rabbi (Teacher), we know [without any doubt] that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs [these wonders, these attesting miracles] that You do unless God is with him.”

That which is born of the flesh is flesh [the physical is merely physical], and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not be surprised that I have told you, ‘You must be born again [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, sanctified].’

The wind blows where it wishes and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it is coming from and where it is going; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Jesus replied, “You are the [great and well-known] teacher of Israel, and yet you do not know nor understand these things [from Scripture]?

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, we speak only of what we [absolutely] know and testify about what we have [actually] seen [as eyewitnesses]; and [still] you [reject our evidence and] do not accept our testimony.

If I told you earthly things [that is, things that happen right here on earth] and you do not believe, how will you believe and trust Me if I tell you heavenly things?

No one has gone up into heaven, but there is One who came down from heaven, the Son of Man [Himself—whose home is in heaven].

Just as Moses lifted up the [bronze] serpent in the desert [on a pole], so must the Son of Man be lifted up [on the cross],

For every wrongdoer hates the Light, and does not come to the Light [but shrinks from it] for fear that his [sinful, worthless] activities will be exposed and condemned.

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].”

Now John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was an abundance of water there; and people were coming and were being baptized—

for John had not yet been thrown into prison.

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 replied, “A man can receive nothing [he can claim nothing at all] unless it has been granted to him from heaven [for there is no other source than the sovereign will of God].

You yourselves are my witnesses that I stated, ‘I am not the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed),’ but, ‘I have [only] been sent ahead of Him [as His appointed forerunner and messenger to announce and proclaim His coming].’

He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this pleasure and joy of mine is now complete.

What He has [actually] seen and heard, of that He testifies; and yet no one accepts His testimony [as true].

Whoever receives His testimony has set his seal [of approval] to this: God is true [and he knows that God cannot lie].

Now He had to go through Samaria.

So He arrived at a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the tract of land that Jacob gave to his son Joseph;

and Jacob’s well was there. So Jesus, tired as He was from His journey, sat down by the well. It was then about the sixth hour (noon).

The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.)

Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?”

At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].”

You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews.

But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers.

The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].”

Just then His disciples came, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman. However, no one said, “What are You asking about?” or, “Why are You talking to her?”

So the people left the city and were coming to Him.

Meanwhile, the disciples were urging Jesus [to have a meal], saying, “Rabbi (Teacher), eat.”

But He told them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”

So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought Him something to eat?”

Do you not say, ‘It is still four months until the harvest comes?’ Look, I say to you, raise your eyes and look at the fields and see, they are white for harvest.

Now many Samaritans from that city believed in Him and trusted Him [as Savior] because of what the woman said when she testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.”

Many more believed in Him [with a deep, abiding trust] because of His word [His personal message to them];

and they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; for [now] we have heard Him for ourselves and know [with confident assurance] that this One is truly the Savior of [all] the world.”

Having heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to meet Him and began asking Him to come down and heal his son; for he was at the point of death.

Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you [people] see [miraculous] signs and wonders, you [simply] will not believe.”

The royal official pleaded with Him, “Sir, do come down [at once] before my child dies!”

Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives!” The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home.

So he asked them at what time he began to get better. They said, “Yesterday during the seventh hour the fever left him.”

Then the father realized that it was at that very hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son lives”; and he and his entire household believed and confidently trusted [in Him as Savior].

This is the second sign (attesting miracle) that Jesus performed [in Cana] after He had come from Judea to Galilee [revealing that He is the Messiah].

for an angel of the Lord went down into the pool at appointed seasons and stirred up the water; the first one to go in after the water was stirred was healed of his disease.]

There was a certain man there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.

The invalid answered, “Sir, I have no one to put me in the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am coming [to get into it myself], someone else steps down ahead of me.”

So the Jews kept saying to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to pick up your pallet [because it is unlawful].”

Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away [unnoticed] since there was a crowd in that place.

The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now [He has never ceased working], and I too am working.”

So Jesus answered them by saying, “I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself [of His own accord], unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever things the Father does, the Son [in His turn] also does in the same way.

For the Father dearly loves the Son and shows Him everything that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be filled with wonder.

Just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life [and allows them to live on], even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.

“I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins—the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life.

I assure you and most solemnly say to you, a time is coming and is [here] now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear it will live.

Do not be surprised at this; for a time is coming when all those who are in the tombs will hear His voice,

and they will come out—those who did good things [will come out] to a resurrection of [new] life, but those who did evil things [will come out] to a resurrection of judgment [that is, to be sentenced].

“I can do nothing on my own initiative or authority. Just as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just (fair, righteous, unbiased), because I do not seek My own will, but only the will of Him who sent Me.

And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified about Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form [His majesty and greatness—what He is like].

How can you believe [in Me], when you [seek and] receive glory and approval from one another, and yet you do not seek the glory and approval which comes from the one and only God?

Do not think that I [am the One who] will accuse you before the Father. There [already] is one who accuses you: Moses, [the very one] in whom you have placed your hope [for salvation].