It was through Him that everything came into existence, and apart from Him not a single thing came into existence.

It was by Him that life began to exist, and that life was the light of mankind.

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

He came into the world, and though the world through Him began to exist, it did not recognize Him.

John testified to Him and cried out, for this was the one who said, "The One who is coming after me has been put before me, because He existed before me."

He frankly admitted, and did not try at all to deny it; yes, he frankly admitted, "I am not the Christ."

So they asked him again, "What are you then? Elijah?" And he answered, "Of course, I am not." "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."

Then they said to him, "Who are you? Tell us, so that we can have an answer to give to those who sent us. What have you to say for yourself?"

This took place at Bethany on the farther side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him.

I did see it; and my testimony is that He is the Son of God."

Now Jesus turned, and as He saw them following Him, He said, "What are you looking for?" They said to Him, "Rabbi," (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

He said to them, "Come and you will see." So they went and saw where He was staying, and they spent the rest of the day with Him; it was about four in the afternoon.

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

Philip sought out Nathaniel and said to him, "We have found the One about whom Moses wrote in the law and the One about whom the prophets wrote; it is Jesus, the son of Joseph, who comes from Nazareth."

Then Nathaniel said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

Two days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus' mother was there.

Jesus said to her, "Woman, what have you to do with me? My time to act has not yet come."

Then He said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the manager of the feast." So they took him some.

As soon as the manager tasted the water just turned into wine, without knowing where it came from, although the servants who had drawn the water did know, he called the bridegroom

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.

And in the temple court He found the dealers in cattle, sheep, and pigeons; the money-changers, too, seated at their tables.

So He made a lash out of cords, and drove them all, together with the sheep and cattle, out of the temple court, scattered the money-changers' coins and upset their tables.

Then He said to the pigeon-dealers, "Take these things out of here! Stop using my Father's house as a market place!"

Then the Jews addressed Him and asked, "What sign can you show us that you have authority to act in this way?"

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this sanctuary, and I will raise it in three days."

Then the Jews retorted, "It took forty-six years to build this sanctuary, and you are going to raise it in three days!"

Now while He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people, because they saw the wonder-works which He was performing, trusted in Him as the Christ.

and needed no testimony from anyone about them, for He well knew what was in human nature.

Never wonder at my telling you that you must all be born from above.

The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. That is just the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

I most solemnly say to you, we know what we are talking about and we have seen what we are testifying to, yet you are all rejecting our testimony.

And yet no one has gone up into heaven except the Son of Man who came down out of heaven.

For God sent His Son into the world, not to pass sentence on it, but that the world through Him might be saved.

And the ground for the sentence is this, that the light has come into the world, and yet, because their actions were evil, men have loved darkness more than the light.

For anyone who is in the habit of doing wrong hates the light, and to keep his actions from being reproved, he does not come out into the daylight.

But whoever is in the habit of living the truth will come out in the daylight, that his actions may be shown to be performed with God's help."

But John too was baptizing people at Aenon, near Salim, for there was plenty of water there, and so the people were coming and being baptized.

(For John had not yet been put in prison.)

John answered, "A man cannot get anything, unless it is given to him from heaven.

It is the bridegroom who has the bride, but the bridegroom's friend, who stands outside and listens to him, is very happy to hear the bridegroom's voice. So this happiness of mine is running over.

He continues to bear testimony to what He has actually seen and heard, and yet no one accepts His testimony.

though Jesus Himself was not baptizing, it was His disciples --

and Jacob's spring was there. So Jesus, tired from His journey, was sitting by the spring just as He was. It was about noon.

So the Samaritan woman said to Him, "How is it that a Jew like you asks a Samaritan woman like me for a drink?" For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, "If you just knew what God has to give and who it is that said to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have been the one to ask Him, and He would have given you living water."

You are not greater than our forefather Jacob, are you, who gave us this well, and drank from it himself, with all his sons and flocks?"

The woman said to Him, "Give me this water at once, sir, so I may never get thirsty again, nor have to come so far to draw water."

for you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

You Samaritans do not know what you are worshiping; we Jews do know what we are worshiping; for salvation comes from the Jews.

But a time is coming -- indeed, it is already here -- when the real worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and reality, for the Father is looking for just such worshipers.

Just then His disciples came up, and they were surprised to find Him talking with a woman, yet not one of them asked Him, "What do you want?" or "Why are you talking with her?"

So the people left town and rushed out to see Him.

Meanwhile the disciples were asking Him, and saying, "Teacher, eat something."

But He said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."

So the disciples began to say to one another, "Nobody has brought Him anything to eat, has he?"

Are you not saying, 'In four months more the harvest comes'? Look! I tell you, lift up your eyes and scan the fields, for they are already white for harvesting.

Then a much larger number believed in Him because of what He said Himself,

and they were saying to the woman, "It is not merely because of what you said that we now believe, for we have heard Him ourselves, and we know that He is really the Saviour of the world."

So when He reached Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him, for they had seen everything that He had done at the feast in Jerusalem, for they too had attended the feast.

So He came back to Cana in Galilee where He had turned the water into wine. Now there was at Capernaum an officer of the king's court whose son was sick.

When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to Him and began to beg Him to come down and cure his son, for he was at the point of death.

The king's officer pleaded with Him, "Sir, come down at once before my child is dead!"

Jesus said to him, "You may go; your son is going to live." The man believed what Jesus said to him and started home.

So he asked them at what hour he began to get better, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one o'clock the fever left him."

And there was one man there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

Jesus saw him lying there, and when He found out that he had been in that condition for a long time, He asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

And at once the man was well, and picked up his pallet, and went to walking. Now it was the Sabbath.

So the Jews began to say to the man who had been cured, "It is the Sabbath, and it is against the law for you to carry your pallet."

The man who had been cured did not know who He was, for since there was a crowd at the place, Jesus had slipped away.

The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him.

It was on account of this that the Jews tried all the harder to put Him to death, because He not only persisted in breaking the Sabbath, but also kept on saying that God was His Father, and so was making Himself equal to God.

So Jesus answered them: "I most solemnly say to you, the Son can do nothing by Himself, except as He sees the Father doing it, for whatever the Father is in the habit of doing the Son also persists in doing.

"I most solemnly say to you, whoever listens to me and believes Him who has sent me possesses eternal life, and will never come under condemnation, but has already passed out of death into life.

I most solemnly say to you, a time is coming -- indeed, it is already here -- when the dead will listen to the voice of the Son of God, and those who listen to it will live.

Stop being surprised at this, for the time is coming when all that are in the graves will listen to His voice,

and those who have done good will come out for a resurrection to life, but those who have done evil for a resurrection to condemnation.

"You keep on searching the Scriptures, for you yourselves suppose that you will get possession of eternal life through them; and yet they are witnesses that testify to me,

Do not be thinking that I am going to accuse you to the Father. You have your accuser; it is Moses on whom you have set your hopes!

But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you ever believe what I say?"

So Jesus looked up and saw that a vast crowd was coming toward Him, and said to Philip, "Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?"

He was saying this to test him for He knew Himself what He was going to do.

"There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and a couple of fish, but what are they among so many?"

Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was plenty of grass at the spot; so the men, about five thousand, threw themselves down.

and got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum. Now it was already dark, and Jesus had not come to them.

But He said to them, "It is I; stop being afraid!"

Then they were willing to take Him on board, and at once the boat came to the shore it was making for.

Next day the people who had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that there was only one boat there, and that Jesus had not gotten into it with His disciples, but that His disciples had gone away by themselves.

Other boats from Tiberias had landed near the place where the people ate the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

Jesus answered them, "I most solemnly say to you, you are looking for me, not because of the wonder-works you saw, but because you ate the loaves and had plenty.

Then they asked Him, "What must we do to perform the works that God demands?"

So they asked Him, "What wonder-work then are you going to perform for us to see and so believe in you? What work are you going to do?

Our forefathers in the desert ate the manna, as the Scripture says, 'He gave them out of heaven bread to eat.'"

Then Jesus said to them, "I most solemnly say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the real bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the real bread out of heaven,

for the bread that God gives is what comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world."

But I have told you that, although you have seen me, yet you do not believe in me.

For it is my Father's will that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and that I shall raise him to life on the last day."

Then the Jews began to grumble about His saying, "I am the bread that came down out of heaven."

And they said, "Is He not Jesus, Joseph's son, whose father and mother we know? So how can He say, 'I have come down out of heaven'?"

In the prophets it is written, 'And all men will be taught by God.' Everyone who ever listens to the Father and learns from Him will come to me.