Through him all things were made, and apart from him nothing was made that has been made.

who were born, not merely in a genetic sense, nor from lust, nor from man's desire, but from the will of God.

This was John's testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and descendants of Levi to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"

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

"Who are you?" they asked him. "We must give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"

They asked him, "Why, then, are you baptizing if you are not the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?"

This happened in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

But when Jesus turned around and saw them following, he asked them, "What are you looking for?" They asked him, "Rabbi," (which is translated "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"

He told them, "Come and see!" So they went and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o'clock in the afternoon.

He led Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him intently and said, "You are Simon, John's son. You will be called Cephas!" (which is translated "Peter").

The next day, Jesus decided to go away to Galilee, where he found Philip and told him, "Follow me."

Nathaniel asked him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

Nathaniel replied to him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

Now standing there were six stone water jars used for the Jewish rites of purification, each one holding from two to three measures.

When the man in charge of the banquet tasted the water that had become wine (without knowing where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew), he called for the bridegroom

and told him, "Everyone serves the best wine first, and the cheap kind when people are drunk. But you have kept the best wine until now!"

Then he told those who were selling the doves, "Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!"

His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

and didn't need anyone to tell him what people were like, because he himself knew what was in every person.

He came to Jesus at night and told him, "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, because no one can perform these signs that you are doing unless God is with him."

The wind blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. That's the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Truly, I tell you emphatically, we know what we're talking about, and we testify about what we've seen. Yet you people do not accept our testimony.

And this is the basis for judgment: The light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil.

John was also baptizing in Aenon, near Salim, because there was plenty of water there. People kept coming and were being baptized,

You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, "I am not the Messiah, but I have been sent ahead of him.'

The woman told him, "Sir, you don't have a bucket, and the well is deep. Where are you going to get this living water?

You're not greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it, along with his sons and his flocks, are you?"

The woman told him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I won't get thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."

He told her, "Go and call your husband, and come back here."

Jesus told her, "You are quite right in saying, "I don't have a husband,' because you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true."

The woman told him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet!

Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain. But you Jews say that the place where people should worship is in Jerusalem."

At this point his disciples arrived, and they were astonished that he was talking to a woman. Yet no one said, "What do you want from her?" or, "Why are you talking to her?"

Meanwhile, the disciples were urging him, "Rabbi, have something to eat."

You say, don't you, "In four more months the harvest will begin?' Look, I tell you, open your eyes and observe that the fields are ready for harvesting now!

I have sent you to harvest what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have adopted their work as your own."

So Jesus returned to Cana in Galilee, where he had turned the water into wine. Meanwhile, in Capernaum there was a government official whose son was ill.

Jesus told him, "Go home. Your son will live." The man believed what Jesus told him and started back home.

Then the father realized that this was the very hour when Jesus had told him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole family.

and under these a large number of sick people were lying blind, lame, or paralyzed waiting for the movement of the water.

Jesus told him, "Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk!"

So the Jewish leaders told the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.

But he answered them, "The man who made me well told me, "Pick up your mat and walk.'"

Later on, Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, "Look! You have become well. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you."

So the Jewish leaders were trying all the harder to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

That man John was a lamp that burns and brightly shines, and for a while you were willing to rejoice in his light.

Moreover, the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen what he looks like,

But you are not willing to come to me to have life.

Do not suppose that I will be the one to accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope,

When Jesus looked up and saw that a large crowd was coming toward him, he asked Philip, "Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?"

"There's a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fish. But what are these among so many people?"

Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was plenty of grass in that area, so they sat down, numbering about 5,000 men.

Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those who were seated. He also distributed as much fish as they wanted.

When they were completely satisfied, Jesus told his disciples, "Collect the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted."

Then Jesus, realizing that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the hillside by himself.

After they had rowed about 25 or 30 stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea toward their boat. They became terrified.

So they were glad to take him on board, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Other small boats from Tiberias arrived near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into these boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus.

Jesus replied to them, "Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate the loaves and were completely satisfied.

So they asked him, "What sign are you going to do so that we may see it and believe in you? What actions are you performing?

Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, "He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and died.

This is the bread that came down from heaven, not the kind that your ancestors ate. They died, but the one who eats this bread will live forever."

But Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, asked them, "Does this offend you?

What if you saw the Son of Man going up to the place where he was before?

It's the Spirit who gives life; the flesh accomplishes nothing. The words that I've spoken to you are spirit and life.

But there are some among you who don't believe..." - because Jesus knew from the beginning those who weren't believing, as well as the one who would betray him.

Besides, we have believed and remain convinced that you are the Holy One of God."

After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee, because he didn't want to travel in Judea, since the Jewish leaders there were trying to kill him.

So his brothers told him, "You should leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples can see the actions that you're doing,

Jesus told them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always here.

The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify against it that its actions are evil.

But after his brothers had gone up to the festival, he went up himself, not openly but, as it were, in secret.

The Jewish leaders kept looking for him at the festival, asking, "Where is that man?"

And there was a great deal of discussion about him among the crowds. Some were saying, "He is a good man," while others were saying, "No, he is deceiving the crowds!"

Nevertheless, no one would speak openly about him because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders were astonished and remarked, "How can this man be so educated when he has never gone to school?"

If anyone wants to do his will, he'll know whether this teaching is from God or whether I'm speaking on my own.

Moses gave you the Law, didn't he? Yet none of you is keeping the Law. Why are you trying to kill me?"

Jesus answered them, "I performed one action, and all of you are astonished.

If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a man perfectly well on the Sabbath?

Then some of the people of Jerusalem began saying, "This is the man they are trying to kill, isn't it?

And look, he is speaking in public, and they are not saying anything to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Messiah?

We know where this man comes from. But when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he comes from."

At this point Jesus, still teaching in the Temple, shouted, "So you know me and know where I've come from? I haven't come on my own accord. But the one who sent me is true, and he's the one you don't know.

You'll look for me but won't find me. And where I am, you cannot come."

Then the Jewish leaders asked one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we won't be able to find him? Surely he's not going to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he?

What does this statement mean that he said, "You'll look for me but won't find me,' and, "Where I am, you cannot come'?"

Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who were believing in him were to receive, because the Spirit was not yet present and Jesus had not yet been glorified.

When they heard these words, some in the crowd were saying, "This really is the Prophet,"

while others were saying, "This is the Messiah!"

But some were saying, "The Messiah doesn't come from Galilee, does he? Doesn't the Scripture say that the Messiah is from David's family and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?"

Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.

None of the authorities or Pharisees has believed in him, have they?

"Surely our Law does not condemn a person without first hearing from him and finding out what he is doing, does it?"

They answered him, "You aren't from Galilee, too, are you? Search and see that no prophet comes from Galilee."

Then Jesus stood up and asked her, "Dear lady, where are your accusers? Hasn't anyone condemned you?"

The Pharisees told him, "You're testifying about yourself. Your testimony isn't valid."

Jesus answered them, "Even though I'm testifying about myself, my testimony is valid because I know where I've come from and where I'm going. But you don't know where I come from or where I'm going.