Open English Translation YHN (JHN) Chapter 1

1 In the beginning was the message,[fn] and the message was with God, and the message was and is God. 2 The message was with God even at the creation of the universe. 3 Everything came into existence through the messenger[fn]—not even one thing came into existence apart from him. 4 He holds life, and that life is the light of humankind. 5 And that light is shining in the darkness, and darkness cannot overcome him.

6 [ref]A man arrived who had been sent by God. His name was Yohan. 7 He came as a testimony to tell about the light so that everyone would believe the light. 8 Yohan himself wasn’t the light—he was merely the announcer of the light. 9 The true light which enlightens every person was coming into the world.

10 He was in the world and he’s the creator of the world, and yet the world didn’t even know him. 11 He came to his own chosen people, but they wouldn’t accept him, 12 however anyone who would accept him and trusted in his authority, he gave them the right to become children of God— 13 not physical children and not coming from human actions, but children of God.

14 And the message became a human and lived here among us and we saw his greatness—the greatness of an only child of the father—full of grace and truth.

15 Yohan explained about him and loudly told everyone, “This is the one I meant when I said, ‘There’s someone coming after me, yet who came before me, because he existed before I did!’ ”

16 Because he has so much, we all received grace and then even more grace. 17 The commandments came to us through Mosheh, but grace and truth came to us through Yeshua the messiah. 18 No one has ever actually seen God, but the human son born from God the father and in close touch with him, he was the one to explain God to us.

19 Yohan explained some of this when the Jewish leaders sent out priests and temple workers from Yerushalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 He didn’t flinch from the truth and so he told them, “I am not the chosen messiah.”

21 [ref]So they asked him again, “Are you Eliyyah come back to life?”

And he answered, “No, I’m not.”

They asked, “Are you the prophet?”

Again he answered, “No, I’m not.”

22 So they asked him, “Who are you then? We need to give an answer to the ones who sent us. How do you describe yourself?”

23 [ref]So he said, “I am a voice shouting[fn] in the wilderness smooth the path of the master, as the prophet Isayah said.”

24 Some of the ones sent out were members of the Pharisee party. 25 These ones asked Yohan, “So why are you immersing people then if you aren’t the messiah or Eliyyah or the prophet?”

26 He answered, “I’m immersing people in water, but somewhere here among us all there’s someone you don’t know— 27 the one coming after me, and I’m not even good enough to untie his sandal straps!”

28 All this happened in Bethany on the east side of the Yordan River where Yohan was immersing people.

29 The next day Yohan saw Yeshua coming towards him, and said, “Hey! Here’s the sacrificial lamb of God who’s come to take away the sin of the world. 30 This is the man I was talking about when I said, ‘There’s someone coming after me, yet who came before me, because he existed before I did.’ 31 I didn’t know who he was but nevertheless I came and immersed people in water so that this man could be revealed to all Israel.”

32 And Yohan further explained, “I saw God’s spirit come down and settle on him. 33 I didn’t know which one was him, but the one who sent me to immerse people in water said, ‘When you see the spirit coming down and settling on someone, he is the one who will immerse people with God’s holy spirit.’ 34 And I have seen that, and so I can assure you that he is God’s son.”

35 The next day, Yohan was back there with two of his apprentices 36 and noticing Yeshua walking nearby he said, “Look! There’s the sacrificial lamb of God.”

37 When his two apprentices heard him say that, they left him and followed Yeshua. 38 But Yeshua turned and saw them following him, and asked them, “What do you two want?”

And they said to him, “Teacher, where do you live?”

39 “Come and see,” Yeshua replied. So they went with him and saw where he lived, and then they stayed there that night, because it was already late afternoon.

40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter was one of those two who heard Yohan and then followed Yeshua. 41 As soon as he found his brother, he said to Simon, “We have found the messiah—God’s chosen one,” 42 and led him to Yeshua. When Yeshua saw him, he said, “Ah, you are Simon, Yohan’s son, but from now on you’ll be called Peter which means stone.”

43 The following day, Yeshua wanted to go to Galilee. He found Philip and told him, “Follow me!” 44 Philip was from the town of Bethsaida where Andrew and Peter lived. 45 Philip then found Nathanael and told him, “We’ve found the one that Mosheh and the prophets wrote about in the Scriptures. He’s Yeshua from Nazareth.”

46 And Nathanael said, “Does anything good come from Nazareth?”

So Philip answered, “Well, come and see for yourself.”

47 Yeshua saw Nathanael approaching and said, “Ah, this is an honest Israeli.”

48 But Nathanael queried him, “Where do you know me from?”

And Yeshua replied, “Actually I saw you under that fig tree before Philip had even called you.”

49 Nathanael exclaimed, “Great teacher! You are God’s son! You’re the king of Israel!”

50 Yeshua responded, “So you believe this because I said that I had seen you under the fig tree. You’ll get to see much greater things than that!” 51 [ref]And he continued, “Honestly, I’m telling all of you: you’ll be seeing the sky opened up and God’s messengers going up and coming down on me—humanity’s child.”