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.”

2 On the Tuesday[fn], there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and Yeshua’s mother was there 2 and Yeshua and his apprentices were also invited. 3 When the wine ran out at the wedding, his mother said to him, “They haven’t got any more wine.”

4 Yeshua answered, “What does that have to do with us, mother? It’s not the time for my ministry yet.”

5 But his mother told the servants, “Just do whatever he tells you.”

6 Now there were six empty stone water jars there that are used for Jewish purification ceremonies. (Each one could hold over 70 litres.) 7 So Yeshua told them to fill the jars with water, and they filled them up. 8 Then he said, “Ok, now take a sample out and give it to the MC.” So they took some 9 and when the MC tasted the water that had now turned to wine, not knowing where it had come from he called the groom 10 and exclaimed, “Most people supply the best wine at the beginning of the reception, and the cheaper stuff when people are a bit tipsy. But you’ve kept the best wine until last!”

11 This event in Cana, Galilee, was the first of the miracles that Yeshua did, and it revealed his greatness and his followers believed that he was from God.

12 [ref]After that, Yeshua and his mother and brothers and his followers travelled east to Capernaum, but they only stayed there a few days.

13 [ref]By then it was getting close to the time of the Jewish Festival of the Passover, and Yeshua went down to Yerushalem. 14 There in the temple, he discovered merchants selling cows and sheep and doves, and moneychangers sitting at their tables. 15 Yeshua formed some cords into a whip and drove the sheep and cows out of the temple grounds, and he overturned the tables—spilling the coins of the moneychangers onto the ground. 16 He scolded the ones selling doves, saying, “Get them out of here! Don’t be making my father’s house into a market.” 17 [ref]That reminded his followers of the scripture: “I’ll be filled with zeal for your temple.”

18 Then the Jewish leaders responded, “Do a miracle to show that you have the authority to do these things.”

19 [ref]But Yeshua answered, “Well, destroy this temple and I’ll raise[fn] it again in three days.”

20 The leaders smirked, “This temple took forty-six years to build, and you reckon that you can raise it again in three days?”

21 But Yeshua had been meaning his own body when he was talking about the temple. 22 In the future when he was actually raised from the dead, his followers remembered this statement, and they believed both the Hebrew scriptures and Yeshua’s message.

23 When Yeshua was at the Passover Feast in Yerushalem, many believed in his authority because they saw the miracles that he was able to do. 24 But Yeshua never fully entrusted himself to them, because he knew what people are like. 25 (He didn’t need anyone to tell him what people are like because he could see what any person was like on the inside.)

3 After dark one evening, a Jewish leader named Nicodemus who was a member of the Pharisee party 2 went to Yeshua and said, “Teacher, we know that God has sent you as a teacher, because no one could do these kinds of miracles if God wasn’t with him.”

3 Yeshua responded, “I’ll tell you frankly that no one can enter God’s kingdom unless he is reborn.”

4 Nicodemus questioned, “How can an adult be reborn? A person can’t just return to their mother’s womb and then get born a second time!”

5 But Yeshua continued, “Honestly, I’m telling you: unless a person is born from both water and the spirit, they can’t enter God’s kingdom. 6 Someone that’s born from a body is flesh and bone, but someone that’s born from God’s spirit is spiritual. 7 So you shouldn’t be surprised that I told you that everyone needs to be reborn. 8 The wind blows wherever it wants, and you can hear its sound but you can’t actually see where it’s coming from and where it’s going to. So too with everyone who’s born from God’s spirit.”

9 Nicodemus replied, “How can all this even happen?”

10 “You’re a Jewish teacher,” Yeshua answered, “and yet you don’t know all this? 11 It’s true that we just teach what we know, and explain what we’ve seen ourselves, but you people aren’t accepting our testimony. 12 If I tell all of you earthly things and you don’t believe them, how will you ever believe if I explain heavenly things? 13 None of you have gone up into heaven, but I, humanity’s child, have come down from heaven.

14 [ref]“Just like Mosheh lifted up that bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, it’s also necessary for humanity’s child to be lifted up,[fn] 15 so that everyone who believes in him won’t die, but will live forever.[fn] 16 Because in that same way, God loves the people of the world enough to cause his only son to be born and to give him to the world, so that everyone who believes this will not die, but will go on to live forever.

17 “God didn’t send his son here to condemn people, but rather to save them. 18 Anyone who trusts in me will not be condemned. However, anyone who doesn’t believe this has already been condemned because he rejected the authority of the only son that God fathered. 19 And this is the verdict: that light has come into the world, but some people love the darkness more than the light because they do evil things, 20 because everyone who does evil things hates the light and doesn’t come to the light so that their actions won’t be exposed. 21 But anyone who does what is right, comes toward the light so that their actions can be revealed as being done with God’s help.”

22 After this, Yeshua and his followers went down to Yudea, and stayed there and immersed some believers. 23 Yohan was also immersing people at Aenon near Salim because there was plenty of water there and people would come to him to get immersed. 24 [ref](At this point in time, Yohan had not yet been put in prison.) 25 Then a debate about purification started between Yohan’s followers and a religious leader.[fn] 26 So some people went to Yohan and said, “Teacher, that man that came to you across the river and that you testified about, now he’s immersing people and so they’re all going to him.”

27 “None of us get anything if it’s not being given from heaven,” Yohan answered. 28 [ref]“You yourselves know that I said that I’m not the messiah, but rather the one coming before him. 29 It’s the groom that has the bride—the best man is happy because he sees that the groom is happy. So I’m actually completely happy with all this. 30 It’s right and proper that he should increase and I should fade out.”

31 “The one who came down from heaven is greater than any of us. We came from this world and speak in our earthly ways. The one who came down from heaven is greater than any of us. 32 He explains about what he’s seen and heard, but people don’t believe him. 33 Anyone who does believe him, confirms that God is true. 34 The one that God sent tells us God’s words, because God doesn’t ration his spirit. 35 [ref]The father loves the son and has put him in charge of everything. 36 Anyone who believes God’s son will live forever, but anyone who disobeys the son won’t be seeing life, but will feel God’s severe anger instead.”

4 When Yeshua found out that the Pharisee party knew that he was gaining and immersing more followers than Yohan had, 2 (although actually it wasn’t Yeshua himself that was immersing them, but his trainees that were doing it), 3 he left Yudea and went back up to Galilee. 4 On the way up, he decided to go through Samaria (Heb. Shomron).

5 [ref]By choosing that route, they came to a town in Samaria called Sukar, which was near the place that the patriarch Yosef had inherited from his father Yacob, 6 and Yacob’s well was there. Yeshua was tired from all the walking and was sitting by the well around midday.

7 A woman came from the town to get water from the well, and Yeshua asked her for a drink 8 since his followers had gone into the town to buy some lunch.

9 [ref]The woman said to him, “You’re a Jew. How come you’re asking me for a drink when I’m from Samaria?” (Jews don’t normally associate with anyone from Samaria.)

10 Yeshua answered, “If you had recognised God’s gift and who it is who’s asking you for a drink, you would have asked me and I would have given you living water to drink.”

11 But the woman countered, “Mister, you don’t even have rope and a bucket to reach the water in the deep well. How then could you get ‘living water’? 12 I doubt that you’re greater than our ancestor Yacob who made this well for us and drank this water along with his children and his animals.”

13 Yeshua responded, “Everyone who drinks this water will get thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water that I give them will find a well springing up inside them—springing into eternal life.”

15 So the woman said, “Ok, then. Give me some of that water so that I won’t get thirsty and won’t have to keep coming out here to the well.”

16 Yeshua said, “First, go and get your husband and return here.”

17 “I don’t have a husband!” she retorted.

“True enough—indeed you don’t,” Yeshua said. 18 “You’ve had five husbands and you’re not married to the man you’re living with, so that was true.”

19 “Mister, I can see that you’re a prophet,” the woman reacted. 20 “Our ancestors worshipped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that people should only worship there in Yerushalem.”

21 Then Yeshua told her, “You need to believe that I was sent from God, woman, because a day is coming when everyone will be worshipping him neither on this mountain, nor in Yerushalem. 22 You people in Samaria don’t even know who you worship, but we do, because people will be saved by means of us Jews. 23 But a time is coming, starting even now, when the true worshippers will be worshipping the father in spirit and truth, because those are the ones that he is wanting to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and the ones worshipping him must worship in spirit and total honesty.”

25 The woman said, “I’m aware that the messiah is coming—the chosen one of God. Whenever he appears, he’ll teach us everything.”

26 “I am the messiah,” Yeshua responded. “Yes, he’s speaking to you!”

27 After this, his followers arrived back, and they were astounded that he was speaking with a woman. However no one dared ask her, “What are you after?” Or to ask him, “Why are you talking with her?”

28 So the woman left her water jar there, and went back into the town where she told the people, 29 “Come and see a man who knew as much about me as I know myself! He must be the messiah!” 30 So they went out from the town to go and see Yeshua.

31 Meanwhile, Yeshua’s followers encouraged him, “Teacher, here, eat.”

32 But he said, “I’ve had food to eat that you don’t know about.”

33 This made his followers ask each other, “Did you see anyone bring him something to eat?”

34 “Obeying God who sent me is like food to me, and I plan to finish his work,” Yeshua explained. 35 “Don’t you all have a saying about needing to wait four months for a harvest? But I’m telling you that you all should open your eyes and look at the fields, because they’re already lightening up as harvest time approaches. 36 The harvester gets paid with a harvest that will last forever so that the ones who plant and the ones who harvest can all celebrate. 37 There’s truth in the statement that one person plants and a different person harvests. 38 I’ve sent you all out to harvest where you haven’t worked before—others did the groundwork and you benefit from their work.”

39 And many people of Samaria came out of that town and believed that Yeshua is God because the woman had told them that he knew everything about her. 40 So when they all came, they asked him to stay in their town and they stayed on there for a couple of days.

41 As a result of his teaching, many more believed 42 so then they told the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said, but now that we’ve heard him for ourselves, we can see that he really is the saviour of the world.”

43 After his two days in Samaria, Yeshua continued on up to Galilee. 44 [ref]He himself had told them that no prophet gets honoured in his own home town. 45 [ref]When he got to Galilee, the people accepted him, having seen everything that he’d done at the feast in Yerushalem because they had also been down there.

46 [ref]So he went again to Cana there in Galilee where he had made the water into wine. Now there was a royal official there, whose son in Capernaum was ill. 47 When the official heard that Yeshua was coming up from Yudea to Galilee, he went and asked him if he would come and heal his son who was dying. 48 Yeshua said to him, “You people won’t believe unless you see miracles and other marvels.”

49 But the official begged him, “Sir, please come before my child dies.”

50 “Go back there and see,” Yeshua responded. “Your son will recover.”

The man believed what Yeshua had told him, and so he started off. 51 On his way, his slaves met him and reported that the boy was alive and well.

52 So the official asked them what time it was that he got better, and they replied that the fever had subsided around 1pm. 53 The father knew that that was the time when Yeshua had told him that his son would recover, and as a result his whole household believed that Yeshua came from God.

54 This was the second miracle that Yeshua did after leaving Yudea and going to Galilee.