John 1
The New Consensus Bible is an AI-generated contemporary rendering, built from seven public-domain translations and the 20-tradition consensus. See all the work behind this chapter.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2This one was in the beginning with God. 3All things came to be through him, and without him not even one thing came to be that has come to be. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity, 5and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. 6There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7This one came for a witness, that he might witness about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8That one was not the light, but came that he might witness about the light. 9The true light, which enlightens every person, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, and the world did not know him. 11He came to his own domain, and his own people did not receive him. 12But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become children of God, to those believing in his name, 13who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we gazed upon his glory, glory as of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15John testifies about him and has cried out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, 'The one coming after me has come to be before me, because he was before me.'" 16Because from his fullness we all received, and grace in place of grace. 17Because the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came to be through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God; the one and only God, who is in the bosom of the Father, that one has declared him. 19And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem, so that they might ask him, "Who are you?" 20And he confessed and did not deny, and he confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" And he says, "I am not." "Are you the prophet?" And he answered, "No." 22They said therefore to him, "Who are you? so that we may give an answer to those sending us. What do you say about yourself?" 23He said, "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way of the Lord,' as Isaiah the prophet said." 24And the sent ones were from the Pharisees. 25And they asked him and said to him, "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?" 26John answered them, saying, "I baptize in water; but in your midst stands one whom you do not know, 27he is the one coming after me, who has come to be before me; of whom I am not worthy that I might untie the strap of his sandal." 28These things came to be in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 29On the morrow, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, "Look, the Lamb of God, the one taking away the sin of the world. 30This one is he about whom I said, 'After me comes a man who has come to be before me, because he was before me.' 31And I did not know him, but so that he might be revealed to Israel, because of this I came baptizing in water." 32And John testified, saying, "I have gazed upon the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and it remained on him. 33And I did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize in water, that one said to me, 'Upon whomever you see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, this one is the one baptizing in the Holy Spirit.' 34And I have seen and I have testified that this one is the Son of God." 35On the morrow again, John was standing, and two of his disciples. 36And looking at Jesus walking, he says, "Look, the Lamb of God." 37And the two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus. 38And Jesus turning and gazing upon them following, says to them, "What do you seek?" And they said to him, "Rabbi" (which is said, being translated, Teacher), "where are you staying?" 39He says to them, "Come and see." They came therefore and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day; it was about the tenth hour. 40Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the two who heard from John and followed him. 41This one first finds his own brother Simon and says to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is, being translated, Christ). 42And he led him to Jesus. Looking at him, Jesus said, "You are Simon the son of John; you will be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter). 43On the morrow, he wanted to go out into Galilee, and he finds Philip. And Jesus says to him, "Follow me." 44Now Philip was from Bethsaida, out of the city of Andrew and Peter. 45Philip finds Nathanael and says to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus the son of Joseph, the one from Nazareth." 46And Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing be out of Nazareth?" Philip says to him, "Come and see." 47Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and says about him, "Look, truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit." 48Nathanael says to him, "From where do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, while you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49Nathanael answered him and says, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God, you are the King of Israel." 50Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you underneath the fig tree, you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51And he says to him, "Amen, amen, I say to you all, you will see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
Watch & listen
The Word Became Flesh
The eternal Word enters the world as the true light, witnessed by John and followed by his first disciples.
The New Consensus Bible text of John 1, read aloud over the chapter’s eight scenes. The words appear below as they are read.
Film, illustrations and song are AI-generated from this chapter’s consensus — not a depiction any tradition has approved. The imagery is deliberately neutral on the points the traditions dispute, and every word spoken or printed is the New Consensus Bible quoted verbatim.