Knox Bible

1

At the beginning of time the Word already was; and God had the Word abiding with him, and the Word was God.

2

He abode, at the beginning of time, with God.

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It was through him that all things came into being, and without him came nothing that has come to be.

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In him there was life, and that life was the light of men.✻

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And the light shines in darkness, a darkness which was not able to master it.✻

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A man appeared, sent from God, whose name was John.

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He came for a witness, to bear witness of the light, so that through him all men might learn to believe.

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He was not the Light; he was sent to bear witness to the light.

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There is one who enlightens every soul born into the world; he was the true Light.

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He, through whom the world was made, was in the world, and the world treated him as a stranger.

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He came to what was his own, and they who were his own gave him no welcome.

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But all those who did welcome him, he empowered to become the children of God, all those who believe in his name;

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their birth came, not from human stock, not from nature’s will or man’s, but from God.✻

14

And the Word was made flesh, and came to dwell among us; and we had sight of his glory, glory such as belongs to the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.

15

We have John’s witness to him; I told you, cried John, there was one coming after me who takes rank before me; he was when I was not.

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We have all received something out of his abundance, grace answering to grace.

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Through Moses the law was given to us; through Jesus Christ grace came to us, and truth.

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No man has ever seen God; but now his only-begotten Son, who abides in the bosom of the Father, has himself become our interpreter.✻

19

This, then, was the testimony which John bore, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, Who art thou?

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He admitted the truth, without concealment, admitted that he was not the Christ.

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What then, they asked him, art thou Elias? Not Elias, he said. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.✻

22

So they said, Tell us who thou art, that we may give an answer to those who sent us; what account dost thou give of thyself?

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And he told them, I am what the prophet Isaias spoke of, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Straighten out the way of the Lord.✻

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The Pharisees (for they were Pharisees who had come on this errand)

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asked him, Why dost thou baptize, then, if thou thyself art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?

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John answered them, I am baptizing you with water; but there is one standing in your midst of whom you know nothing;

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he it is, who, though he comes after me, takes rank before me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his shoes.

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All this happened in Bethany that is beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.✻

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Next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him; and he said, Look, this is the Lamb of God; look, this is he who takes away the sin of the world.

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It is of him that I said, One is coming after me who takes rank before me; he was when I was not.

31

I myself did not know who he was, although the very reason why I have come, with my baptism of water, is to make him known to Israel.

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John also bore witness thus, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove, and resting upon him.

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Till then, I did not know him; but then I remembered what I had been told by the God who sent me to baptize with water. He told me, The man who will baptize with the Holy Spirit is the man on whom thou wilt see the Spirit come down and rest.

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Now I have seen him, and have borne my witness that this is the Son of God.

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The next day after this, John was standing there again, with two of his disciples;

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and, watching Jesus as he walked by, he said, Look, this is the Lamb of God.

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The two disciples heard him say it, and they followed Jesus.

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Turning, and seeing them follow him, Jesus asked, What would you have of me? Rabbi, they said (a word which means Master), where dost thou live?

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He said to them, Come and see; so they went and saw where he lived, and they stayed with him all the rest of the day, from about the tenth hour onwards.

40

One of the two who had heard what John said, and followed him, was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.

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He, first of all,✻ found his own brother Simon, and told him, We have discovered the Messias (which means, the Christ),

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and brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him closely, and said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona; thou shalt be called Cephas (which means the same as Peter).

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He was to remove into Galilee next day; and now he found Philip; to him Jesus said, Follow me.

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This Philip came from Bethsaida, a fellow townsman of Andrew and Peter.

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And Philip found Nathanael, and told him, We have discovered who it was Moses wrote of in his law, and the prophets too; it is Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.

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When Nathanael asked him, Can anything that is good come from Nazareth? Philip said, Come and see.

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Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, and said of him, Here comes one who belongs to the true Israel; there is no falsehood in him.

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How dost thou know me? Nathanael asked; and Jesus answered him, I saw thee when thou wast under the fig-tree, before Philip called thee.

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Then Nathanael answered him, Thou, Master, art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.

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Jesus answered, What, believe because I told thee that I saw thee under the fig-tree? Thou shalt see greater things than that.

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And he said to him, Believe me when I tell you this; you will see heaven opening, and the angels of God going up and coming down upon the Son of Man.✻