John 1:9-29

⁹While John was doing that, the one who was truly like a light was about to show himself to the world. He was the one who enables all people to know about God, as a light MET enables people to know what is in the darkness.

¹⁰Although the one who was like a light was here on the earth, and although he was the one whom God caused to create everything, most people MTY, HYP did not realize who he was. (OR, although he was the one whom God caused to create everything, most people did not accept him.)

¹¹Although he came to the land that belonged to him because he created it, most of his own people, the Jews, rejected him (OR, did not accept him).

¹²But those of us who welcomed him, God authorized that we would have a relationship with him MET like children have a relationship with their father. We were people who believed that what he said about himself MTY was true.

¹³We became like God's children, not because our ancestors belonged to God, or because of someone's sexual desires, nor because some man desired to have children like himself. Instead, we were caused by God {God caused us} to become like his children.

¹⁴The one who expresses MET ◄ God's character/what God is like► became a human being, and he lived among us for a while. As a result, we saw how wonderful he is. He came from God his father, and there was no other person as wonderful as he. He was wonderful because he always acted ◄kindly toward us/in ways we did not deserve►, and he always spoke truthfully to us about God.

¹⁵One day when John was telling people about him, he saw Jesus. Then he shouted to them, “I told you previously that someone will come later who is more important than I am, since he existed long before me. This is the man I was talking about!”

¹⁶We have all benefited very much from what he has done. Again and again, he has acted in kind way toward us in ways we did not deserve.

¹⁷Moses proclaimed God's laws to our ancestors. But what Jesus Christ did for us was much better. He acted in kindness toward us in ways we did not deserve and told us the truth about God.

¹⁸No one has ever seen God. But God's only Son, Jesus, who has always had a very close relationship with God, has told us about God.

¹⁹The Jewish leaders SYN in Jerusalem city sent some Jewish priests and ◄Levites/men who worked in the temple► to where John was, to ask him some questions. They said to him, “What do you claim about yourself?”

²⁰So John told them the truth, and he told them clearly DOU. He said, “ I am not ◄the Messiah/God's chosen king►!”

²¹Then they asked him, “Then what do you say about yourself? Are you the prophet Elijah that was prophesied to return {◄ someone/another prophet► prophesied would return} before the Messiah?” He replied, “No, I am not.” Then they asked him, “Are you the prophet like Moses that ◄ we are waiting for/God promised to send►?” He replied, “No.”

²²So they asked him, “Then who do you claim to be? Tell us so that we can go back and report to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied, “ I am the one the prophet Isaiah said would proclaim this new message loudly to the people who would pass by in this desolate area: ‘Prepare yourselves to receive the Lord when he comes MET, just like people prepare a road for an important official.

²⁴Some of those people who were questioning John were ones who had been sent by the Pharisee religious group {whom the Pharisee religious group had sent}.

²⁵They asked John, “Since you say you are not the Messiah, nor the prophet Elijah, nor the prophet like Moses, what authority do you have? Furthermore, why are you baptizing Jews, treating them as though they were non-Jews who wanted to become Jews?”

²⁶John replied, “I am just baptizing people with water to prepare them to welcome the Messiah. But right now someone is among you whom you people do not know.

²⁷He will preach to you after I am gone. He is so important that I am not worthy to serve him as a slave MET by untying his sandals.”

²⁸Those things happened at a place called Bethany, on the east side of the Jordan River, where John was baptizing people.

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. He said to the people, “Look! Here is the man whom God has appointed to be a sacrifice MET, like the lambs that the people of Israel sacrificed! By sacrificing himself he will make it possible for everyone in the world to be no longer guilty for having sinned.