Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, John

Part 1

Produced by Martin Ward

Weymouth New Testament in Modern Speech, John

Third Edition 1913

R. F. Weymouth

Book 43 John

001:001 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

001:002 He was in the beginning with God.

001:003 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing that exists came into being.

001:004 In Him was Life, and that Life was the Light of men.

001:005 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.

001:006 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

001:007 He came as a witness, in order that he might give testimony concerning the Light--so that all might believe through him.

001:008 He was not the Light, but he existed that he might give testimony concerning the Light.

001:009 The true Light was that which illumines every man by its coming into the world.

001:010 He was in the world, and the world came into existence through Him, and the world did not recognize Him.

001:011 He came to the things that were His own, and His own people gave Him no welcome.

001:012 But all who have received Him, to them--that is, to those who trust in His name--He has given the privilege of becoming children of God;

001:013 who were begotten as such not by human descent, nor through an impulse of their own nature, nor through the will of a human father, but from God.

001:014 And the Word came in the flesh, and lived for a time in our midst, so that we saw His glory--the glory as of the Father's only Son, sent from His presence. He was full of grace and truth.

001:015 John gave testimony concerning Him and cried aloud, saying, "This is He of whom I said, `He who is coming after me has been put before me,' for He was before me."

001:016 For He it is from whose fulness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

001:017 For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

001:018 No human eye has ever seen God: the only Son, who is in the Father's bosom--He has made Him known.

001:019 This also is John's testimony, when the Jews sent to him a deputation of Priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who he was.

001:020 He avowed--he did not conceal the truth, but avowed, "I am not the Christ."

001:021 "What then?" they inquired; "are you Elijah?" "I am not," he said. "Are you the Prophet?" "No," he answered.

001:022 So they pressed the question. "Who are you?" they said--"that we may take an answer to those who sent us. What account do you give of yourself?"

001:023 "I am the voice," he replied, "of one crying aloud, `Make straight the Lord's way in the Desert,' fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah."

Part 2

001:024 They were Pharisees who had been sent.

001:025 Again they questioned him. "Why then do you baptize," they said, "if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the Prophet?"

001:026 "I baptize in water only," John answered, "but in your midst stands One whom you do not know--

001:027 He who is to come after me, and whose sandal-strap I am not worthy to unfasten."

001:028 This conversation took place at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

001:029 The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and exclaimed, "Look, that is the Lamb of God who is to take away the sin of the world!

001:030 This is He about whom I said, `After me is to come One who has been put before me, because He was before me.'

001:031 I did not yet know Him; but that He may be openly shown to Israel is the reason why I have come baptizing in water."

001:032 John also gave testimony by stating: "I have seen the Spirit coming down like a dove out of Heaven; and it remained upon Him.

001:033 I did not yet know Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me, "`The One on whom you see the Spirit coming down, and remaining, He it is who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.'

001:034 "This I have seen, and I have become a witness that He is the Son of God."

001:035 Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples,

001:036 when he saw Jesus passing by, and said, "Look! that is the Lamb of God!"

001:037 The two disciples heard his exclamation, and they followed Jesus.

001:038 Then Jesus turned round, and seeing them following He asked them, "What is your wish?" "Rabbi," they replied--`Rabbi' means `Teacher'--"where are you staying?"

001:039 "Come and you shall see," He said. So they went and saw where He was staying, and they remained and spent that day with Him. It was then about ten o'clock in the morning.

001:040 Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, was one of the two who heard John's exclamation and followed Jesus.

001:041 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah!"--that is to say, the Anointed One.

001:042 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon, son of John: you shall be called Cephas"-- that is to say, Peter (or `Rock').

001:043 The next day, having decided to leave Bethany and go into Galilee, Jesus found Philip, and invited him to follow Him.

001:044 (Now Philip came from Bethsaida, the same town as Andrew and Peter.)

001:045 Then Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the Law wrote, as well as the Prophets--Jesus, the son of Joseph, a man of Nazareth."

001:046 "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" replied Nathanael. "Come and see," said Philip.

001:047 Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, and said of him, "Look! here is a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceitfulness!"

001:048 "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. "Before Philip called you," said Jesus, "when you were under the fig-tree I saw you."

001:049 "Rabbi," cried Nathanael, "you are the Son of God, you are Israel's King!"

001:050 "Because I said to you, `I saw you under the fig-tree,'" replied Jesus, "do you believe? You shall see greater things than that."

001:051 "I tell you all in most solemn truth," He added, "that you shall see Heaven opened wide, and God's angels going up, and coming down to the Son of Man."

Part 3

002:001 Two days later there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there,

002:002 and Jesus also was invited and His disciples.

002:003 Now the wine ran short; whereupon the mother of Jesus said to Him, "They have no wine."

002:004 "Leave the matter in my hands," He replied; "the time for me to act has not yet come."

002:005 His mother said to the attendants, "Whatever he tells you to do, do it."

002:006 Now there were six stone jars standing there (in accordance with the Jewish regulations for purification), each large enough to hold twenty gallons or more.

002:007 Jesus said to the attendants, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them to the brim.

002:008 Then He said, "Now, take some out, and carry it to the President of the feast."

002:009 So they carried some to him. And no sooner had the President tasted the water now turned into wine, than--not knowing where it came from, though the attendants who had drawn the water knew-- he called to the bridegroom

002:010 and said to him, "It is usual to put on the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then that which is inferior. But you have kept the good wine till now."

002:011 This, the first of His miracles, Jesus performed at Cana in Galilee, and thus displayed His glorious power; and His disciples believed in Him.

002:012 Afterwards He went down to Capernaum--He, and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples; and they made a short stay there.

002:013 But the Jewish Passover was approaching, and for this Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

002:014 And He found in the Temple the dealers in cattle and sheep and in pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.

002:015 So He plaited a whip of rushes, and drove all--both sheep and bullocks--out of the Temple. The small coin of the brokers He upset on the ground and overturned their tables.

002:016 And to the pigeon-dealers He said, "Take these things away. Do not turn my Father's house into a market."

002:017 This recalled to His disciples the words of Scripture, "My zeal for Thy House will consume me."

002:018 So the Jews asked Him, "What proof of your authority do you exhibit to us, seeing that you do these things?"

002:019 "Demolish this Sanctuary," said Jesus, "and in three days I will rebuild it."

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