² Now a man who was lame from birth^(A) was being carried to the temple gate^(B) called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg^(C) from those going into the temple courts.

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸ In Lystra there sat a man who was lame. He had been that way from birth^(A) and had never walked.

⁸ His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?”^(A)

²⁰ At his gate was laid a beggar^(A) named Lazarus, covered with sores

³¹ and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.

A Blind Beggar Receives His Sight^(A)

³⁵ As Jesus approached Jericho,^(B) a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging.

⁴ Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked.

The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering^(A) before God.^(B)

²² For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.

⁹ The true light^(A) that gives light to everyone^(B) was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him,^(C) the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.^{(D) 12} Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed^(E) in his name,^(F) he gave the right to become children of God^(G)— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.^(H)

¹⁴ The Word became flesh^(I) and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory,^(J) the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace^(K) and truth.^(L)

¹⁵ (John testified^(M) concerning him. He cried out, saying, “This is the one I spoke about when I said, ‘He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’”)^{(N) 16} Out of his fullness^(O) we have all received grace^(P) in place of grace already given. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses;^(Q) grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.^{(R) 18} No one has ever seen God,^(S) but the one and only Son, who is himself God and^[a](T) is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

¹⁹ Now this was John’s^(U) testimony when the Jewish leaders^[b](V) in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. ²⁰ He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”^(W)

²¹ They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”^(X)

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”^(Y)

He answered, “No.”

²² Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,^(Z) ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”^[c](AA)

²⁴ Now the Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵ questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶ “I baptize with^[d] water,”^(AB) John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. ²⁷ He is the one who comes after me,^(AC) the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”^(AD)

²⁸ This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan,^(AE) where John was baptizing.

John Testifies About Jesus

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God,^(AF) who takes away the sin of the world!^{(AG) 30} This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’^(AH)