John 1:43-50
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
43 The next day he[a] decided to go to Galilee, and he found Philip. And Jesus said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one about whom Moses wrote in the law, and also the prophets, Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”(A) 46 But Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Here is a true Israelite.[b] There is no duplicity in him.” 48 [c](B)Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree.” 49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God;[d] you are the King of Israel.”(C) 50 Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree?[e] You will see greater things than this.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1:43 He: grammatically, could be Peter, but logically is probably Jesus.
- 1:47 A true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him: Jacob was the first to bear the name “Israel” (Gn 32:29), but Jacob was a man of duplicity (Gn 27:35–36).
- 1:48 Under the fig tree: a symbol of messianic peace (cf. Mi 4:4; Zec 3:10).
- 1:49 Son of God: this title is used in the Old Testament, among other ways, as a title of adoption for the Davidic king (2 Sm 7:14; Ps 2:7; 89:27), and thus here, with King of Israel, in a messianic sense. For the evangelist, Son of God also points to Jesus’ divinity (cf. Jn 20:28).
- 1:50 Possibly a statement: “You [singular] believe because I saw you under the fig tree.”
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