Yochanan 1

1Bereshis (in the Beginning) was the Dvar Hashem,1 and the Dvar Hashem was agav (along with, etzel)2 Hashem, and the Dvar Hashem was nothing less, by nature, than Elohim!3 2Bereshis (in the Beginning) this Dvar Hashem was with Hashem.4 3All things through him came to be, and without him came to be not one thing which came into being.5 4In him was Chayyim (Life) and the Chayyim (Life) was the Ohr (Light) of Bnei Adam.6 5And the Ohr shines in the choshech,7 and the choshech did not grasp it.8

6There came an ish haElohim (a man of G-d), having been sent from Hashem. His name was Yochanan. 7This Yochanan came for an eidus (witness), that he might give solemn edut (testimony) about the Ohr, that kol Bnei Adam might have emunah through him. 8This ish haElohim was not the Ohr, but he came that he might give solemn edut (testimony) about the Ohr.

9The Ohr, the Ohr HaAmitti (the True Light), which gives rational haskalah (enlightenment) to kol Bnei Adam (all mankind), was coming into the Olam Hazeh. 10He was in the Olam Hazeh, the Olam (world) came to be through him;9 yet the Olam Hazeh did not recognize him. 11He came to his own, and his own were not mekabel (accepting) the Kabbalus HaMalchus of him.10 12But as many as him lekabel pnei Moshiach (receive him as Moshiach), to them he gave the tokef (authority) to become in fact yeladim haElohim.11 13He gave this tokef to the ones whose being born was not by the agency of natural descent, nor by the ratzon (will) of basar (fallen human nature), nor by the ratzon of a gever (male) — rather, to the ones born of G-d.12

14And the Dvar Hashem did mitgashem (become bodily) and made his Sukkah, his Mishkan (Tabernacle) among us,13 and we14 gazed upon his Shekhinah,15 the Shekhinah of the Ben Yachid from Elohim HaAv, full of Hashemʼs Chesed v'Emes. 15And Yochanan gives solemn edut (testimony) about him and has cried out, This was he about whom I said, Hu HaBah (He who comes)16 after me is really before me in priority, because, before I came to be, he was.17 16For from the kol melo (all the plentitude) of him we all received Chesed upon Chesed. 17Because the matan Torah (giving of the Torah) was graciously bestowed through Moshe,18 but Chesed and Emes of Hashem came through [Rebbe], Melech HaMoshiach Yehoshua.19 18No one has ever seen Hashem.20 It is Elohim the Ben Yachid,21 it is he, the one being in the kheyk (bosom) of HaAv, this one is Hashemʼs definitive midrash (exegesis).

19And this is the solemn edut (testimony) of Yochanan, when those of Yehudah sent kohanim and L'viim from Yerushalayim to him that they might ask him, Mi atah? (Who are you?). 20Yochanan made hoda'a (confession, admission) — he did not fail to make hoda'a — and said clearly, I am not the22 Melech HaMoshiach. 21And they asked Yochanan, What, then? Are you Eliyahu HaNavi? And Yochanan says, I am not. Are you the Navi?23 And he answered, Lo (No). 22They said then to him, Mi atah? That we may give a teshuvah (answer) to the ones who sent us. What do you say about yourself? 23Yochanan said, I am a KOL KOREY BAMIDBAR, make straight the DERECH HASHEM!24 as Yeshayah HaNavi said.

24And the ones that had been sent were of the Perushim. 25And the Perushim asked Yochanan, If you are not the [Rebbe], Melech HaMoshiach nor Eliyahu nor the Navi, then why do you administer the mikveh mayimʼs tevilah? 26Yochanan answered the Perushim, I give a tevilah in a mikveh mayim; among you is standing one of whom you do not have da'as. 27Hu HaBah (he who comes),25 that is, He who comes after me, is one that I am not worthy even to untie the thong of his sandal. 28These events took place in Beit-Anyah (Bethany), beyond the Yarden River, which Yochanan was using as a mikveh mayim in which to administer the tevilah.

29On the next day, Yochanan sees Yehoshua coming to him, and Yochanan says, Hinei! The Seh HaElohim,26 the one carrying away the avonot HaOlam Hazeh (sins of this world).27 30This is he about whom I said, After me comes an ISH28 who is really before me in priority, because, before I came to be, he was.29 31And I did not recognize him, but that he might be manifested to Klal Yisroel, I came, therefore, administering the mikveh mayimʼs tevilah. 32And Yochanan gave solemn edut, I have seen the Ruach Hakodesh descending like a yonah out of Shomayim and remaining upon him.30 33And I did not recognize him, but the One who sent me to give the mikveh mayimʼs tevilah said to me, Upon whomever you see the Ruach Hakodesh descending and remaining, this is the One giving the tevilah in the Ruach Hakodesh.31 34And I have seen and I have given solemn edut (testimony) that this One is the Ben HaElohim.32

35On the next day, Yochanan was standing with two of his talmidim. 36And as Yochanan watched Yehoshua walking by, Yochanan says, Hinei the Seh HaElohim!33 37And the two talmidim heard Yochanan speaking, and they followed after him. 38When he turned and saw them following, he says to them, Mah tevakkeshun (What do you seek)? And they said to him, Rebbe (which means, being translated, my Master Moreh [teacher]), where is your mekom megurim (dwelling place)? 39And he says to them, Bo'u u're'u! (Come and see!) They went, therefore, and saw his mekom megurim, and remained with him that day. The hour was about the tenth (four o'clock in the afternoon). 40One of the two was the achi Shim'on Kefa. His name was Andrew. He was one of the two who heard Yochanan and followed him. 41Andrew first finds his own achi Shim'on Kefa and says to him, We have found the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach! — the word, being translated, means “Messiah”.34 42Andrew led Shim'on to Yehoshua. When Yehoshua gazed at Shim'on, he said, You are Shim'on Bar-Yonah. You will be called Kefa, which is translated Petros.35

43On the next day he wanted to go out into the Galil, and he finds Philippos, and says to Philippos, Follow me.36 44Now Philippos was from Beit-Tzaidah, the shtetl of Andrew and Kefa. 45Philippos finds Natan'el and says to him, He whom Moshe37 wrote of in the Sefer Torah, he whom the Nevi'im also wrote of — Yehoshua ben Yosef [ben Dovid], from Natzeret we have found!38 46And Natan'el said to Philippos, Can anything good come out of Natzeret?39 Philippos says to Natan'el, Bo'u u're'u! (Come and see!)40 47Yehoshua saw Natan'el coming to him, and he says, Hinei a genuine Ben Yisroel, in whom is no MIRMAH (deceit).41 48Natan'el says to him, How do you have da'as of me? In reply, Yehoshua said to him, Before you received your kri'ah (call) from Philippos, while you were beneath the etz hate'enah42 (fig tree), I watched you. 49In reply, Natan'el said to him, Rebbe, you are the Ben HaElohim,43 the Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach of Yisroel. 50In reply, Yehoshua said to Natan'el, Because I told you that I watched you beneath the etz hate'enah, do you have emunah (faith)? Greater than these things you will see. 51And he says to Natan'el, Omein, omein, I say to you, you will see Shomayim having been opened and malachim (angels) of Hashem ascending and descending on the Bar Enosh.44