The Word of Life

1 In the beginning was the one who is called the Word.  The Word was with God and was truly God.
² From the very beginning the Word was with God.
³ And with this Word, God created all things.  Nothing was made without the Word.  Everything that was created  ⁴received its life from him, and his life gave light to everyone.
⁵ The light keeps shining in the dark, and darkness has never put it out.
⁶ God sent a man named John, ⁷ who came to tell about the light and to lead all people to have faith.
⁸ John wasn’t this light.  He came only to tell about the light.
⁹ The true light that shines on everyone was coming into the world.
¹⁰ The Word was in the world, but no one knew him, though God had made the world with his Word.
¹¹ He came into his own world, but his own nation did not welcome him.
¹² Yet some people accepted him and put their faith in him. So he gave them the right to be the children of God.
¹³ They were not God’s children by nature or because of any human desires.  God himself was the one who made them his children.
¹⁴ The Word became a human being and lived here with us.  We saw his true glory, the glory of the only Son of the Father.  From him the complete gifts of undeserved grace and truth have come down to us.

Contemporary English Version (CEV) - for other versions see BibleGateway.com