John Aramaic
Chapter One
- 1. In the beginning [of creation] there was the Manifestation*; And that Manifestation was with God; and God was [the embodiment of] that Manifestation.
- 2. This was in the beginning with God.
- 3. Everything was within his power*, [otherwise] nothing would ever exist.*
- 4. Through him [there] was Life* and Life became the spark* of humanity
- 5. And that [ensuing] fire* lights the darkness and darkness does not overshadow it.
- 6. There was a man sent by God, his name [was] John [the Baptist.]
- 7. He came for that testimony, to testify [concerning] the light, so that every human [being] may [come] to believe by his [testimony*.]
- 8. He was not the light, except that he was to testify [concerning] it*.
- 9. There was the light of the truth, that which lights everyone who is born*.
- 10. He was with the people* and the people [came into being] by his hand* And the people did not know Him.
- 11. He came to his own And his own did not receive him.
- 12. But all those who did receive him, He assigned them to be children* of God, [to them] who believed in his name;
- 13. They who [did not become so] through blood, nor through the desire* of the flesh and neither through a man's willpower*; except they became born [so] from God.
- 14. And the Manifestation became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us And we saw His glory, glory as [that] uniquely [of the nature] of the Creator, Full of grace and blessing.
- 15. John [the Baptist] testified to him and cried out, saying, "This is the one [of whom] they said, 'The one who comes after me And yet is ahead of me, because he arrived first.' "
- 16. And because of his abundant [grace] we have all been fulfilled, Blessing upon blessing.*
- 17. The Law came to us by the hand of Moses. [But] the truth and grace was through Jesus Christ.
- 18. No human [being] ever saw God, except for the only born God, He who existed in the bosom of his Father, [Who] proclaimed* Him.
- 19. And this is the testimony of John [the Baptist,] as Jews of Jerusalem sent high priests and Levites, to ask him, "Who are you?"
- 20. And he informed them, and did not deny it, saying*, "I am not the Anointed One*."
- 21. And they asked him, "Then what, are you Elijah?" And he said, "I am not." Are you a prophet?" And he answered, "No."
- 22. And they said to him, "Who are you? So we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?"
- 23. He said, " 'I am the voice that cries in the wilderness, Lay out the path [for] the Lord' as Isaiah the prophet proclaimed."
- 24. And the ones who were sent were from the Pharisees.
- 25. And they asked him, saying (to him,) "Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Anointed One, nor Elijah, nor a prophet?"
- 26. [Then] John answered them, saying, "I am baptizing with water*, but amongst you stands one whom you do not know,
- 27. "He who comes after me, whose shoe laces I am not worthy of untying."
- 28. These [events] occurred in Bethany, by the other side of [the] Jordan [river,] where John was baptizing.
- 29. And the following day John saw Jesus approaching him, and he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the universe.
- 30. "This is the one of whom I said, 'After me comes a man* who [goes] before me, for he was [always] ahead of me.'
- 31. "And I would not know him, except that he was to be known to Israel, [and] because of this came I baptizing with water*."
- 32. And [thus] testified John and said, "You shall see the Holy Spirit like a dove nestling upon him.
- 33. "And I would not have known him, except for the [one who] sent me to baptize with the waters, the one who told me, 'Whoever you see upon whom the nestling Spirit holding firmly, he shall baptize with the Holy Spirit.'
- 34. "And I saw and am testifying that he is the Son of God."
- 35. And on the second day [there] stood John with two of his disciples.
- 36. And he gazed upon Jesus as he walked, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God!"
- 37. And both his disciples heard it* and they followed Jesus.
- 38. And Jesus turned and saw them coming after him, and he said to them, "What do you want?" They said to him, "[Our] Master*, where do you reside*?"
- 39. He said to them, "Come on and see [for yourselves.]" And they went and saw where he was, and they remained with him that day--and it was the tenth hour.
- 40. But one of the two who had heard it from John and had followed him, was Andrew, the brother of Simon.
- 41. He first found his brother Simon, and said to
him, "We have found the Anointed One!"
42. And he brought them to Jesus. Jesus gazed at [Simon] and said, "You are Simon, the son of the dove*, you shall be called Keepa*." - 43. On the following day, it pleased Jesus to go to Galilee, and he found Philip, and he said to him, "Follow me."
- 44. But Philip was from Bethsaida, from the town of Andrew and Simon.
- 45. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "The one of whom wrote Moses in the Law and the prophets, we have found him, [he is] Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth;"
- 46. [But] Nathaniel said to him, "From Nazareth, is it possible anything good can [come out] of there?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."
- 47. Jesus saw Nathaniel approaching him, and he said to him, "Behold a true son of Israel, in whom there is no duplicity!"
- 48. And Nathaniel said to him, "From when did you know me?" Jesus answered him, saying, "I knew you before Philip called you, as I saw you [sitting] under the fig tree."
- 49. [And] Nathaniel replied, saying, "Master, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
- 50. Jesus replied and said to him, "Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see a great [deal] more than these!"
- 51. He said to them, "Amen, amen, I say to you,
from now on you shall see the heaven [that I have] opened and the angels of
God as they ascend and descend to the
Son of
Man*!"
- FOOTNOTES
Chapter One
1:1 "Milta," in Aramaic: the essential connotation for a person or thing. There is no true English equivalent for this concept.
1:3 Literal Aramaic idiom [Lit. Ar. id.]: "[In his] hand."
1:4.1 Lit. Ar. idiomatic construction: "And without his hand, not one [thing that] became would have become."
1:4.2 "Lives," whenever it represents: "life everlasting" is stated in the plural. When used in this sense it will always be capitalized in this translation and appear as "Life."
1:4.3 Lit. Ar. id.: "Light."
1:5 Lit. Ar. id.: "Light."
1:7 Lit. Ar. id.: "Hand."
1:8 Lit. Ar. id.: "The light."
1:9.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Gives Life to."
1:9.2 Lit. Ar. id.: "Comes to [people, or] the universe."
1:10.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "The universe."
1:10.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: He created them.
1:12 Lit. Ar. id.: "Sons of God."
1:13.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Will."
1:13.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Through satisfaction of man [or power of maturity.]"
1:16 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "And from his fullness we have all been satisfied, grace in place of grace."
1:18 Lit. Ar. id.: "Spoke of."
1:20.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Informing."
1:20.2 The Messiah, the Christ.
1:26 Lit. Ar. id.: "Waters."
1:30 Lit. Ar. id.: "Mighty [man.]"
1:31 Lit. Ar. id.: "Waters."
1:37 Lit. Ar. id.: "As they heard."
1:38.1 Lit. Ar. id.: "Rabban."
1:38.2 Lit. Ar. idiomatic expression: "Where dwell you?"
1:42.1 Lit. Ar. id.: The Holy Spirit.
1:42.2 Aramaic name retained: "Rock," which is Anglicized as "Peter."
1:51 "Bar-nasha," is a theological concept when used in this idiomatic construction. Sometimes it means: "humanity," other times: "a human being."
