16. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.
17. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him.
18. Whoever believes in him isn’t judged; whoever doesn’t believe in him is already judged, because they don’t believe in the name of God’s only Son.
19. "This is the basis for judgment: The light came into the world, and people loved darkness more than the light, for their actions are evil.
20. All who do wicked things hate the light and don’t come to the light for fear that their actions will be exposed to the light.
21. Whoever does the truth comes to the light so that it can be seen that their actions were done in God."
22. After this Jesus and his disciples went into Judea, where he spent some time with them and was baptizing.
23. John was baptizing at Aenon near Salem because there was a lot of water there, and people were coming to him and being baptized. (
24. John hadn’t yet been thrown into prison.)
25. A debate started between John’s disciples and a certain Jew about cleansing rituals.
26. They came to John and said, "Rabbi, look! The man who was with you across the Jordan, the one about whom you testified, is baptizing and everyone is flocking to him."
27. John replied, "No one can receive anything unless it is given from heaven.
28. You yourselves can testify that I said that I’m not the Christ but that I’m the one sent before him.
29. The groom is the one who is getting married. The friend of the groom stands close by and, when he hears him, is overjoyed at the groom’s voice. Therefore, my joy is now complete.