27. He is the One who comes after me. I am not good enough to untie the strings of his sandals.”
28. This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. This is where John was baptizing people.
29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. John said, “Look, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sins of the world!
30. This is the One I was talking about. I said, ‘A man will come after me, but he is greater than I am, because he was living before me.’
31. Even I did not know who he was. But I came baptizing with water so that the people of Israel could know who he is.”
32-33. Then John said, “I did not know who the Christ was. But God sent me to baptize with water. And God told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man. That man is the One who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’” John said, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven. The Spirit looked like a dove and rested on him.
34. I have seen this happen. So I tell people: ‘He is the Son of God.’”
35. The next day John was there again with two of his followers.
36. He saw Jesus walking by and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37. The two followers heard John say this. So they followed Jesus.
38. Jesus turned and saw them following him. He asked, “What do you want?”They said, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (“Rabbi” means “Teacher.”)
39. Jesus answered, “Come with me and you will see.” So the two men went with Jesus. They saw the place where Jesus was staying and stayed there with him that day. It was then about four o’clock.
40. These two men followed Jesus after they heard about him from John. One of the men was Andrew. He was Simon Peter’s brother.
41. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon. He said to Simon, “We have found the Messiah.” (“Messiah” means “Christ.”)
42. Then Andrew took Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas.” (“Cephas” means “Peter.”)
43. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
44. Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, where Andrew and Peter lived.