The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
- BSB The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
- NKJV And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
- NASB And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.
- NLT The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- John 3:19–20This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.
- John 12:36–40While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become children of light.” Jesus said these things, and he departed and hid himself from them.
- 1 Cor 2:14Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him, and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
- Job 24:13–17“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
- John 1:10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world didn’t recognize him.
- Rom 1:28Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- Prov 1:29–30because they hated knowledge, and didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.
- Prov 1:22“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Pastoral
Henry on the prologue — rich on the Word and the incarnation.
Seminary
- ★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 1:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.