¹⁸ He is also the head of the body, the church;
He is the beginning,^(A)
the firstborn from the dead,^(B)
so that He might come to have
first place in everything.

1 In the beginning^(A) was the Word,^[a](B)
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.^(C)
2 He was with God in the beginning.^(D)
3 All things were created^(E) through Him,^(F)
and apart from Him not one thing was created
that has been created.
⁴ Life was in Him,^[b](G)
and that life was the light^(H) of men.
⁵ That light shines^(I) in the darkness,
yet the darkness did not overcome^[c] it.^(J)