Reading John 1:1 aloud

Time to read a whole verse

You have met all 24 letters, the diphthongs, the breathing marks and the accents. This lesson puts them together so that you can read one of the best-known verses in the New Testament aloud from beginning to end. There is no grammar yet. Today is for sound and for the meaning of each word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:1

The Greek has seventeen words, but many of them repeat, so only ten different forms occur. You already read ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος last time, and that is the first five words. To read aloud, split each word into syllables, one for each vowel or diphthong, and stress the syllable that carries the accent. Read it slowly, one syllable at a time. Then read it again word by word, and a third time as a whole phrase. After three or four rounds it begins to feel natural.

Syllable by syllable, word by word

This table splits every word of John 1:1 into syllables, with the sound and meaning. The stressed syllable is the one with an accent mark.

A few things to notice. ἦν is eta plus nu, a long "ē" followed by "n". ὁ has a rough breathing, so it is "ho". The little ι under the η of ἀρχῇ is silent. In θεόν and θεὸς, the ε and ο are not a diphthong, so each word has two syllables. In καὶ, the αι is a diphthong, so it has one. ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος

Two words are new today. πρὸς means "with" here, and more widely "to" or "toward". It occurs about 700 times in the New Testament. And θεὸς is "God", which appears about 1,300 times. Everything else in the verse you have seen already.

Now put it together: "en archē ēn ho logos", "In the beginning was the Word". Then "kai ho logos ēn pros ton theon", "and the Word was with God". Then "kai theos ēn ho logos", "and the Word was God". Tap the words below to hear them. The device voice is modern Greek, so it will sound a little different from the pronunciation taught here.

Many readers notice that "In the beginning" is also how Genesis begins Genesis 1:1. John opens his Gospel by saying that the Word was already there at the start.

The same word in different shapes

Look at the table again. The word for God appears in two shapes in this one verse: θεόν and θεὸς. The meaning is the same, but the ending is -ον in one and -ος in the other. The word for "the" does the same: ὁ and τὸν.

Greek changes the end of a word to show the job it does in the sentence. You do not need to understand why yet. Just remember that a changed ending is a rule, not a mistake. The lesson on Nouns and case explains it.

John 1:2

Verse 2 repeats nearly everything you have just read. There is only one new word, οὗτος, meaning "this one" or "he", which appears about 1,380 times in the New Testament. It starts with ου and a rough breathing, so it is "HOU-tos". Here it points back to the Word.

He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:2

οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν, "houtos ēn en archē pros ton theon". ἦν, ἐν, ἀρχῇ, πρὸς, τὸν and θεόν are the same words as before in a new order. A line that looks long at first becomes short when you know the words. οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν θεόν

Summary

You have read John 1:1–2 aloud. The words to keep are ἐν (in), ἀρχή (beginning), ἦν (was), ὁ (the), λόγος (Word), πρός (with), θεός (God) and οὗτος (this one, he). You also noticed that the same word can come in different shapes, such as θεόν and θεός or ὁ and τὸν, and the next unit explains that.

Words in this lesson

• πρόςprosto/with700 times in the NT
• θεόςtheosGod1,316 times in the NT
• οὗτοςohutosthis/he/she/it1,382 times in the NT

Practice