⁶ “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’^[a](A)

¹⁹ because those will be days of distress unequaled from the beginning, when God created the world,^(A) until now—and never to be equaled again.^(B)

The Word Became Flesh

1 In the beginning was the Word,^(A) and the Word was with God,^(B) and the Word was God.^{(C) 2} He was with God in the beginning.^{(D) 3} Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.^{(E) 4} In him was life,^(F) and that life was the light^(G) of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness,^(H) and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.^(I)

¹⁸ And he is the head^(A) of the body, the church;^(B) he is the beginning and the firstborn^(C) from among the dead,^(D) so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

⁴ They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?^(A) Ever since our ancestors died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”^(B)