John 1:15–28

¹⁵John ^dbare witness of him, and ^ecried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, ^fHe that cometh after me is ^gpreferred before me: ^hfor he was ⁱbefore me. ¹⁶And of his ^jfulness have all we received, and grace for grace. ¹⁷For ^kthe law was given by Moses, but ^lgrace and ^mtruth came by Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ⁿNo man ^qhath seen God at any time; ^othe only begotten Son, ^oowhich is in ^pthe bosom of the Father, he hath ^qdeclared him.

¹⁹And this is ^rthe record of John, when ^rrthe Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? ²⁰And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, ^sI am not the Christ. ²¹And they asked him, What then? Art thou ^tElias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou ^uthat prophet? And he answered, No. ²²Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? ²³He said, I am ^xthe voice of one crying in the wilderness, ^yMake straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. ²⁴And they which were sent were of the ^zPharisees. ²⁵And they asked him, and said unto him, Why ^zbaptizest thou then, if thou be not that ^aChrist, nor Elias, neither that prophet? ²⁶John answered them, saying, ^bI baptize with water: ^cbut there standeth one ^damong you, whom ye know not; ²⁷he it is, who ^ecoming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s ^flatchet I am not worthy to unloose. ²⁸These things were done ^gin Bethabara ^hbeyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.