John 1:25–40

25 So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with* water,”aw John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him. 27 He is the one coming after me,B,ax whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.” 28 All this happened in BethanyC across the Jordan,ay where John was baptizing.

THE LAMB OF GOD

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God,az who takes away the sinba of the world! 30 This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know him,bb but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealedbc to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spiritbd descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him.be 33 I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’bf 34 I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”D,a

35 The next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. 38 When Jesus turned and noticed them following him, he asked them, “What are you looking for?”

They said to him, “Rabbi”b (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come and you’ll see,” he replied. So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.E

40 Andrew,c Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed him.