¹⁹And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent^g priests and Levites from Jerusalem so that they could ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰And he confessed—and he did not deny, and confessed—“I am not the Christ!” ²¹And they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?”^h And he answered, “No!” ²²Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

²³He said,

“I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

“Make straight the way of the Lord,” ’ⁱ

just as Isaiah the prophet said.” ²⁴(And they had been sent from the Pharisees.) ²⁵And they asked him and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water. In your midst stands one whom you do not know—²⁷the one who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie^j the strap of his sandal!” ²⁸These things took place in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

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Footnotes

gSome manuscripts have “sent to him”
hA reference to the “Prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15 (see Acts 3:22)
iA quotation from Isa 40:3
jLiterally “that I might untie”