¹⁹Now this was John’s^g testimony when the Jewish leaders^c^h in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. ²⁰He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”ⁱ

²¹They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?”^j

He said, “I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?”^k

He answered, “No.”

²²Finally they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,^l ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”^d^m

²⁴Now the Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶“I baptize with^e water,”ⁿ John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know. ²⁷He is the one who comes after me,^o the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”^p

²⁸This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan,^q where John was baptizing.

John Testifies About Jesus

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God,^r who takes away the sin of the world!^s ³⁰This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’^t ³¹I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

³²Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.^u ³³And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water^v told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’^w ³⁴I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”^f^x

Read in Logos

John 1:29: The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Footnotes

cThe Greek term traditionally translated the Jews (hoi Ioudaioi) refers here and elsewhere in John’s Gospel to those Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus; also in 5:10, 15, 16; 7:1, 11, 13; 9:22; 18:14, 28, 36; 19:7, 12, 31, 38; 20:19.
d Isaiah 40:3
eOr in; also in verses 31 and 33 (twice)
fSee Isaiah 42:1; many manuscripts is the Son of God.

Cross references

gSee Mt 3:1
h Jn 2:18; 5:10, 16; 6:41, 52; 7:1; 10:24
i Jn 3:28; Lk 3:15, 16
jSee Mt 11:14
k Dt 18:15
l Mt 3:1
m Isa 40:3
nSee Mk 1:4
over 15, 30
p Mk 1:7
q Jn 3:26; 10:40
rver 36; Ge 22:8; Isa 53:7; 1 Pe 1:19; Rev 5:6; 13:8
sSee Jn 3:17
tver 15, 27
u Mt 3:16
vSee Mk 1:4
wSee Mk 1:8
xver 49; See Mt 4:3