John 1:21-30

• And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?
• He said, "I am not."
• "Are you the Prophet?"
• And he answered, "No."

Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"

He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the LORD,' as the prophet Isaiah said."

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.

And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?"

John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.

It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before men, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."

These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.'"