John 1:19-34

This is John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you? ” He did not refuse to answer, but he declared: “I am not the Messiah.” “What then? ” they asked him. “Are you Elijah? ” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet? ” “No,” he answered. “Who are you, then? ” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself? ” He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord — just as Isaiah the prophet said.” Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet? ” “I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know Him. He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.” All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the One I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who has surpassed me, because He existed before me.’ I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.” And John testified, “I watched the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He rested on Him. 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.’ I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God! ”