21. They asked him, “Who then? Are you Elijah?”He said, “I am not.”“Are you the Prophet?”He answered, “No.”
22. They said to him then, “Who are you? Tell us so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say concerning yourself?”
23. John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ just as the prophet Isaiah said.”
24. Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees.
25. They asked him, “Why do you baptize then, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
26. John answered them, “I baptize with water, but One stands among you, whom you do not know.
27. This is He who comes after me, who is preferred before me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
28. These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
30. This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’
31. I did not know Him, but for this reason I came baptizing with water: so that He might be revealed to Israel.”