John the Baptist's Testimony
19 This is John's testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, "Who are you?"
20
He did not refuse to answer, but he declared: "I am not the Messiah."
21
"What then?" they asked him. "Are you Elijah?" "I am not," he said. "Are you the Prophet?" "No," he answered.
22
"Who are you, then?" they asked. "We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?"
23
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."
24
Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
25
So they asked him, "Why then do you baptize if you aren't the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?"
26
"I baptize with water," John answered them. "Someone stands among you, but you don't know [Him].
27
He is the One coming after me, whose sandal strap I'm not worthy to untie."
28
All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.