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What then did you go out to see? 1A prophet?[a] Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
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This is he of whom it is written,2"'Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.'
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Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
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3From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,[b] and the violent take it by force.
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4For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John,
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and if you are willing to accept it, he is 5Elijah who is to come.
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"But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,
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"'We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.'
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For John came 7neither eating 8nor drinking, and they say, 'He has a demon.'
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The Son of Man came 9eating and drinking, and they say, 'Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, 10a friend of 11tax collectors and sinners!' Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds."[d]