John 1:19-20

John the Baptist Denies Being the Messiah

19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders^[a] in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was.

20 He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, “I am not the Messiah.”

Cross References

• 1. S Matthew 3:1
• 2. John 2:18; John 5:10,16; John 6:41,52; John 7:1; John 10:24
• 3. John 3:28; Luke 3:15,16

Footnotes

• [a] The Greek term traditionally translated "the Jews" ("hoi Ioudaioi" ) refers here and elsewhere in John’s Gospel to those Jewish leaders who opposed Jesus; also in 5:10, 15, 16; 7:1, 11, 13; 9:22; 18:14, 28, 36; 19:7, 12, 31, 38.