21. They asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not! Are you the Prophet? And he answered, No! [Deut. 18:15, 18; Mal. 4:5.]
22. Then they said to him, Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?
23. He said, I am the voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness [the voice of one shouting in the desert], Prepare the way of the Lord [level, straighten out, the path of the Lord], as the prophet Isaiah said. [Isa. 40:3.]
24. The messengers had been sent from the Pharisees.
25. And they asked him, Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?