20. Without any hesitation he said openly and plainly, “I am not the Messiah.”
21. They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He answered, “No, I am not Elijah.” They asked, “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No, I am not the Prophet.”
22. Then they said, “Who are you? Tell us about yourself. Give us an answer to tell the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23. John told them the words of the prophet Isaiah: “I am the voice of someone shouting in the desert: ‘Make a straight road ready for the Lord.’” Isaiah 40:3
24. These Jews were sent from the Pharisees.
25. They said to John, “You say you are not the Messiah. You say you are not Elijah or the Prophet. Then why do you baptize people?”
26. John answered, “I baptize people with water. But there is someone here with you that you don’t know.
27. He is the one who is coming later. I am not good enough to be the slave who unties the strings on his sandals.”
28. These things all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan River. This is where John was baptizing people.
29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sins of the world!
30. This is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘There is a man coming after me who is greater than I am, because he was living even before I was born.’
31. I did not know who he was. But I came baptizing people with water so that Israel could know that he is the Messiah.”
32-34. Then John said this for everyone to hear: “I also did not know who the Messiah was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘You will see the Spirit come down and rest on a man. He is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen this happen. I saw the Spirit come down from heaven like a dove and rest on this man. So this is what I tell people: ‘He is the Son of God.’”
35. The next day John was there again and had two of his followers with him.
36. He saw Jesus walking by and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37. The two followers heard him say this, so they followed Jesus.
38. Jesus turned and saw the two men following him. He asked, “What do you want?” They said, “Rabbi, where are you staying?” (“Rabbi” means “Teacher.”)
39. He answered, “Come with me and you will see.” So the two men went with him. They saw the place where he was staying, and they stayed there with him that day. It was about four o’clock.