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.’