20. he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, “I am not the Messiah.”
21. So they asked him, “What are you then? Are you Elijah?” And he said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
22. So they said to him, “Who are you, so we can give an answer to those who sent us? What do you have to say for yourself?”
23. He said:“I am ‘the voice of one crying out in the desert,“Make straight the way of the Lord,”’as Isaiah the prophet said.”
24. Some Pharisees were also sent.
25. They asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?”
26. John answered them, “I baptize with water; but there is one among you whom you do not recognize,
27. the one who is coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
28. This happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
30. He is the one of whom I said, ‘A man is coming after me who ranks ahead of me because he existed before me.’