John 1:15-30

15(John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’”)

16Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness,

17for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

18No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side  — he has revealed him.

19This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

20He didn’t deny it but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”

21“What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he said. “Are you the Prophet?” “No,” he answered.

22“Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”

23He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord  — just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

25So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

26“I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him.

27He is the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

28All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

30This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’