John 1:20-28

20John did not refuse to answer. He said, ‘I am not the Messiah.’

21So they asked him, ‘So who are you? Are you Elijah?’ John said, ‘No, I am not.’ They asked, ‘Are you the Prophet?’ John answered, ‘No.’

22Then they said, ‘Tell us who you are. We must say something to the people who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’

23He said, ‘I am the voice of somebody shouting in the wilderness: “The Lord will come soon. Make a straight path for him to follow.” That is what the prophet Isaiah said a long time ago.’

24The men who came to ask these questions were Pharisees.

25They said to John, ‘You say that you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet. So why do you baptize people?’

26John replied, ‘I baptize people with water. But there is someone here among you that you do not know.

27He is the one who comes after me. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him.’

28All these things happened at a place east from the Jordan River. It was a village called Bethany. John was baptizing people there.