25When John was about to finish the work that God gave him to do, he frequently said to the people, ‘Do you think RHQ that I am the Messiah whom God promised to send? No, I am not. But listen! The Messiah will soon come. He is so much greater than I am that I am not even important enough to be his slave MET.’”
26“Fellow Israelis, you who are descendants of Abraham, and you non-Jewish people who also worship God, please listen! It is to all of us that God has sent the message about how he saves people.
27The people who were living in Jerusalem and their rulers did not realize that this man Jesus was the one whom God had sent to save them. Although messages from MTY the prophets have been read aloud {someone has read aloud messages from MTY the prophets} every ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►, they did not understand what the prophets wrote about the Messiah. So the Jewish leaders condemned Jesus to die, which was just like the prophets predicted.
28Many people accused Jesus of doing wicked things, but they could not prove that he had done anything for which he deserved to die. They insistently asked Pilate the governor to command that Jesus be executed {to command soldiers to execute Jesus}. So Pilate did what they asked him to do.