John 1:20-44

²⁰He confessed, and didn’t deny, but confessed, “I’m not the Christ.”

²¹They asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”

²²Then they asked him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

²³John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”

²⁴Now those who were sent were Pharisees.

²⁵They asked him, saying, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

²⁶John answered them, saying, “I baptize with water, but One stands among you that you don’t know.

²⁷It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.”

²⁸This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

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

³⁰This is the One I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me is preferred before me because He existed before me.’

³¹I didn’t know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

³²John testified, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.

³³I wouldn’t have known Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘Whoever you see the Spirit descending upon, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

³⁴I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Son.”

³⁵The next day, John again stood with two of His disciples.

³⁶When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, God’s Lamb!”

³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

³⁸Jesus turned, and seeing them following, asked them, “What are you looking for?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which, when translated, means Teacher), “Where are You staying?”

³⁹He told them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where He was staying, and spent that day with Him. It was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus.

⁴¹The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother, Simon, and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, translated, the Christ).

⁴²Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he told him, “Follow me.”

⁴⁴Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.