John 1:6-8 (NIVUK)

⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.

John 1:19-28 (NIVUK)

John the Baptist denies being the Messiah

¹⁹ Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. ²⁰ He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Messiah.’

²¹ They asked him, ‘Then who are you? Are you Elijah?’

He said, ‘I am not.’

‘Are you the Prophet?’

He answered, ‘No.’

²² Finally they said, ‘Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’

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

²⁴ Now the Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵ questioned him, ‘Why then do you baptise if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’

²⁶ ‘I baptise with water,’ John replied, ‘but among you stands one you do not know. ²⁷ He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’

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