John 1:15

One day when John was telling people about him, he saw Jesus. Then he shouted to them, “I told you previously that someone will come later who is more important than I am, since he existed long before me. This is the man I was talking about!”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

In Context

14The one who expresses [MET] ◄ God’s character/what God is like► became a human being, and he lived among us for a while. As a result, we saw how wonderful he is. He came from God his father, and there was no other person as wonderful as he. He was wonderful because he always acted ◄kindly toward us/in ways we did not deserve►, and he always spoke truthfully to us about God.

16We have all benefited very much from what he has done. Again and again, he has acted in kind way toward us in ways we did not deserve.

Read all of John 1

Cross References

Proverbs 8:22Yahweh created me, wisdom, when he began to create the world; he created me to do my work before he created anything else.

Micah 5:2But you people of [APO] Bethlehem in Ephrathah district need to know that even though your town is a very small one among all the towns in Judah, someone who will rule Israel will be born in your town. He will be someone whose family has existed a very long time ago [DOU].

Matthew 3:13During that time, Jesus went from Galilee District to the Jordan River, where John was. He did that in order to be baptized by John {in order to ask that John would baptize him}.

Luke 3:16John replied to them all, “No, I am not. I used only water when I baptized you. But the Messiah will soon come! He is far greater than I am. He is so great that I am not worthy to be like his slave and untie his sandals [MET] like a slave would do! He will put his Holy Spirit within [MTY] you to truly change your lives, and he will judge others of you and punish you in the fire [MET] in hell.

John 1:7He came to tell people about the one who was like [MET] a light. He came to show that everything that the one who was like a light [MET] said was true, in order that he could enable all people to believe in the one who was like a light.

John 1:29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. He said to the people, “Look! Here is the man whom God has appointed to be a sacrifice [MET], like the lambs that the people of Israel sacrificed! By sacrificing himself he will make it possible for everyone in the world to be no longer guilty for having sinned.

Matthew Henry on John 1:7-15

The Testimony of John Baptist; Christ's Incarnation. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. 11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study John 1:15