John 1:25

They asked John, “Since you say you are not the Messiah, nor the prophet Elijah, nor the prophet like Moses, what authority do you have? Furthermore, why are you baptizing Jews, treating them as though they were non-Jews who wanted to become Jews?”

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?

In Context

24Some of those people who were questioning John were ones who had been sent by the Pharisee religious group {whom the Pharisee religious group had sent}.

26John replied, “I am just baptizing people with water to prepare them to welcome the Messiah. But right now someone is among you whom you people do not know.

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Cross References

Deuteronomy 18:18So I will send from among them a prophet who will be like you. I will tell him what to say, and then he will tell people everything that I tell him to say.

Matthew 21:23After that, Jesus went into the Temple courtyard. While he was teaching the people, the chief priests and the elders of the Jewish Council approached him. They asked, “By what authority are you doing these things? Who authorized you to do what you did here yesterday [DOU]?”

Acts 4:5The next day the supreme priest summoned the other chief priests, the teachers of the Jewish laws, and the other members of the Jewish Council, and they gathered together in one place in Jerusalem.

Matthew Henry on John 1:20-29

John's Testimony to Christ; John Examined by the Priests. 19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. 22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23 He said, I am the voice of one… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study John 1:25