²⁸ I say to you, Among all the sons of women, not one is greater than John: but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

¹¹ Truly I say to you, Among the sons of women there has not been a greater than John the Baptist: but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

¹⁰ For the prophets who gave the news of the grace which would come to you, made search with all care for knowledge of this salvation;

¹¹ Attempting to see what sort of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them was pointing to, when it gave witness to the pains which Christ would undergo and the glories which would come after them.

¹² And it was made clear to those prophets that they were God's servants not for themselves but for you, to give you word of the things which have now come to your ears from the preachers of the good news through the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven; things which even angels have a desire to see.

²⁵ Of which I became a servant by the purpose of God which was given to me for you, to give effect to the word of God,

²⁶ The secret which has been kept from all times and generations, but has now been made clear to his saints,

²⁷ To whom God was pleased to give knowledge of the wealth of the glory of this secret among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

⁸ To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, was this grace given, so that I might make clear to the Gentiles the good news of the unending wealth of Christ:

⁹ And make all men see what is the ordering of the secret which from the first has been kept in God who made all things;

²³ And, turning to the disciples, he said privately, Happy are the eyes which see the things you see:

²⁴ For I say to you that numbers of prophets and kings have had a desire to see the things which you see, and have not seen them, and to have knowledge of the things which have come to your ears, and they had it not.

⁴⁸ And said to them, Whoever gives honour to this child in my name, gives honour to me: and whoever gives honour to me, gives honour to him who sent me: for whoever is least among you all, that man is great.

¹⁶ John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire:

¹⁴ And you will be glad and have great delight; and numbers of people will have joy at his birth.

¹⁵ For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord; he will not take wine or strong drink; and he will be full of the Spirit of God from his birth.

¹⁶ But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open.

¹⁷ For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not.

³⁹ And not one of these got the good things of the agreement, though they all had a good record through faith,

⁴⁰ Because God had kept some better thing for us, so that it was not possible for them to become complete without us.