²⁸ ye yourselves do testify to me that I said, I am not the Christ, but, that I am having been sent before him;

²⁰ and he confessed and did not deny, and confessed -- `I am not the Christ.'

²³ He said, `I `am' a voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.'

¹ Lo, I am sending My messenger, And he hath prepared a way before Me, And suddenly come in unto his temple Doth the Lord whom ye are seeking, Even the messenger of the covenant, Whom ye are desiring, Lo, he is coming, said Jehovah of Hosts.

²⁷ of whom I am not worthy that I may loose the cord of his sandal.'

²⁵ and they questioned him and said to him, `Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?'

⁴ as it hath been written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, `A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye His paths;

⁵ every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straightness, and the rough become smooth ways;

⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'

⁷⁶ And thou, child, Prophet of the Highest Shalt thou be called; For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord, To prepare His ways.

¹⁶ and many of the sons of Israel he shall turn to the Lord their God,

¹⁷ and he shall go before Him, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn hearts of fathers unto children, and disobedient ones to the wisdom of righteous ones, to make ready for the Lord, a people prepared.'

² As it hath been written in the prophets, `Lo, I send My messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee,' --

³ `A voice of one calling in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye his paths,' --

¹¹ `I indeed do baptize you with water to reformation, but he who after me is coming is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to bear the sandals, he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,

¹² whose fan `is' in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather his wheat to the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.'

³ for this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, `A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye His paths.'

⁴ Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, That I did command him in Horeb, For all Israel -- statutes and judgments.

⁵ Lo, I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, Before the coming of the day of Jehovah, The great and the fearful.