This is the story of John’s testimony to Jesus. When John became a grown man, he showed himself to Israel in the wilderness clothed in camel skins and eating locusts and wild honey. He was preaching, “Repent! For the kingdom of God is at hand!” And those who repented he baptized in the Jordan River.
Many crowds of people were going out to hear him speak and to be baptized. But the chief priests and teachers of the law, leaders of Israel, stayed in Jerusalem, and they sent their messengers to John. The messengers asked, “Are you the Christ?” John said, “I am not.” They asked, “Are you Elijah?” John said, “No.” “Then who are you?”
John said, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.’ There is one coming after me, who is greater than me, because he was before me.”
At that time, Jesus also came to be baptized by John. When he came up out of the water, the heavens were opened, the Holy Spirit descended on him as a dove, and the voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved son, I am very pleased with him.”
The next day, John saw Jesus walking among the crowds, and he said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! This is the one I was telling you about when I said, ‘There is one coming after me, who is greater than me, because he was before me!”