John 3:26-30

3:26 So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, ¹  about whom you testified – see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”

3:27 John replied, ²  “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 3:28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ ³  but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ 3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ⁴  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ⁵  3:30 He must become more important while I become less important.” ⁶ 

¹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

² tn Grk “answered and said.”

³ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

⁴ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

⁵ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

⁶ sn Some interpreters extend the quotation of John the Baptist’s words through v. 36.