John 1:23

1:23 John ¹  said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight ²  the way for the Lord,’ ³  as Isaiah the prophet said.”

John 1:26-27

1:26 John answered them, ⁴  “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, ⁵  1:27 who is coming after me. I am not worthy ⁶  to untie the strap ⁷  of his sandal!”

[1:23]  ¹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:23]  ² sn This call to “make straight” is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[1:23]  ³ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[1:26]  ⁴ tn Grk “answered them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.

[1:26]  ⁵ tn Or “know.”

[1:27]  ⁶ tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”

[1:27]  ⁷ tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.