John 3:27-30

3:27 John replied, ¹  “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,’ ²  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 ³  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ⁴  3:30 He must become more important while I become less important.” ⁵ 

[3:27]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said.”

[3:28]  ² tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[3:29]  ³ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

[3:29]  ⁴ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

[3:30]  ⁵ sn Some interpreters extend the quotation of John the Baptist’s words through v. 36.