Malachi 2:7

2:7 For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge of sacred things, and people should seek instruction from him ¹  because he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 4:5

4:5 Look, I will send you Elijah ²  the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

Matthew 11:10-11

11:10 This is the one about whom it is written:

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ³ 

who will prepare your way before you.’ ⁴ 

11:11 “I tell you the truth, ⁵  among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least ⁶  in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

Mark 1:2-3

1:2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ⁷ 

“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way, ⁸ 

1:3 the voice of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ⁹  his paths straight.’” ¹⁰ 

Luke 1:76

1:76 And you, child, ¹¹  will be called the prophet ¹²  of the Most High. ¹³ 

For you will go before ¹⁴  the Lord to prepare his ways, ¹⁵ 

Luke 7:26-28

7:26 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more ¹⁶  than a prophet. 7:27 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, ¹⁷  who will prepare your way before you.’ ¹⁸  7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater ¹⁹  than John. ²⁰  Yet the one who is least ²¹  in the kingdom of God ²²  is greater than he is.”

John 1:6-7

1:6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. ²³  1:7 He came as a witness ²⁴  to testify ²⁵  about the light, so that everyone ²⁶  might believe through him.

[2:7]  ¹ tn Heb “from his mouth” (so NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[4:5]  ² sn I will send you Elijah the prophet. In light of the ascension of Elijah to heaven without dying (2 Kgs 2:11), Judaism has always awaited his return as an aspect of the messianic age (see, e.g., John 1:19-28). Jesus identified John the Baptist as Elijah, because he came in the “spirit and power” of his prototype Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13; Luke 9:28-36).

[11:10]  ³ tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).

[11:10]  ⁴ sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

[11:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”

[11:11]  ⁶ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[1:2]  ⁷ tc Instead of “in Isaiah the prophet” the majority of mss read “in the prophets” (A W ˹³ Ï Ir^lat). Except for Irenaeus (2nd century), the earliest evidence for this is thus from the 5th (or possibly late 4th) century (W A). The difficulty of Irenaeus is that he wrote in Greek but has been preserved largely in Latin. His Greek remains have “in Isaiah the prophet.” Only the later Latin translation has “in the prophets.” The KJV reading is thus in harmony with the majority of late mss. On the other hand, the witnesses for “in Isaiah the prophet” (either with the article before Isaiah or not) are early and geographically widespread: א B D L Δ Θ Ë¹ 33 565 700 892 1241 2427 al sy^p co Ir. This evidence runs deep into the 2nd century, is widespread, and is found in the most important Alexandrian, Western, and Caesarean witnesses. The “Isaiah” reading has a better external pedigree in every way. It has the support of the earliest and best witnesses from all the texttypes that matter. Moreover it is the harder reading, since the quotation in the first part of the verse appears to be from Exod 23:20 and Mal 3:1, with the quotation from Isa 40:3 coming in the next verse. The reading of the later mss seems motivated by a desire to resolve this difficulty.

[1:2]  ⁸ sn The opening lines of the quotation are from Exod 23:20; Mal 3:1. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

[1:3]  ⁹ sn This call to “make his paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[1:3]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[1:76]  ¹¹ sn Now Zechariah describes his son John (you, child) through v. 77.

[1:76]  ¹² tn Or “a prophet”; but since Greek nouns can be definite without the article, and since in context this is a reference to the eschatological forerunner of the Messiah (cf. John 1:17), the concept is better conveyed to the English reader by the use of the definite article “the.”

[1:76]  ¹³ sn In other words, John is a prophet of God; see 1:32 and 7:22-23, 28.

[1:76]  ¹⁴ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (A C D L Θ Ψ 0130 Ë^1,13 33 Ï sy), have πρὸ προσώπου κυρίου (pro proswpou kuriou, “before the face of the Lord”), but the translation follows the reading ἐνώπιον κυρίου (enwpion kuriou, “before the Lord”), which has earlier and better ms support (Ì⁴ א B W 0177 pc) and is thus more likely to be authentic.

[1:76]  ¹⁵ tn This term is often translated in the singular, looking specifically to the forerunner role, but the plural suggests the many elements in that salvation.

[7:26]  ¹⁶ tn John the Baptist is “more” because he introduces the one (Jesus) who brings the new era. The term is neuter, but may be understood as masculine in this context (BDAG 806 s.v. περισσότερος b.).

[7:27]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “before your face” (an idiom).

[7:27]  ¹⁸ sn The quotation is primarily from Mal 3:1 with pronouns from Exod 23:20. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

[7:28]  ¹⁹ sn In the Greek text greater is at the beginning of the clause in the emphatic position. John the Baptist was the greatest man of the old era.

[7:28]  ²⁰ tc The earliest and best mss read simply ᾿Ιωάννου (Iwannou, “John”) here (Ì⁷⁵ א B L W Ξ Ë¹ 579 pc). Others turn this into “John the Baptist” (K 33 565 al it), “the prophet John the Baptist” (A [D] Θ Ë¹³ Ï lat), or “the prophet John” (Ψ 700 [892 1241] pc). “It appears that προφήτης was inserted by pedantic copyists who wished thereby to exclude Christ from the comparison, while others added τοῦ βαπτιστοῦ, assimilating the text to Mt 11.11” (TCGNT 119).

[7:28]  ²¹ sn After John comes a shift of eras. The new era is so great that the lowest member of it (the one who is least in the kingdom of God) is greater than the greatest one of the previous era.

[7:28]  ²² sn The kingdom of God is a major theme of Jesus’ proclamation. It is a realm in which Jesus rules and to which those who trust him belong. See Luke 6:20; 11:20; 17:20-21. It is not strictly future, though its full manifestation is yet to come. That is why membership in it starts right after John the Baptist.

[1:6]  ²³ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[1:7]  ²⁴ tn Grk “came for a testimony.”

[1:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “to bear witness.”

[1:7]  ²⁶ tn Grk “all.”