20. John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly, saying: “I am not the Messiah.”
21. “Who are you, then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”“No, I am not,” John answered.“Are you the Prophet?” they asked.“No,” he replied.
22. “Then tell us who you are,” they said. “We have to take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
23. John answered by quoting the prophet Isaiah:“I am ‘the voice of someone shouting in the desert:Make a straight path for the Lord to travel!’ ”