John the Baptist Tells People About Jesus^(A)

¹⁹ Here is the ·truth John told [testimony John gave; witness of John; 1:6] when the ·leaders [Jewish leadership; ^LJews; ^CJohn often uses the term “Jews” to refer to the religious leaders in opposition to Jesus, rather than to the Jewish people generally] in Jerusalem sent ·priests and Levites [^Cthe religious authorities; priests oversaw temple worship; Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who assisted them; 1 Chr. 23:24–32] to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ John ·spoke freely [confessed] and did not ·refuse to answer [deny it]. He said, “I am not the ·Christ [Messiah].”

²¹ So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” [^CElijah, an OT prophet, was expected to come back before the Messiah; 1 Kin. 17—2 Kin. 2; Mal. 4:5–6.]

He answered, “No, I am not.”

“Are you the Prophet?” [^Cthe Prophet like Moses predicted in Deut. 18:15–19] they asked.

He answered, “No.”

The People Argue About Jesus

⁴⁰ When the people heard Jesus’ words, some of them said, “This man really is the Prophet [1:21; ^Cthe “prophet like Moses” of Deut. 18:15–18].”

⁴¹ Others said, “He is the ·Christ [Messiah].”

Still others said, “The ·Christ [Messiah] will not come from Galilee. ⁴² The Scripture says that the ·Christ [Messiah] will come from David’s ·family [offspring; ^Lseed; 2 Sam. 7:12–16; Ps. 89:3–4; Is. 9:7; 55:3] and from Bethlehem, the ·town [village] where David lived [Mic. 5:2].” ⁴³ So ·the people did not agree with each other [^Lthere was a division in the crowd] about Jesus. ⁴⁴ Some of them wanted to ·arrest [seize] him, but no one was able to ·touch [^Llay a hand on] him.