⁵ Look, I am going to send you the prophet Elijah^(A) before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.^{(B) 6} And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.^(C) Otherwise, I will come and strike the land^[a] with a curse.”

¹⁰ So the disciples asked him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ^(A)

¹¹ “Elijah is coming^[a] and will restore everything,” he replied.^{[b](B) 12} “But I tell you: Elijah has already come, and they didn’t recognize him. On the contrary, they did whatever they pleased to him. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”^{(C) 13} Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

John the Baptist’s Testimony

¹⁹ This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem^(A) sent priests^(B) and Levites^(C) to ask him, “Who are you?”

²⁰ He didn’t deny it but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”^(D)

²¹ “What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?” ^(E)

“I am not,” he said.

“Are you the Prophet?” ^(F)

“No,” he answered.

²² “Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”

²³ He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord^[a](G)—just as Isaiah^(H) the prophet said.”

²⁴ Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.^{(I) 25} So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

²⁶ “I baptize with^[b] water,”^(J) John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him. ²⁷ He is the one coming after me,^[c](K) whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.” ²⁸ All this happened in Bethany^[d] across the Jordan,^(L) where John was baptizing.