John did not refuse to answer, but spoke out openly and clearly, saying: "I am not the Messiah."

then asked John, "If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?"

He is coming after me, but I am not good enough even to untie his sandals."

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!' "

The LORD Almighty answers, "I will send my messenger to prepare the way for me. Then the Lord you are looking for will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger you long to see will come and proclaim my covenant."

"Remember the teachings of my servant Moses, the laws and commands which I gave him at Mount Sinai for all the people of Israel to obey.

"But before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah.

John was the man the prophet Isaiah was talking about when he said, "Someone is shouting in the desert, 'Prepare a road for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!' "

I baptize you with water to show that you have repented, but the one who will come after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He is much greater than I am; and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals.

He has his winnowing shovel with him to thresh out all the grain. He will gather his wheat into his barn, but he will burn the chaff in a fire that never goes out."

It began as the prophet Isaiah had written: "God said, 'I will send my messenger ahead of you to open the way for you.'

Someone is shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!' "

and he will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.

He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord's people ready for him."

"You, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High God. You will go ahead of the Lord to prepare his road for him,

As it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah: "Someone is shouting in the desert: 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make a straight path for him to travel!

The whole human race will see God's salvation!' "