24 And some of those who had been sent were from among the Pharisees.
25 And they questioned him and said to him, "Then why do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the Prophet?"
26 John answered them by saying: "I baptize with water. But in your midst stands one, whom you do not know.
27 The same is he who is to come after me, who has been placed ahead of me, the laces of whose shoes I am not worthy to loosen."
28 These things happened in Bethania, across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
29 On the next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him, and so he said: "Behold, the Lamb of God. Behold, he who takes away the sin of the world.
30 This is the one about whom I said, 'After me arrives a man, who has been placed ahead of me, because he existed before me.'