Section 1:19–28

John the Baptist said that he was not the Messiah

In this section John the Baptist told messengers from the Jewish leaders that he himself was not the Messiah. He had come to prepare people for the coming of someone else, someone much greater than he was. He was referring to Jesus.

Here are other possible section headings:

John the Baptist said that he prepared people for someone much greater than him
-or-
John the Baptist told about his mission
-or-
John the Baptist was not the Messiah

Paragraph 1:19–23

The Jewish religious leaders sent priests and Levites to John to ask him who he claimed to be. They believed that he had no right to baptize if God had not sent him. He told them that he was preparing people to believe in the Messiah, the Chosen One. He quoted from Isaiah the prophet about a voice shouting in the wilderness to describe himself.

1:19a

And: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as And introduces the next event in the story. In some languages it may be more natural not to translate it. You should introduce this new event in the story in a way that is natural in your language.

this was John’s testimony: The word this refers forward to the testimony John gave in 1:20, “I am not the Christ.” (The word testimony means a statement where you tell what you know.) See the General Comment after 1:20 for a possible way to reorder this information.

Here are other ways to translate this clause:

This was John’s answer (God’s Word)
-or-
Here is the truth John told (New Century Version)

testimony: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as testimony can also be translated as “statement about what one saw.” See the note on 1:7a, where the same word refers to a person, John the Baptist himself. Here it refers to John the Baptist’s message. In some languages it is more natural to use a verb phrase instead of a noun. For example:

John told what he witnessed, saying….
-or-
John declared the truth in this way:

1:19b

when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites: The phrase the Jews here probably refers to the Jewish religious leaders. They lived and worked in the city of Jerusalem. In some languages it is more natural to make it explicit that these Jews were leaders based in Jerusalem. For example:

the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites (New International Version)
-or-
The Jewish authorities in Jerusalem sent some priests and Levites (Good News Translation)
-or-
The leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers (Contemporary English Version)

The priests and the Levites were probably from Jerusalem, in addition to the Jewish leaders. In your translation, you should indicate that they all lived in Jerusalem. Also indicate that the leaders sent a group of priests and Levites from Jerusalem to question John. John was not in Jerusalem, but in a desert where nobody lived.

priests: Jewish priests were men who served God in the temple in Jerusalem. They served as mediators between God and the Jewish people. They offered animal sacrifices to God for the people. The priests also did other religious rituals and were in charge of the ceremonies in the temple. Here are some other ways to translate priests :

sacrificers
-or-
men who offer sacrifices
-or-
men who are representatives of people to God

See also Key Biblical Terms priest, meaning 1.

Levites: The Levites were men who helped the priests in the temple. They were descendants of Levi and therefore were members of the tribe of Levi. Priests were Levites, but also had to be descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother. So all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. In the Bible, the word Levites refers to the descendants of Levi who were not priests. See Levite in Key Biblical Terms. Here are other ways to translate this word:

members of the tribe/clan of Levi
-or-
descendants of Levi
-or-
Temple assistants (New Living Translation (2004))

1:19c

to ask him, “Who are you?”: The pronouns him and you both refer to John the Baptist. The Jewish leaders wanted to know what his authority was; in other words, what right did he have to baptize people.

In some languages it may be better to use indirect speech for this question. For example:

to ask him who he was (New International Version)
-or-
to ask John who he was (Contemporary English Version)

Refer to the General Comment after 1:23 on indirect speech in 1:19–23.

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