Discovery BoxJohn 1:23 
Context1:23 John 1 said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight 2 the way for the Lord,’ 3 as Isaiah the prophet said.”
John 1:26-27
Context1:26 John answered them, 4 “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, 5 1:27 who is coming after me. I am not worthy 6 to untie the strap 7 of his sandal!”
1 tn Grk “He”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 sn This call to “make straight” is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.
3 sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.
4 tn Grk “answered them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
5 tn Or “know.”
6 tn Grk “of whom I am not worthy.”
sn The humility of John is evident in the statement I am not worthy. This was considered one of the least worthy tasks of a slave, and John did not consider himself worthy to do even that for the one to come, despite the fact he himself was a prophet.
7 tn The term refers to the leather strap or thong used to bind a sandal. This is often viewed as a collective singular and translated as a plural, “the straps of his sandals,” but it may be more emphatic to retain the singular here.
