John 1:26

26 “I baptize with^[a] water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.

John 1:26 in Other Translations

26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

26 John answered them, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,

26 John told them, “I baptize with water, but right here in the crowd is someone you do not recognize.

26 John answered, "I only baptize using water. A person you don't recognize has taken his stand in your midst.

26 John answered them, saying, I baptize in water: in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not,

26 John answered them, "I baptize with water. Someone you don't know is standing among you.

26 "I baptize with water," John answered them. "Someone stands among you, but you don't know [Him].

26 "I baptize people with water," John replied. "But One is standing among you whom you do not know.

John 1:26 Meaning and Commentary

John 1:26

John answered them, saying, I baptize with water
Or in water, so the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions render it. The sense of the answer is, that he indeed baptized persons in water, which was all that he could do, or pretended to do; and he owned, that this was a new rite, and that he was the administrator of a new ordinance; but he suggests, as may be supplied from ( Matthew 3:11 ) that there was one at hand, and even now among them, that should baptize, and so it is read in one of Stephens's copies here, in the Holy Ghost, and in fire; and it was by his authority, by a commission he had received from him, that he baptized in water; and that his speedy manifestation and appearance as the Messiah, which would be confirmed by his power of baptizing in the Holy Ghost, and by his ministry and miracles, would be a sufficient vindication of his conduct, and support him in his administration of water baptism: but there standeth one among you;
or "hath stood", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; referring, not to his being among them at twelve years of age, but a few days ago when he came to John to be baptized, and was baptized by him; for from ( John 1:29 ) it is plain he was not now, or "today", as Nounus expresses it, standing in the midst of them. The Ethiopic version renders it, there is one about to stand among you, as he did the next day: though the meaning of the phrase may only be, that he was then in being, and dwelt somewhere among them, and not that he was personally present at that time: whom ye know not;
neither from whence he is, nor who he is, or what is his work and office; neither the dignity of his person, nor the end of his coming into the world, nor the nature of his business in it.

John 1:26 In-Context

24 Now the Pharisees who had been sent

25 questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands one you do not know.

27 He is the one who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”

28 This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Cross References

• 1. S Mark 1:4

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "in" ; also in verses 31 and 33 (twice)