²⁶ so they went to John and told him, “Rabbi,^[a] the man who was with you on the other side^[b] of the Jordan, the one about whom you testified—look, he’s baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷ John replied, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves are my^[c] witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah,^[d] but I have been sent ahead of him.’