Passage

John 1.21

Book: John · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"19. And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? 20. And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ."

"21. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he saith, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No."

"22. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet." (John 1:19-23, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"19. This is John’s testimony, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20. He declared, and didn’t deny, but he declared, “I am not the Christ.”"

"21. They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”"

"22. They said therefore to him, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23. He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”" (John 1:19-23, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"19. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? 20. And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ."

"21. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No. ^{that prophet: or, a prophet?}"

"22. Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? 23. He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias." (John 1:19-23, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"19. And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent out of Jerusalem priests and Levites, that they might question him, 'Who art thou?' 20. and he confessed and did not deny, and confessed, 'I am not the Christ.'"

"21. And they questioned him, 'What then? Elijah art thou?' and he saith, 'I am not.', 'The prophet art thou?' and he answered, 'No.'"

"22. They said then to him, 'Who art thou, that we may give an answer to those sending us? what dost thou say concerning thyself?' 23. He said, 'I [am] a voice of one crying in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet.'" (John 1:19-23, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

Quoted in

Reincarnation

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.