This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I am sending My messenger ahead of You, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
Parallel translations
- WEB For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’
- KJV For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
- BSB This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Behold, I will send My messenger ahead of You, who will prepare Your way before You.’
- NKJV For this is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.’
- NLT John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, and he will prepare your way before you.’
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
John is the prophesied messenger sent ahead to prepare the Messiah's way. Scripture itself defines his role as forerunner of the Lord.
Overview
Jesus applies Malachi 3:1 (with echoes of Exod. 23:20) to John, identifying him as the appointed herald before God's coming. Strikingly, the passage speaks of preparing the way before the Lord, so applying it to John as Jesus' forerunner implies Jesus' divine identity. John's greatness lies in heralding the arrival of the Lord Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Mal 3:1“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Isa 40:3The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.
- Mal 4:5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Yahweh comes.
- Mark 1:2As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you:
- Luke 7:26–27But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet.
- John 1:23He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
- Matt 3:3For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 11:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.