“Who are you, then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?” “No, I am not,” John answered. “Are you the Prophet?” they asked. “No,” he replied.
“But before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes, I will send you the prophet Elijah.
and if you are willing to believe their message, John is Elijah, whose coming was predicted.
“Some say John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say Elijah, while others say Jeremiah or some other prophet.”
“This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee,” the crowds answered.
He will go ahead of the Lord, strong and mighty like the prophet Elijah. He will bring fathers and children together again; he will turn disobedient people back to the way of thinking of the righteous; he will get the Lord's people ready for him.”
“Then tell us who you are,” they said. “We have to take an answer back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
then asked John, “If you are not the Messiah nor Elijah nor the Prophet, why do you baptize?”
Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said, “Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!”
Some of the people in the crowd heard him say this and said, “This man is really the Prophet!”