John 1:26 (YLT)

Passage

John answered them, saying, `I baptize with water, but in midst of you he hath stood whom ye have not known, this one it is who is coming after me, who hath been before me,

Nearby Context

John 1:24 And those sent were of the Pharisees,

John 1:25 and they questioned him and said to him, `Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?'

John 1:26 John answered them, saying, `I baptize with water, but in midst of you he hath stood whom ye have not known, this one it is who is coming after me, who hath been before me,

John 1:27 of whom I am not worthy that I may loose the cord of his sandal.'

John 1:28 These things came to pass in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing,

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "john", "answered", "saying", "baptize", "water", "midst", "hath", and "stood". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "john" and "answered", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 25's "and they questioned him and said to..." into verse 27's "of whom I am not worthy that...", so "john" and "answered" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "john" and "answered" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.