3 “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will clear up* a way before me.+ And suddenly the true Lord, whom you are seeking, will come to his temple;+ and the messenger of the covenant will come, in whom you take delight. Look! He will certainly come,” says Jehovah of armies.

3 In those days John+ the Baptist came preaching+ in the wilderness of Ju·deʹa,

3 This, in fact, is the one spoken of through Isaiah+ the prophet+ in these words: “A voice of one calling out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of Jehovah! Make his roads straight.’”+

10 This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Look! I am sending my messenger* ahead of you,* who will prepare your way ahead of you!’+

17 Also, he will go ahead of him with E·liʹjah’s spirit and power,+ to turn back the hearts of fathers to children+ and the disobedient ones to the practical wisdom of righteous ones, in order to get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.”+

4 just as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “A voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of Jehovah! Make his roads straight.+ 5 Every valley must be filled up, and every mountain and hill leveled; the crooked ways must become straight, and the rough ways smooth; 6 and all flesh* will see the salvation of God.’”*+

27 This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you,* who will prepare your way ahead of you.’+