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 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.’”+

2 Just as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “(Look! I am sending my messenger ahead of you,* who will prepare your way.)+

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.”+

28 You yourselves bear me witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,+ but I have been sent ahead of that one.’+