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.

7 While these were on their way, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see?+ A reed being tossed by the wind?+

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!’+

13 However, the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zech·a·riʹah, because your supplication has been favorably heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.+

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.”+

8 He was not that light,+ but he was meant to bear witness about that light.+