John 1:31
New International Version
I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

New Living Translation
I did not recognize him as the Messiah, but I have been baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”

English Standard Version
I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Berean Standard Bible
I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

Berean Literal Bible
And I did not know Him. But so that He might be revealed to Israel, because of this, I came baptizing with water."

King James Bible
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

New King James Version
I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”

New American Standard Bible
And I did not recognize Him, but so that He would be revealed to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”

NASB 1995
“I did not recognize Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”

NASB 1977
“And I did not recognize Him, but in order that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”

Legacy Standard Bible
I did not know Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing with water.”

Amplified Bible
I did not recognize Him [as the Messiah]; but I came baptizing in water so that He would be [publicly] revealed to Israel.”

Christian Standard Bible
I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.”

Holman Christian Standard Bible
I didn’t know Him, but I came baptizing with water so He might be revealed to Israel.”

American Standard Version
And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
“And I did not know him, but so that he should be made known to Israel, therefore I have come to baptize in water.”

Contemporary English Version
I didn't know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I knew him not, but that he may be made manifest in Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

English Revised Version
And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing with water.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I didn't know who he was. However, I came to baptize with water to show him to the people of Israel."

Good News Translation
I did not know who he would be, but I came baptizing with water in order to make him known to the people of Israel."

International Standard Version
I didn't recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel."

Literal Standard Version
and I did not know Him, but that He might be revealed to Israel, because of this I came immersing in water.”

Majority Standard Bible
I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”

New American Bible
I did not know him, but the reason why I came baptizing with water was that he might be made known to Israel.”

NET Bible
I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel."

New Revised Standard Version
I myself did not know him; but I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel.”

New Heart English Bible
I did not know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water: that he would be revealed to Israel."

Webster's Bible Translation
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

Weymouth New Testament
I did not yet know Him; but that He may be openly shown to Israel is the reason why I have come baptizing in water."

World English Bible
I didn’t know him, but for this reason I came baptizing in water, that he would be revealed to Israel.”

Young's Literal Translation
and I knew him not, but, that he might be manifested to Israel, because of this I came with the water baptizing.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jesus the Lamb of God
30This is He of whom I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.’ 31I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.” 32Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him.…

Cross References
Matthew 3:13
At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.

John 1:30
This is He of whom I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.'

John 1:32
Then John testified, "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him.


Treasury of Scripture

And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.

I knew.

John 1:33
And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.

Luke 1:80
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.

Luke 2:39-42
And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth…

but.

John 1:7
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

Isaiah 40:3-5
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God…

Malachi 3:1
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

therefore.

Matthew 3:6
And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Mark 1:3-5
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight…

Luke 3:3,4
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins; …

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John 1
1. The divinity, humanity, office, and incarnation of Jesus Christ.
15. The testimony of John.
39. The calling of Simon and Andrew, Philip and Nathanael














(31) And I knew him not.--Better, and I also knew Him not; so again in John 1:33. The reference is to "whom ye know not" of John 1:26, and the assertion is not, therefore, inconsistent with the fact that John did know Him on His approach to baptism (Matthew 3:13, see Note). In the sense that they did not know Him standing among them, he did not know Him, though with the incidents of His birth and earlier years and even features he must have been familiar. It cannot be that the Son of Mary was unknown to the son of Elizabeth, though One had dwelt in Nazareth and the other "was in the deserts till the day of his showing unto Israel" (Luke 1:80; Luke 2:51). He knew not all, but there must have been many wondering thoughts of that wondrous life. Could it be the life that all looked for? but no; there was little of the Jewish idea of the Messiah in the carpenter of a country village (comp. Mark 6:3). What he did know was, that his own work as herald declared "that He should be made manifest to Israel," and in that conviction he proclaimed the coming King, and began the Messianic baptism. The Person would be His own witness. Heaven would give its own sign to those who could spiritually read it. The Baptiser with the Spirit would Himself be so fully baptised with the Spirit coming upon and dwelling in Him, that to the spiritual eye it would take visual form and be seen "as a dove descending from heaven." . . . Verses 31-34. -

(3) The purpose of John's own mission was to introduce to Israel the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost. Verse 31. - And I for my part knew him not. This is thought by some to be incompatible with the statement of Matthew 3:14, where the Baptist displayed sufficient knowledge of Jesus to have exclaimed, "I have need to be baptized of thee." Early commentators, e.g. Ammonius, quoted in 'Catena Patrum,' suggested that John's long residence in the wilderness had prevented his knowing his kinsman; Chrysostom, 'Hom. 16. in Joannem,' urged that he was not familiar with his person; Epiphanius, 'Adv. Haer.,' 30, and Justin Martyr, 'Dial.,' 100, 88, refer to a long passage in the 'Gospel of the Ebionites,' which, notwithstanding numerous perversions, yet suggests a method of conciliation of the two narratives, that the sign of the opening heavens and the voice occasioned the consternation of John, and explains his deprecation of the act which he had already performed (see my 'John the Baptist,' pp. 313, 314; Nicholson, 'Gospel according to the Hebrews,' pp. 38-40). Neander has suggested the true explanation: "In contradistinction to that which John now saw in the Divine light, all his previous knowledge appeared to be a non-knowledge." John knew of Jesus, as his kinsman; he knew him as One mightier than himself - One whose coming, as compared with his own, was as the coming of the Lord. When Jesus approached him for baptism, John therefore knew quite enough to make him hesitate to baptize the Christ. He knew more than enough to induce him to say, "I have need to be baptized of thee." Godet imagines that, since baptism was preceded by confession, John found that the confession made by Jesus was of such a lofty, saintly, God-like type of repudiation of sin, as that John himself had never attained to. This representation fails from attributing to John the function of a sacerdotal confessor of later days, and is out of harmony altogether with the meaning and potency of our Lord's confession of the sin of the whole of that human nature which he had taken upon himself. The knowledge which John had of Jesus was as nothing to the blaze of light which burst upon him when he realized the idea that Jesus was the Son of God. The "I knew him not" of this verse was a subsequent reflection of the Baptist when the sublime humility, the dovelike sweetness, and the spiritual might of Jesus were revealed to him. A blind man who had received his sight during the hours of darkness might imagine, when he saw the reflected glory of the moon or morning star in the eye of dawn, that he knew the nature and had felt the glory of light; but amidst the splendours of sunrise or of noon he might justly say, "I knew it not" (compare the language of Paul, Philippians 3:10, and of this same evangelist, Revelation 1:17. See Archdeacon Farrar's 'Life of Christ,' vol. 1:117; my 'John the Baptist,' p. 315). But that he should be manifested to Israel, for this cause I came baptizing in (with) water. It was traditionally expected that Elijah should anoint Messiah. John perceives now the transitional nature of his own mission. His baptism retires into the background. He sees that its whole meaning was the introduction of Messiah, the manifestation of the Son of God to Israel. It may be said that the ministry of the wilderness, with the vast impression it produced, is represented by the synoptists as of more essential importance in itself. John's own judgment, however, here recorded, is the true key to the whole representation. The synoptic narrative shows very clearly that, as a matter of fact, the Johannine ministry culminated at the baptism of Jesus, and lost itself in the dawn of the great day which it inaugurated and heralded. The Fourth Gospel does but give the rationale of such an arrangement, and refer the origin of the idea to John himself. If John did not intensify the sense of sin which Messiah was to soothe and take away; if John did not, by baptism with water, excite a desire for an infinitely nobler and more precious baptism; if John did not prepare a way for One of vastly more moment to mankind and to the kingdom of God than himself, - his whole work was a failure. In that John saw his own relation to the Christ - he saw his own place in the dispensations of Providence.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
I myself
κἀγὼ (kagō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2504: To also, I too, but I. From kai and ego; so also the dative case kamoi, and accusative case kame and I, me.

{did} not
οὐκ (ouk)
Adverb
Strong's 3756: No, not. Also ouk, and ouch a primary word; the absolute negative adverb; no or not.

know
ᾔδειν (ēdein)
Verb - Pluperfect Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1492: To know, remember, appreciate.

Him,
αὐτόν (auton)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons.

but
ἀλλ’ (all’)
Conjunction
Strong's 235: But, except, however. Neuter plural of allos; properly, other things, i.e. contrariwise.

the reason
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

I
ἐγὼ (egō)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 1st Person Singular
Strong's 1473: I, the first-person pronoun. A primary pronoun of the first person I.

came
ἦλθον (ēlthon)
Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular
Strong's 2064: To come, go.

baptizing
βαπτίζων (baptizōn)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 907: Lit: I dip, submerge, but specifically of ceremonial dipping; I baptize.

with
ἐν (en)
Preposition
Strong's 1722: In, on, among. A primary preposition denoting position, and instrumentality, i.e. A relation of rest; 'in, ' at, on, by, etc.

water
ὕδατι (hydati)
Noun - Dative Neuter Singular
Strong's 5204: Water. And genitive case, hudatos, etc. From the base of huetos; water literally or figuratively.

[was] that
ἵνα (hina)
Conjunction
Strong's 2443: In order that, so that. Probably from the same as the former part of heautou; in order that.

He might be revealed
φανερωθῇ (phanerōthē)
Verb - Aorist Subjunctive Passive - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 5319: To make clear (visible, manifest), make known. From phaneros; to render apparent.

to Israel.”
Ἰσραὴλ (Israēl)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 2474: Of Hebrew origin; Israel, the adopted name of Jacob, including his descendants.


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NT Gospels: John 1:31 I didn't know him but for this (Jhn Jo Jn)
John 1:30
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