Luke 7:24-30

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

²⁴ When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus^[a] began to speak to the crowds about John:^[b] ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵ What then did you go out to see? Someone^[c] dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶ What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written,

²⁸ I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’ ²⁹ (And all the people who heard this, including the tax-collectors, acknowledged the justice of God,^[d] because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. ³⁰ But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.)