John 1:31
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing in water.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
I myself had no knowledge of him, but I came giving baptism with water so that he might be seen openly by Israel.
Webster's Revision
And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with 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."
English Revised Version (ERV)
And I knew him not; but that he should be made manifest to Israel, for this cause came I baptizing with water.
Definitions for John 1:31
Clarke's John 1:31 Bible Commentary
And I knew him not, etc. - John did not know our Lord personally, and perhaps had never seen him, at the time he spoke the words in John 1:15. Nor is it any wonder that the Baptist should have been unacquainted with Christ, as he had spent thirty years in the hill country of Hebron, and our Lord remained in a state of great privacy in the obscure city of Nazareth, in the extreme borders of Galilee.
But that he should be made manifest to Israel - One design of my publicly baptizing was, that he, coming to my baptism, should be shown to be what he is, by some extraordinary sign from heaven.
Barnes's John 1:31 Bible Commentary
I knew him not - John was not personally acquainted with Jesus. Though they were remotely related to each other, yet it seems that they had had heretofore no personal acquaintance. John had lived chiefly in the hill country of Judea. Jesus had been employed with Joseph at Nazareth. Until Jesus came to be baptized Matthew 3:13-14, it seems that John had no acquaintance with him. He understood that he was to announce that the Messiah was about to appear. He was sent to proclaim his coming, but he did not personally know Jesus, or that he was to be the Messiah. This proves that there could have been no collusion or agreement between them to impose on the people.
Should be made manifest - That the Messiah should be "exhibited," or made known. He came to prepare the way for the Messiah, and it now appeared that the Messiah was Jesus of Nazareth.
To Israel - To the Jews.
Wesley's John 1:31 Bible Commentary
1:31 I knew him not - Till he came to be baptized. How surprising is this; considering how nearly they were related, and how remarkable the conception and birth of both had been. But there was a peculiar providence visible in our Saviour's living, from his infancy to his baptism, at Nazareth: John all the time living the life of a hermit in the deserts of Judea, 1:80 , ninety or more miles from Nazareth: hereby that acquaintance was prevented which might have made John's testimony of Christ suspected.