²⁵ Then a controversy about ritual purification sprang up between a certain Jew^[a] and John’s disciples, ²⁶ so they went to John and told him, “Rabbi,^[b] the man who was with you on the other side^[c] of the Jordan, the one about whom you testified—look, he’s baptizing, and everyone is going to him!”

²⁷ John replied, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to them from heaven.