You yourselves is emphatic in the Greek sentence. The reference is perhaps to the disciples of John the Baptist, though others may also be included.

You yourselves are my witnesses may be rendered “you yourself heard me say” or “you yourself can declare what I said.” For further comments on the meaning of “witness,” see the discussion on 1.7.

For the statement I am not the Messiah, see 1.20.

The agent of the passive expression I have been sent is God; that is, “God has sent me.”

The phrase ahead of him may be understood in purely spatial terms, but the significance here is essentially temporal, that is, “God sent me before he came along” or “God sent me earlier than Jesus.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .