John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of jTiberius Caesar, kPontius Pilate lbeing governor of Judea, and mHerod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during nthe high priesthood of Annas and oCaiaphas, pthe word of God came to qJohn the son of Zechariah in rthe wilderness. ³And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming sa baptism of repentance tfor the forgiveness of sins. ⁴As it is written in uthe book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

v“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

w‘Prepare the way of the Lord,1

make his paths straight.

⁵xEvery valley shall be filled,

yand every mountain and hill shall be made low,

zand the crooked shall become straight,

and the rough places shall become level ways,

⁶aand all flesh shall see bthe salvation of God.’”

⁷He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, c“You brood of dvipers! Who warned you to flee from ethe wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits fin keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, g‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from hthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. iEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds asked him, j“What then shall we do?” ¹¹And he answered them, k“Whoever has two tunics2 is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ¹²lTax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, jwhat shall we do?” ¹³And he said to them, m“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, jwhat shall we do?” And he said to them, m“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your nwages.”

¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, owhether he might be pthe Christ, ¹⁶qJohn answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but rhe who is mightier than I is coming, sthe strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you twith the Holy Spirit and ufire. ¹⁷His vwinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to wgather the wheat into his barn, xbut the chaff he will burn with yunquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So zwith many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹But aHerod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added this to them all, that bhe locked up John in prison.

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