John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹hIn those days iJohn the Baptist came preaching in jthe wilderness of Judea, ²k“Repent, for lthe kingdom of heaven is at hand.”1 ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

m“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

n‘Prepare2 the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.’”

⁴Now John wore oa garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was plocusts and qwild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, rconfessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of sthe Pharisees and tSadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, u“You brood of vvipers! Who warned you to flee from wthe wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruit xin keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, y‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from zthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. aEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹b“I baptize you with water cfor repentance, but dhe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ewith the Holy Spirit and ffire. ¹²His gwinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and hgather his wheat into the barn, ibut the chaff he will burn with junquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³kThen Jesus came lfrom Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴mJohn would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, othe heavens were opened to him,3 and he psaw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, qa voice from heaven said, r“This is my beloved Son,4 with whom I am well pleased.”