THE MESSIAH’S HERALD

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,z Herod was tetrarchN of Galilee,aa his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annasab and Caiaphas,ac God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.ad 3 He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan,ae proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,af 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

Prepare the way for the Lord;

make his paths straight!

5 Every valley will be filled,

and every mountain and hill will be made low;A

the crooked will become straight,

the rough ways smooth,

6 and everyone will see the salvation of God.B,a