Luke 3:1–16

THE MESSIAH’S HERALD

3In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,^z Herod was tetrarch^C of Galilee,^aa his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas^ab 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!

⁵Every valley will be filled,

and every mountain and hill will be made low;^D

the crooked will become straight,

the rough ways smooth,

⁶and everyone will see the salvation of God.^Ea

⁷He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers!^b Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?^{c 8}Therefore produce fruit^d consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’^e for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. ⁹The ax is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”^f

¹⁰“What then should we do?”^g the crowds were asking him.

¹¹He replied to them, “The one who has two shirts must share with someone who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.”^h

¹²Tax collectorsⁱ also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”^j

¹³He told them, “Don’t collect any more than what you have been authorized.”

¹⁴Some soldiers also questioned him, “What should we do?”

He said to them, “Don’t take money from anyone by force or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were questioning in their hearts whether John might be the Messiah.^{k 16}John answered them all,^l “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with^A the Holy Spirit and fire.