Luke 3:2–10

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.