Luke 3:1–16

The Messiah’s Herald

3In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^vwhile Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, ^wHerod was tetrarch ^xof Galilee, ^yhis brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea ^zand Trachonitis, ^aand Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ^b2during the high priesthood of Annas ^cand Caiaphas, ^dGod’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ^e3He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan, ^fpreaching a baptism of repentance ^gfor the forgiveness of sins, ^h4as 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; ⁱ

the crooked will become straight,

the rough ways smooth,

⁶and everyone ^jwill see the salvation of God. ^kl

⁷He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! ^mWho warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁿ⁸Therefore produce fruit ^oconsistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ ^pfor I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹Even now the ax is ready to strike ^qthe root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” ^r

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

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

¹²Tax collectors ^valso came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ^w

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; be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were debating in their minds ^xwhether John might be the Messiah. ^y16John answered them all, ^z“I baptize you with ^awater, but One is coming who is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptize you with ^bthe Holy Spirit and fire.