Luke 3:1–20

The Messiah’s Herald

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, v while Pontius * Pilate was governor of Judea, w * Herod was tetrarch x of Galilee, y his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea z and Trachonitis, a and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, b 2 during the high priesthood of Annas c and Caiaphas, d God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. e 3 He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan, f preaching a baptism of repentance g for the forgiveness of sins, h 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; i

the crooked will become straight,

the rough ways smooth,

6 and everyone j will see the salvation of God. k l

7 He then said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! m Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? n 8 Therefore produce fruit o consistent with repentance. And don’t start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ p for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 9 Even now the ax is ready to strike q the 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?” s the crowds were asking him.

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

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

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

14 Some 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.”

15 Now the people were waiting expectantly, and all of them were debating in their minds x whether John might be the * Messiah. y 16 John answered them all, z “I baptize you with a water, 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 b the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing shovel c d is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn, e but the chaff He will burn up with a fire that never goes out.” f 18 Then, along with many other exhortations, he proclaimed good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, g being rebuked by him about Herodias, his brother’s wife, and about all the evil things Herod had done, h 20 added this to everything else—he locked John up in prison. i