Matthew 3:1–10

John the Baptist Begins His Ministry

3Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Judean wilderness ²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” ³For this is the one who was spoken about by the prophet Isaiah, saying,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.’ ”^a

⁴Now John himself had his clothing made from camel’s hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they^* confessed their sins.

⁷But when he^* saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! ⁹And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ¹⁰Already now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.