Luke 3:1–16

The Preaching of John the Baptist

¹Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when ^aPontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and ^bHerod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,

²during the high priesthood of ^aAnnas and ^bCaiaphas, ^cthe word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

³And he came into all ^athe district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;

⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“^aThe voice of one crying in the wilderness,

‘Make ready the way of the ¹Lord,

Make His paths straight.

⁵‘^aEvery ravine will be filled,

And every mountain and hill will be ¹brought low;

The crooked will be straight,

And the rough roads smooth.

^6aAnd all ¹flesh will ^bsee the salvation of God.’”

⁷So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “^aYou brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

⁸“Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and ^ado not begin to say ¹to yourselves, ‘^bWe have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

⁹“But indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, ^aevery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “^aThen what should we do?”

¹¹And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two ¹tunics is to ^ashare with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.”

¹²And ^atax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³And he said to them, “¹Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”

¹⁴And soldiers were also questioning him, saying, “What should we also do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or ^aextort anyone, and ^bbe content with your wages.”

¹⁵Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, ^aas to whether he was the ¹Christ,

^16aJohn answered, saying to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.