John the Baptist Preaches

1 Now 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,

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

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

4 as 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 Lord,

Make His paths straight.

5 ‘aEvery ravine will be filled,

And every mountain and hill will be 1brought low;

The crooked will become straight,

And the rough roads smooth;

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

7 So he began 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 “Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so aevery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

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

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

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

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

14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or aaccuse anyone falsely, and bbe content with your wages.”

15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were 1wondering in their hearts about John, aas to whether he was 2the Christ,

16 aJohn answered and said 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 thong of His sandals; He will baptize you 1with the Holy Spirit and fire.

17 “His awinnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with bunquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.