Matthew 3:1–17

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3:1–12pp—Mk 1:3–8; Lk 3:2–17

3In those days John the Baptist^z came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea ²and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven^a has come near.” ³This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:

“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make straight paths for him.’ ”^ab

⁴John’s^c clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist.^d His food was locusts^e and wild honey. ⁵People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. ⁶Confessing their sins, they were baptized^f by him in the Jordan River.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers!^g Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?^{h 8}Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.^{i 9}And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’^j I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.^k

¹¹“I baptize you with^b water for repentance.^l But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with^c the Holy Spirit^m and fire.^{n 12}His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”^o

The Baptism of Jesus

3:13–17pp—Mk 1:9–11; Lk 3:21,22; Jn 1:31–34

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.^{p 14}But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

¹⁵Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.

¹⁶As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened,^q and he saw the Spirit of God^r descending like a dove and alighting on him. ¹⁷And a voice from heaven^s said, “This is my Son,^t whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”^u