Luke 3:1–22

The Ministry of John the Baptist

Matt. 3:1–12; Mark 1:2–8; John 1:19–31

3Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^aPontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²¹while ^bAnnas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to ^cJohn the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ^3dAnd he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ^efor the remission of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying:

^f“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

Make His paths straight.

⁵Every valley shall be filled

And every mountain and hill brought low;

The crooked places shall be made straight

And the rough ways smooth;

⁶And ^gall flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

⁷Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ^h“Brood ²of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore bear fruits ⁱworthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁹And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore ^jevery tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰So the people asked him, saying, ^k“What shall we do then?”

¹¹He answered and said to them, ^l“He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, ^mlet him do likewise.”

¹²Then ⁿtax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

¹³And he said to them, ^o“Collect no more than what is appointed for you.”

¹⁴Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?”

So he said to them, “Do not ³intimidate anyone ^por accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

¹⁵Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, ¹⁶John answered, saying to all, ^q“I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will ^rbaptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and ^sgather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. ^19tBut Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his ⁴brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, ²⁰also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison.

The Baptism of Christ

Matt. 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; John 1:32–34

²¹When all the people were baptized, ^uit came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. ²²And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am ^vwell pleased.”