And as soon as Jesus was baptized, He at once went up out of the water, and look! the heavens opened, and John saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove upon Him,

I am baptizing you in water to picture your repentance. But He that is coming after me is stronger than I am, and I am not fit to carry His shoes. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire;

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John to be baptized by him.

In those days John the Baptist appeared, and kept preaching in the desert of Judea,

Then Jerusalem and all Judea, even the whole Jordan district, continued to go out to him

and a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, my Beloved, in whom I am delighted!"

and saying, "Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near."

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers, who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming?

and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, as one by one they continued to confess their sins.

and do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather? For I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones.

But John tried to prevent Him, by saying, "I have need to be baptized by you, and you come to me!"

This is he who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, when he said: "Here is a voice of one who shouts in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; Make the paths straight for him.'"

His winnowing-fork is in His hand, and He will clean out His threshing-floor and store His wheat in His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with fire that never can be put out."

But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now, for this is the fitting way for both of us to do our full duty to God." Then he yielded to Him.

Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance you profess,

This very John had his clothing made of camel's hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist; his food was dried locusts and wild honey.

Now the axe is already lying at the roots of the trees. Every tree then that fails to bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire.