Matthew 3:1-12 - John The Baptist Begins His Ministry

¹ And in those days John the immerser comes, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ² Repent ye, for the kingdom of the heavens has approached. ³ For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of a man crying in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of Lord. Make his paths straight.

⁴ Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leather belt about his waist. And his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region of the Jordan went out to him, ⁶ and they were immersed by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his immersion, he said to them, Ye offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance. ⁹ And think not to say within yourselves, We have a father, Abraham. For I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ And even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.

¹¹ I indeed immerse you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He will immerse you in a Holy Spirit. ¹² Whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. And he will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.

¹ The beginning of the good-news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. ² As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who will prepare thy way before thee. ³ The voice of a man crying out in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of Lord. Make his paths straight.

⁴ It came to pass, that John was immersing in the wilderness and preaching an immersion of repentance for remission of sins. ⁵ And all the land of Judea and the Jerusalemites went out to him, and they were all immersed by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶ And John was clothed with camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and eating locusts and wild honey. ⁷ And he preached, saying, A man mightier than I comes after me of whom I am not worthy, having stooped down, to loosen the strap of his shoes. ⁸ I indeed immersed you in water, but he will immerse you in Holy Spirit.

¹ Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip being tetrarch of the region belonging to Ituraea, and of the region of ² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God became in John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ³ And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching an immersion of repentance for remission of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, which says, The voice of a man crying out in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of Lord. Make his paths straight. ⁵ Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked things will be into straight and the rough into smooth ways. ⁶ And all flesh will see the salvation of God.

⁷ He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be immersed by him, Ye offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, We have a father, Abraham. For I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹ And even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore not making good fruit is cut down, and cast into fire.

¹⁰ And the crowds questioned him, saying, What then shall we do?

¹¹ And having answered, he says to them, He who has two coats, let him share with him not having, and he who has food, let him do likewise.

¹² And tax collectors also came to be immersed, and they said to him, Teacher, what should we do?

¹³ And he said to them, Collect not one thing more than from what has been appointed for you.

¹⁴ And men who were soldiers also questioned him, saying, And we, what should we do? And he said to them, Do violence to no man, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.

¹⁵ And as the people were expectant, and all pondering in their hearts about John, if perhaps he was the Christ, ¹⁶ John responded, saying to them all, I indeed immerse you in water, but a man mightier than I comes, of whom I am not worthy to unloose the strap of his shoes. He will immerse you in Holy Spirit and fire, ¹⁷ whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. ¹⁸ Indeed therefore, also exhorting the people with many other things, he preached the good-news. ¹⁹ But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him about Herodias his brother's wife, and about all of which evil things Herod had done, ²⁰ also added this to them all, he even locked up John in prison.