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

¹ In those days John the Baptist appeared, and kept preaching in the desert of Judea, ² and saying, "Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is near." ³ 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.'"

⁴ 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. ⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judea, even the whole Jordan district, continued to go out to him ⁶ and were baptized by him in the Jordan River, as one by one they continued to confess their sins.

⁷ 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? ⁸ Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance you profess, ⁹ 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. ¹⁰ 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.

¹¹ 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; ¹² 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."

¹ The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ. ² As it is written in the prophet Isaiah: "Here I send my messenger ahead of you; He will prepare your way. ³ He is a voice of one who shouts in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make the paths straight for Him.'"

⁴ John the Baptizer appeared in the desert and was preaching a baptism conditioned on repentance to obtain the forgiveness of sins. ⁵ And people from all over Judea and everybody in Jerusalem kept on going out to him and being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins. ⁶ Now John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he used to live on dried locusts and wild honey. ⁷ He kept preaching the following message, "After me there is coming One who is stronger than I am, whose shoes I am not fit to stoop down and untie. ⁸ I have baptized you in water, but He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit."

¹ In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was governor of Galilee, and his brother Philip was governor of the territory of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was governor of Abilene, ² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the message of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the desert. ³ And he went all over the Jordan valley, preaching a baptism conditioned on repentance to obtain the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the sermon-book of the prophet Isaiah: "Here is a voice of one shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord, make the paths straight for Him. ⁵ Every ravine must be filled up, and every mountain and hill leveled down; the crooked places must become straight roads, and the rough roads must be made smooth, ⁶ And all mankind must see the salvation of God.'"

⁷ So he used to say to the crowds that continued to come out there to be baptized by him: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to escape from the wrath that is coming? ⁸ Produce, then, fruit that is consistent with the repentance that you profess, and do not even begin to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our forefather,' for I tell you, God can raise up descendants for Abraham even out of these stones. ⁹ 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."

¹⁰ So the crowds were asking him this question, "What then ought we to do?"

¹¹ He answered them, "The man who has two shirts must share with him who has none, and the man who has food must do the same."

¹² Then even the tax-collectors came to be baptized, and said to him, "Teacher, what ought we to do?"

¹³ So he said to them, "Stop collecting any more than is prescribed for you."

¹⁴ Then some soldiers too were asking him, "What ought we too to do?" So he said to them, "Never extort money from anyone, never make a false accusation, and always be satisfied with your wages."

¹⁵ Now while the people were on tiptoe in their expectations, and they were all arguing in their hearts about John whether he was himself the Christ, ¹⁶ John expressly answered them all, "I am baptizing you in water only, but there is coming the One who is stronger than I am, whose shoestrings I am not fit to untie. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and in fire; ¹⁷ 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 inextinguishable." ¹⁸ So with many and varied exhortations John continued to proclaim the good news to the people. ¹⁹ But Herod the governor, because he was repeatedly reproved by him for Herodias his brother's wife, and for all the wicked deeds that Herod had done, ²⁰ added this on top of it all, that he put John in prison.