This is the one who was mentioned by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the road for the Lord,
Make His highways straight (level, direct)!’”

And He said to them, “Follow Me [as My disciples, accepting Me as your Master and Teacher and walking the same path of life that I walk], and I will make you fishers of men.”

leave your offering there at the altar and go. First make peace with your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.

so that you may [show yourselves to] be the children of your Father who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on those who are evil and on those who are good, and makes the rain fall on the righteous [those who are morally upright] and the unrighteous [the unrepentant, those who oppose Him].

This is the one of whom it is written [by the prophet Malachi],

‘Behold, I send My messenger ahead of You,
Who will prepare Your way before You.’

All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Son except the Father; and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son [deliberately] wills to reveal Him.

and warned them not to tell [publicly] who He was.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is recognized and judged by its fruit.

Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and make their home there. And the last condition of that man becomes worse than the first. So will it also be with this wicked generation.”

It is not what goes into the mouth of a man that defiles and dishonors him, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles and dishonors him.”

But whatever [word] comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this is what defiles and dishonors the man.

These are the things which defile and dishonor the man; but eating with [ceremonially] unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

“Again I say to you, that if two believers on earth agree [that is, are of one mind, in harmony] about anything that they ask [within the will of God], it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.

They do all their deeds to be seen by men; for they make their phylacteries (tefillin) wide [to make them more conspicuous] and make their tassels long.

[Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you swallow up widows’ houses, and to cover it up you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation.]

“Woe to you, [self-righteous] scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte (convert to Judaism), and when he becomes a convert, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

You [spiritually] blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?

“So when you see the abomination of desolation [the appalling sacrilege that astonishes and makes desolate], spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader understand),

The high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Have You no answer to give? What is it that these men are testifying against You?”

Pilate said to them, “You have a guard [of soldiers]; go [with them], make the tomb as secure as you know how.”

And if the governor (Pilate) hears about it, we will calm him down and keep you out of trouble.”

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,