but the angel said to him, "Fear not, Zechariah, your prayer has been heard; your wife Elizabeth will bear a son to you, and you must call his name John.

but the mother told them, "No, the child is to be called John."

and he asked for a writing-tablet and wrote down, "His name is John," to the astonishment of all.

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert;

To the crowds who came out to get baptized by him John said, "You brood of vipers, who told you to flee from the coming Wrath?

Now as people's expectations were roused and as everybody thought to himself about John, "Can he be the Christ,"

John said to them all, "I baptize you with water, but after me one who is mightier will come, and I am not fit to untie the string of his sandals; he will baptize you with the holy Spirit and fire.

crowned all by shutting John up in prison.

as was the case with James and John, the sons of Zebedaeus, who were partners of Simon. Then said Jesus to Simon, "Have no fear; from now your catch will be men."

They said to him, "The disciples of John fast frequently and offer prayers, as do the disciples of the Pharisees; but your adherents eat and drink."

Simon (to whom he gave the name of Peter), Andrew his brother, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,

John's disciples reported all this to him.

So John summoned two of his disciples and sent them to ask the Lord, "Are you the Coming One? Or are we to look out for someone else?"

When the men reached Jesus they said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask if you are the Coming One or if we are to look out for someone else?"

So he replied, "Go and report to John what you have seen and heard; that the blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and to the poor the gospel is preached.

When John's messengers had gone, he proceeded to speak to the crowds about John: "What did you go out to the desert to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

I tell you, among the sons of women there is none greater than John, and yet the least in the Realm of God is greater than he is."

(On hearing this all the people and the taxgatherers acknowledged the justice of God, as they had been baptized with the baptism of John;

For John the Baptist has come, eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a devil';

When he reached the house he would not allow anyone to come in with him except Peter and James and John, and the child's father and mother.

When Herod the tetrarch heard all that was going on, he was quite at a loss; for some said that John had risen from the dead,

Herod said, "John I beheaded. But who is this, of whom I hear such tales?" And he made efforts to see him.

They replied, "John the Baptist, though some say Elijah and some say that one of the ancient prophets has arisen."

It was about eight days after he said this, when he took Peter, John, and James, and went up the hillside to pray.

John said to him, "Master, we saw a man casting out daemons in your name, but we stopped him because he is not a follower of ours."

So when the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, will you have us bid fire come down from heaven and consume them?"

He was praying at a certain place, and when he stopped one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."

The Law and the prophets lasted till John; since then the good news of the Realm of God is preached, and anyone presses in.

did the baptism of John come from heaven or from men?"

And if we say, 'From men,' the whole of the people will stone us, for they are convinced John was a prophet."

So Jesus despatched Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the passover for us that we may eat it."