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New Testament
Luke 3:1-18
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
31In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene— 2during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 3He went into the whole region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4Just as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
“Prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight.
5Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low.
The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.
7So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. 9Even now the ax is ready to strike[] the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?”
11He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”
12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.”
14Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”
15The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ. 16John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” 18Then with many other words, he appealed to them and was preaching good news to the people.
Footnotes
- 3:6 Or all flesh
- 3:6 Isaiah 40:3-5
- 3:9 strike Literally is placed against