John the Baptist’s Birth Foretold

^5 (A)In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the ^(B)division of ^[a]Abijah; and he had a wife ^[b]from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶ They were both ^(C)righteous in the sight of God, walking ^(D)blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord. ⁷ And yet they had no child, because Elizabeth was infertile, and they were both advanced in ^[c]years.

⁸ Now it happened that while ^(E)he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division, ⁹ according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot ^(F)to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense. ¹⁰ And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer ^(G)outside at the hour of the incense offering. ¹¹ Now ^(H)an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense. ¹² Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and ^(I)fear ^[d]gripped him. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “^(J)Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^(K)you shall ^[e]name him John. ¹⁴ You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will ^(L)drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit ^[f]while still in his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ And he will ^(M)turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And it is he who will ^(N)go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of ^(O)Elijah, ^(P)to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to ^(Q)make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

¹⁸ Zechariah said to the angel, “How will I know this? For ^(R)I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in her ^[g]years.” ¹⁹ The angel answered and said to him, “I am ^(S)Gabriel, who ^[h](T)stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. ²⁰ And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”

²¹ And meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah, and were wondering at his delay in the temple. ²² But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple, and he repeatedly ^(U)[i]made signs to them, and remained speechless. ²³ When the days of his priestly service were concluded, he went back home.

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹ Now ^[a]at this time Mary set out and went in a hurry to ^(A)the hill country, to a city of Judah, ⁴⁰ and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was ^(B)filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² And she cried out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³ And ^[b]how has it happened to me that the mother of ^(C)my Lord would come to me? ⁴⁴ For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. ⁴⁵ And ^(D)blessed is she who ^[c]believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her ^[d]by the Lord.”

John the Baptist Is Born

⁵⁷ Now the time ^[a]had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son. ⁵⁸ Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had ^[b](A)displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

⁵⁹ And it happened that on ^(B)the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zechariah, ^[c]after his father. ⁶⁰ And yet his mother responded and said, “No indeed; but ^(C)he shall be called John.” ⁶¹ And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name.” ⁶² And they ^[d](D)made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called. ⁶³ And he asked for a tablet and wrote ^[e]as follows, “^(E)His name is John.” And they were all amazed. ^64 (F)And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began speaking in praise of God. ⁶⁵ And fear came on all those who lived around them; and all these matters were being talked about in ^(G)the entire hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶ All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For indeed ^(H)the hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah’s Prophecy

⁶⁷ And his father Zechariah ^(I)was filled with the Holy Spirit and ^(J)prophesied, saying:

^80 (AE)Now the child grew and was becoming strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

John the Baptist Preaches

3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when ^(A)Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and ^(B)Herod was tetrarch of Galilee and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, ² in the high priesthood of ^(C)Annas and ^(D)Caiaphas, ^(E)the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. ³ And he came into all ^(F)the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ^[a]for the forgiveness of sins; ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

⁷ So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “^(K)You ^[d]offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits that are consistent with repentance, and ^(L)do not start saying ^[e]to yourselves, ‘^(M)We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ But indeed the axe is already being laid at the root of the trees; so ^(N)every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “^(O)Then what are we to do?” ¹¹ And he would answer and say to them, “The one who has two ^[f]tunics is to ^(P)share with the one who has none; and the one who has food is to do likewise.” ¹² Now even ^(Q)tax collectors came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what are we to do?” ¹³ And he said to them, “^[g]Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” ¹⁴ And soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “What are we to do, we as well?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone, nor ^[h](R)harass anyone, and ^(S)be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they all were thinking carefully in their hearts about John, ^(T)whether he himself perhaps was the ^[i]Christ, ^16 (U)John responded to them all, saying, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but He is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the straps of His sandals; He will baptize you ^[j]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His ^(V)winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with ^(W)unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. ¹⁹ But when ^(X)Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him regarding ^(Y)Herodias, his brother’s wife, and regarding all the evil things which ^(Z)Herod had done, ²⁰ Herod also added this to them all: ^(AA)he locked John up in prison.

Jesus Is Baptized

^21 (AB)Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while He was ^(AC)praying, heaven was opened,

The Messengers from John

^18 (A)The disciples of John also reported to him about all these things. ¹⁹ And after summoning ^[a]two of his disciples, John sent them to ^(B)the Lord, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to ^[b]look for another?” ²⁰ When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, ^[c]to ask, ‘Are You the Coming One, or are we to ^[d]look for another?’” ²¹ At that very ^[e]time He ^(C)cured many people of diseases and ^(D)afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. ²² And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: people who were ^(E)blind receive sight, people who limped walk, people with leprosy are cleansed and people who were deaf hear, dead people are raised up, and ^(F)people who are poor have the gospel preached to them. ²³ And blessed is ^[f]anyone who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴ When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the ^[g]wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^25 [h]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces! ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written:

²⁸ I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is ^[j]least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged ^(H)God’s justice, ^(I)having been baptized with ^(J)the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the ^[k](K)lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by ^[l]John.

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist has come neither ^(L)eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[m]heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and ^[n]sinners!’ ³⁵ And yet wisdom ^(M)is vindicated by all her children.”

Ministry of the Twelve

9 ^(A)Now He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons, and the power to heal diseases. ² And He sent them out to ^(B)proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. ³ And He said to them, “^(C)Take nothing for your journey, ^(D)neither a staff, nor a ^[a]bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have two ^[b]tunics. ⁴ And whatever house you enter, stay there ^[c]until you leave that city. ⁵ And as for all who do not receive you, when you leave that city, ^(E)shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ And as they were leaving, they began going ^[d]throughout the villages, ^(F)preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

^7 (G)Now ^(H)Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that ^(I)John had risen from the dead, ⁸ and by some that ^(J)Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. ⁹ Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And ^(K)he kept trying to see Him.

^10 (L)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. ^(M)And taking them with Him, He withdrew privately to a city called ^(N)Bethsaida.

Instruction about Prayer

11 It happened that while ^[a]Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”