Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

As it is written in the book of the words of Esaias the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

Read full chapter

In the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar’s reign—when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene—

In the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the Word of God [[a]concerning the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God] came to John son of Zachariah in the wilderness (desert).

And he went into all the country round about the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ([b]of hearty amending of their ways, with abhorrence of past wrongdoing) unto the forgiveness of sin.

As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the wilderness [shouting in the desert]: Prepare the way of the Lord, make His beaten paths straight.

Every valley and ravine shall be filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be leveled; and the crooked places shall be made straight, and the rough roads shall be made smooth;

And all mankind shall see (behold and [c]understand and at last acknowledge) the salvation of God (the deliverance from eternal death [d]decreed by God).(A)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Luke 3:2 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
  2. Luke 3:3 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.
  3. Luke 3:6 James Gray and George Adams, Bible Commentary.
  4. Luke 3:6 Joseph Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon.

1-2 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius Caesar, a message came from God to John (the son of Zacharias), as he was living out in the deserts. (Pilate was governor over Judea at that time; Herod, over Galilee; his brother Philip, over Iturea and Trachonitis; Lysanias, over Abilene; and Annas and Caiaphas were high priests.) Then John went from place to place on both sides of the Jordan River, preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God and away from their sins, in order to be forgiven.[a]

In the words of Isaiah the prophet, John was “a voice shouting from the barren wilderness, ‘Prepare a road for the Lord to travel on! Widen the pathway before him! Level the mountains! Fill up the valleys! Straighten the curves! Smooth out the ruts! And then all mankind shall see the Savior sent from God.’”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Luke 3:3 preaching that people should be baptized to show that they had turned to God and away from their sins, in order to be forgiven, or “preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins.”