Luke 3:1-9

New American Standard Bible

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, ²in the high priesthood of ^(C)Annas and ^(D)Caiaphas, ^(E)the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. ³And he came into all ^(F)the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance ^[a]for the forgiveness of sins; ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

“^(G)The voice of one calling ^[b]out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!
⁵^(H)Every ravine will be filled,
And every mountain and hill will be lowered;
The crooked will become straight,
And the rough roads smooth;
⁶^(I)And all ^[c]flesh will ^(J)see the salvation of God!’”

⁷So 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? ⁸Therefore 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. ⁹But 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.”