Isaiah 11:1-10

Contemporary English Version

Peace at Last

11 ^(A) Like a branch that sprouts
    from a stump,
someone from David's family^[a]
    will someday be king.
²The Spirit of the Lord
    will be with him
to give him understanding,
    wisdom, and insight.
He will be powerful,
and he will know
    and honor the Lord.
³His greatest joy will be
    to obey the Lord.

This king won't judge
by appearances
    or listen to rumors.
⁴The poor and the needy
will be treated with fairness
    and with justice.
His word will be law
    everywhere in the land,
and criminals
    will be put to death.
⁵^(B) Honesty and fairness
    will be his royal robes.

⁶^(C) Leopards will lie down
    with young goats,
and wolves will rest
    with lambs.
Calves and lions
    will eat together
and be cared for
    by little children.
⁷Cows and bears will share
    the same pasture;
their young will rest
    side by side.
Lions and oxen
    will both eat straw.

⁸Little children will play
near snake holes.
They will stick their hands
into dens of poisonous snakes
and never be hurt.

⁹^(D) Nothing harmful will take place
    on the Lord's holy mountain.
Just as water fills the sea,
    the land will be filled
with people who know
    and honor the Lord.

God's People Will Come Back Home

¹⁰^(E) The time is coming when one of David's descendants^[b] will be the signal for the people of all nations to come together. They will follow his advice, and his own nation will become famous.

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Footnotes

11.1 David's family: Hebrew “Jesse's family.” Jesse was the father of King David.
11.10 David's descendants: Hebrew “Jesse's descendants” (see the note at 11.1).

Matthew 3:1-12

Contemporary English Version

The Preaching of John the Baptist

(Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.1-18; John 1.19-28)

3 Years later, John the Baptist started preaching in the desert of Judea. ²^(A) He said, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven^[a] will soon be here.”^[b]

³^(B) John was the one the prophet Isaiah was talking about, when he said,

“In the desert someone
    is shouting,
‘Get the road ready
    for the Lord!
Make a straight path
    for him.’ ”

⁴^(C) John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.

⁵From Jerusalem and all Judea and from the Jordan River Valley crowds of people went to John. ⁶They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the river.

⁷^(D) Many Pharisees and Sadducees also came to be baptized. But John said to them:

You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment? ⁸Do something to show you have really given up your sins. ⁹^(E) And don't start telling yourselves that you belong to Abraham's family. I tell you that God can turn these stones into children for Abraham. ¹⁰^(F) An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into a fire.

¹¹I baptize you with water so you will give up your sins.^[c] But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals.^[d] He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹²^(G) His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks.^[e] He will store the wheat in a barn and burn the husks in a fire that never goes out.

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Footnotes

3.2 kingdom of heaven: In the Gospel of Matthew “kingdom of heaven” is used with the same meaning as “God's kingdom” in Mark and Luke.
3.2 will soon be here: Or “is already here.”
3.11 so you will give up your sins: Or “because you have given up your sins.”
3.11 carry his sandals: This was one of the duties of a slave.
3.12 His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks: After Jewish farmers had trampled out the grain, they used a large fork to pitch the grain and the husks into the air. Wind would blow away the light husks, and the grain would fall back to the ground, where it could be gathered up.