¹⁷ ·He will come ready [^LThe winnowing fork is in his hand] to ·clean the grain, separating the good grain from the chaff [^Lclear his threshing floor]. He will put ·the good part of the grain [^Lthe grain/wheat] into his ·barn [storehouse], but he will burn the chaff with ·a fire that cannot be put out [never-ending/unquenchable fire; ^Ca metaphor for judgment, when Jesus will separate the righteous from the wicked].” ¹⁸ And John continued to preach the ·Good News [Gospel], saying many other things to ·encourage [exhort] the people.

¹⁹ But John ·spoke against [criticized; rebuked] Herod [^CAntipas], the ·governor [^Ltetrarch; 3:1], ·because of his sin with [^Lconcerning] Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother [^CHerod had divorced his wife and illicitly married the wife of his brother Philip; Lev. 18:16], and because of the many other evil things Herod did.