The Proclamation of John the Baptist

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene,^{(A) 2} during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.^{(B) 3} He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

¹⁵ As the people were filled with expectation and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah,^{[a](A) 16} John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with^[b] the Holy Spirit and fire.^{(B) 17} His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”^(C)

¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people. ¹⁹ But Herod the ruler, who had been rebuked by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things that Herod had done,^{(D) 20} added to them all by shutting up John in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

²¹ Now when all the people were baptized and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened,^{(E) 22} and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved;^[c] with you I am well pleased.”^[d](F)

The Ancestors of Jesus

²³ Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli,^(G)