The Preaching of John the Baptist

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

⁷ So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “^(K)You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and ^(L)do not begin to say ^[d]to yourselves, ‘^(M)We have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹ But indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, ^(N)every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “^(O)Then what should we do?” ¹¹ And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two ^[e]tunics is to ^(P)share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” ¹² And ^(Q)tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ And he said to them, “^[f]Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” ¹⁴ And soldiers were also questioning him, saying, “What should we also do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or ^(R)extort anyone, and ^(S)be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, ^(T)as to whether he was the ^[g]Christ, ^16 (U)John answered, saying to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His ^(V)winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with ^(W)unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people. ¹⁹ But when ^(X)Herod the tetrarch was reproved by him because of ^(Y)Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which ^(Z)Herod had done, ²⁰ Herod also added this to them all: ^(AA)he locked John up in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

^21 (AB)Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was ^(AC)praying, heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “^(AD)You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

The Genealogy of Jesus

^23 (AE)When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, ^[h]as was supposed,