Luke 3:1-18
Legacy Standard Bible
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,
“(G)The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
‘Make ready the way of the [a]Lord,
Make His paths straight.
5 (H)Every ravine will be filled,
And every mountain and hill will be [b]brought low;
The crooked will be straight,
And the rough roads smooth.
6 (I)And all [c]flesh will (J)see the salvation of God.’”
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.
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