The Messiah’s Herald

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea,(A) Herod was tetrarch[a] of Galilee,(B) his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas(C) and Caiaphas,(D) God’s word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.(E) He went into all the vicinity of the Jordan,(F) proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,(G) as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah:

A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight!
Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be made low;[b]
the crooked will become straight,
the rough ways smooth,
and everyone will see the salvation of God.[c](H)

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Footnotes

  1. 3:1 Or ruler
  2. 3:5 Lit be humbled
  3. 3:4–6 Is 40:3–5

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

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) during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.(B) He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
    make his paths straight.(C)
Every valley shall be filled,
    and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
    and the rough ways made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”(D)

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