²⁴ After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be infants,^(A) tossed back and forth by the waves,^(B) and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.^(C)

² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,^(A) the word of God came to John^(B) son of Zechariah^(C) in the wilderness.

⁸⁰ And the child grew and became strong in spirit^[a];^(A) and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.

¹⁷ Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard^(A) so that you may not be carried away by the error^(B) of the lawless^(C) and fall from your secure position.^(D)

¹⁷ These people are springs without water^(A) and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.^(B)

⁶ But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt,^(A) because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷ That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. ⁸ Such a person is double-minded^(B) and unstable^(C) in all they do.

¹⁷ Was I fickle when I intended to do this? Or do I make my plans in a worldly manner^(A) so that in the same breath I say both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?

¹⁸ But as surely as God is faithful,^(B) our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” ¹⁹ For the Son of God,^(C) Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas^[a](D) and Timothy^(E)—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always^(F) been “Yes.” ²⁰ For no matter how many promises^(G) God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen”^(H) is spoken by us to the glory of God.^(I)

²³ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness,^(A) ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”^[a](B)