¹¹ He answered, “Elijah does come, and ^(A)he will restore all things.

^21 (A)whom heaven must receive until the time for ^(B)restoring all the things about which ^(C)God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.

¹⁶ And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, ¹⁷ and ^(A)he will go before him ^(B)in the spirit and power of Elijah, ^(C)to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and ^(D)the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ^(E)to make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

⁶ And he will ^(A)turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and ^(B)strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”^[a]

³ And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming ^(A)a baptism of repentance ^(B)for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ As it is written in ^(C)the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

⁷ He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ^(K)“You brood of ^(L)vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(M)the wrath to come? ⁸ Bear fruits ^(N)in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ^(O)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from ^(P)these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^(Q)Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ And the crowds asked him, ^(R)“What then shall we do?” ¹¹ And he answered them, ^(S)“Whoever has two tunics^[b] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ^12 (T)Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, ^(U)what shall we do?” ¹³ And he said to them, ^(V)“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴ Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ^(W)what shall we do?” And he said to them, ^(X)“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ^(Y)wages.”