Matthew 3:1

Amplified Bible

3 In those days ^[a]John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the Wilderness of Judea [along the western side of the Dead Sea] and saying,

Matthew 3:1 Considered the last of the Old Testament prophets, John the Baptist was the son of Zecharias (Zechariah) the priest and his wife, Elizabeth. Elizabeth and Mary, the mother of Jesus, were related (Luke 1:36), and Mary may have been with Elizabeth at the time John was born (Luke 1:56). John the Baptist is not to be confused with John the Apostle who along with his brother, James, was among the twelve disciples of Jesus.