Matthew 3New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Preaching of John the Baptist

3 Now in those days John the Baptist *^[a]came, ^[b]preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven ^[c]is at hand.” ³ For this is the one referred to ^[d]by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

⁴ Now John himself had ^[f]a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; ⁹ and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰ The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “As for me, I baptize you ^[g]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you ^[h]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus *arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴ But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?” ¹⁵ But Jesus answering said to him, “Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *permitted Him. ¹⁶ After being baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and ^[i]he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and ^[j]lighting on Him, ¹⁷ and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is ^[k]My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”

Matthew 14:1-13New American Standard Bible (NASB)

John the Baptist Beheaded

14 At that ^[a]time Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, ² and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; ^[b]he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³ For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴ For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded ^[c]John as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced ^[d]before them and pleased Herod, ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Having been prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹ Although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of ^[e]his dinner guests. ¹⁰ He sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² His disciples came and took away the body and buried ^[f]it; and they went and reported to Jesus.

Five Thousand Fed

¹³ Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the ^[g]people heard of this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.