¹⁴ Sing out, daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, you daughter of Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The Lord has removed the judgment against you. He has turned back your enemy. Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst! You no longer need to fear disaster. ¹⁶ In that day Jerusalem will be told, “Do not be afraid, O Zion. Do not give up. ¹⁷ The Lord your God is with you as a hero who will save you. He takes great delight in you. He will quiet you with his love.^[a] He will rejoice over you with singing.”

⁷ So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. ⁹ Even now the ax is ready to strike^[a] the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?”

¹¹ He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”

¹² Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.”

¹⁴ Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?”

He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵ The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ. ¹⁶ John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ Then with many other words, he appealed to them and was preaching good news to the people.

⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.