John the Baptist Prepares the Way

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”

Jesus Begins His Ministry

Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee.

And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them.

The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother;

Messengers from John the Baptist

When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

Now when John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.

and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,

because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”

He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,

The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’

But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.