Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

The Birth of John the Baptist

Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.

but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”

And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all wondered.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ,

John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

added this to them all, that he locked up John in prison.

and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”

A Question About Fasting

And they said to him, “The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”

Simon, whom he named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew,

Messengers from John the Baptist

The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John,

And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?’”

And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them.

When John's messengers had gone, 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?

I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

(When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just, having been baptized with the baptism of John,

For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’

And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child.

Herod Is Perplexed by Jesus

Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead,

Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this about whom I hear such things?” And he sought to see him.

And they answered, “John the Baptist. But others say, Elijah, and others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.”

The Transfiguration

Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.