John the Baptist’s Birth 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 name him John.

John the Baptist Is Born

Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

And yet his mother responded and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.”

And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed.

John the Baptist Preaches

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

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

Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they all were thinking carefully in their hearts about John, whether he himself perhaps was the Christ,

John responded to them all, saying, “As for me, I baptize you with water; but He is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the straps of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

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

And they said to Him, “The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do the same, but Yours eat and drink.”

Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;

The Messengers from John

The disciples of John also reported to him about all these things.

And after summoning two of his disciples, John sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for another?”

When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, to ask, ‘Are You the Coming One, or are we to look for another?’”

And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: people who were blind receive sight, people who limped walk, people with leprosy are cleansed and people who were deaf hear, dead people are raised up, and people who are poor have the gospel preached to them.

When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by John.

For John the Baptist has come neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’

When He came to the house, He did not allow anyone to enter with Him except Peter, John, and James, and the girl’s father and mother.

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

Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see Him.