Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

In The Fifteenth Year of Tiberius, John Is Sent Out By God

3 Now in the fifteenth^[a] year of the government of Tiberius^[b] Caesar— Pontius Pilate^[c] being-governor of Judea, and Herod^[d] being-tetrarch^[e] of Galilee, and Philip^[f] his brother being tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene, ² in-the-time-of the high priest Annas and Caiaphas— the word of God came to^[g] John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

John Proclaims a Baptism of Repentance, In Fulfillment of Isaiah

³ And he went into all the surrounding-region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴ as it has been written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet [in Isa 40:3-5], “A voice of one shouting in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; be making His paths straight. ⁵ Every valley will be filled and every mountain and hill will be made-low. And the crooked paths will become straight, and the rough will become smooth paths. ⁶ And all flesh will see the salvation of God’”. ⁷ Therefore he was saying to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers— who showed^[h] you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance. And do not begin to say within^[i] yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’. For I say to you that God is able to raise-up children for Abraham from these stones! ⁹ And indeed the axe is already lying^[j] at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire”.

The People Ask John What They Should Do To Produce Fruit Worthy of Repentance

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “What then should we do?” ¹¹ And having responded, he was saying to them, “Let the one having two tunics^[k] give to the one not having, and let the one having food be doing likewise”. ¹² And tax collectors also came to be baptized. And they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” ¹³ And the one said to them, “Be collecting nothing more than the amount having been commanded”. ¹⁴ And ones serving-as-soldiers also were questioning him, saying, “And us, what should we do?” And he said to them, “Do not violently-extort^[l] anyone, nor extort-with-false-charges. And be content with your wages^[m]”.

John Says One More Powerful Is Coming, Who Will Baptize With The Spirit And Fire

¹⁵ And while the populace was waiting-in-expectation and all were pondering in their hearts about John— if perhaps he might be the Christ— ¹⁶ John responded, saying to everyone, “I am baptizing you with^[n] water, but the One more powerful than me is coming, of Whom I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptize you with^[o] the Holy Spirit and fire^[p]— ¹⁷ Whose winnowing-tool is in His hand so as to clean-out^[q] His threshing floor and gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with an inextinguishable fire”. ¹⁸ So indeed, while also exhorting many other things, he was announcing-good-news-to the people.