3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, 1 when Pontius Pilate 2 was governor of Judea, and Herod 3 was tetrarch 4 of Galilee, and his brother Philip 5 was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias 6 was tetrarch of Abilene, 3:2 during the high priesthood 7 of Annas and Caiaphas, the word 8 of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 9 3:3 He 10 went into all the region around the Jordan River, 11 preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 12
3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
“The voice 13 of one shouting in the wilderness: 14
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make 15 his paths straight.
3:5 Every valley will be filled, 16
and every mountain and hill will be brought low,
and the crooked will be made straight,
and the rough ways will be made smooth,
3:6 and all humanity 17 will see the salvation of God.’” 18
3:7 So John 19 said to the crowds 20 that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! 21 Who warned you to flee 22 from the coming wrath? 3:8 Therefore produce 23 fruit 24 that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say 25 to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ 26 For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 27 3:9 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, 28 and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be 29 cut down and thrown into the fire.”
3:10 So 30 the crowds were asking 31 him, “What then should we do?” 3:11 John 32 answered them, 33 “The person who has two tunics 34 must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.”