10
And already the axe is applied to the root of the trees; every tree therefore not producing good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire.
11
*I* indeed baptise you with water to repentance, but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not fit to bear; *he* shall baptise you with [the] Holy Spirit and fire;
12
whose winnowing fan [is] in his hand, and he shall thoroughly purge his threshing-floor, and shall gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
[a].
I so translate, because 'laid to' implies actual execution: perhaps not meant so by the translators, but merely to be as literal as possible: but 'applied to' ('to,' pros: see ch. 21.1) is more the moral way of acting -- something more than 'set for' ('for,' eis) as in Luke 2.34; Phil.1.16; 1Thess.3.3.
[b].
Present tense; it is characteristic: see ch. 1.19.