Luke 3:1-11

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of ¹Tiberius Caesar, ²Pontius Pilate ³being governor of Judea, and ⁴Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

2 during ⁵the high priesthood of Annas and ⁶Caiaphas, ⁷the word of God came to ⁸John the son of Zechariah in ⁹the wilderness.

3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming ¹⁰a baptism of repentance ¹¹for the forgiveness of sins.

4 As it is written in ¹²the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, ¹³"The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ¹⁴'Prepare the way of the Lord,^[a] make his paths straight.

5 ¹⁵Every valley shall be filled, ¹⁶and every mountain and hill shall be made low, ¹⁷and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways,

6 ¹⁸and all flesh shall see ¹⁹the salvation of God.'"

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ²⁰"You brood of ²¹vipers! Who warned you to flee from ²²the wrath to come?

8 Bear fruits ²³in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ²⁴'We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you, God is able from ²⁵these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ²⁶Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

10 And the crowds asked him, ²⁷"What then shall we do?"

11 And he answered them, ²⁸"Whoever has two tunics^[b] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise."