Luke 3:1-20

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. ”

12 ²⁹Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, ³⁰what shall we do? ”

13 And he said to them, ³¹“Collect no more than you are authorized to do. ”

14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ³²what shall we do? ” And he said to them, ³³“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ³⁴wages. ”

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, ³⁵whether he might be ³⁶the Christ,

16 ³⁷John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but ³⁸he who is mightier than I is coming, ³⁹the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you ⁴⁰with the Holy Spirit and ⁴¹fire.

17 His ⁴²winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ⁴³gather the wheat into his barn, ⁴⁴but the chaff he will burn with ⁴⁵unquenchable fire. ”

18 So ⁴⁶with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.

19 But ⁴⁷Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done,

20 added this to them all, that ⁴⁸he locked up John in prison.

Cross References

• 1. 3:1 [ch. 2:1]
• 2. 3:1 See Matt. 27:2
• 3. 3:1 ch. 2:2
• 4. 3:1 ver. 19; ch. 8:3; 9:7, 9; 13:31; 23:7; Matt. 14:1; Acts 4:27; 13:1; [Mark 6:14]
• 5. 3:2 John 18:13, 24; Acts 4:6
• 6. 3:2 See Matt. 26:3
• 7. 3:2 For ver. 2-17, see Matt. 3:1-12; Mark 1:2-8
• 8. 3:2 John 1:6, 7
• 9. 3:2 ch. 1:80; Josh. 15:61; [Judg. 1:16]
• 10. 3:3 Acts 2:38
• 11. 3:3 Matt. 26:28; [ch. 1:77]
• 12. 3:4 ch. 4:17; [Acts 8:28]
• 13. 3:4 John 1:23; Cited from Isa. 40:3-5
• 14. 3:4 ch. 1:76
• 15. 3:5 [Isa. 57:14]
• 16. 3:5 Isa. 49:11; Zech. 4:7
• 17. 3:5 Isa. 42:16; 45:2
• 18. 3:6 Isa. 52:10; [Ps. 98:2, 3]
• 19. 3:6 ch. 2:30; Acts 28:28; [ch. 1:69, 71, 77; Titus 2:11]
• 20. 3:7 Matt. 12:34; 23:33
• 21. 3:7 Ps. 140:3
• 22. 3:7 Rom. 5:9; Eph. 5:6; Col. 3:6; 1 Thess. 1:10
• 23. 3:8 Acts 26:20
• 24. 3:8 John 8:39
• 25. 3:8 [ch. 4:3]
• 26. 3:9 ch. 13:7, 9; Matt. 7:19; John 15:2, 6
• 27. 3:10 Acts 2:37; 16:30; 22:10
• 28. 3:11 Isa. 58:7; Dan. 4:27; Eph. 4:28; James 2:15, 16; 1 John 3:17; [ch. 18:22]
• 29. 3:12 ch. 7:29; Matt. 21:32
• 30. 3:12 [See ver. 10 above]
• 31. 3:13 ch. 19:8
• 32. 3:14 [See ver. 10 above]
• 33. 3:14 [See ver. 13 above]
• 34. 3:14 1 Cor. 9:7 (Gk.)
• 35. 3:15 John 1:19, 20
• 36. 3:15 See Matt. 1:17
• 37. 3:16 John 1:26; Acts 1:5
• 38. 3:16 John 1:15, 27; 3:30, 31; Acts 13:25
• 39. 3:16 Isa. 5:27
• 40. 3:16 John 1:33; Acts 11:16
• 41. 3:16 [Mal. 3:2, 3; Acts 2:3]
• 42. 3:17 Isa. 30:24
• 43. 3:17 Matt. 13:30
• 44. 3:17 Mal. 4:1
• 45. 3:17 Mark 9:43, 48
• 46. 3:18 [John 20:30; 21:25]
• 47. 3:19 Matt. 14:3; Mark 6:17, 18; See ver. 1
• 48. 3:20 [John 3:24]

Footnotes

• [a] 3:4 Or 'crying, Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord'
• [b] 3:11 Greek 'chiton', a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin