And the people asked him
Not the same as in ( Luke 3:7 ) the Sadducees
and Pharisees, for they seemed not to be at all affected with,
and wrought upon, by the ministry of John; but rather were
displeased with him, and turned their backs on him, and rejected
him and his baptism; but the common people, that stood by; who
hearing John speak of wrath to come, and of repentance, and
fruits worthy of it, were filled with concern about these things,
and inquire,
saying, what shall we do?
either to escape the wrath and vengeance coming on the nation,
and also eternal ruin and destruction; and Beza says, that in two
of his copies, and one of them his most ancient one it is added,
"to be saved", and so in two of Stephens's; which confirms the
above sense, and makes their inquiry to be the same with the
jailor's, ( Acts 16:30 ) or else
their meaning is, what are the things we are to do, or the fruits
we are to bring forth, the duties we are to perform, in order to
testify the truth and genuineness of our repentance? which latter
seems most agreeable.