Luke 3:1-20

John the Baptist Preaches

1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when ¹Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and ²Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,

2 in the high priesthood of ³Annas and ⁴Caiaphas, ⁵the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.

3 And he came into all ⁶the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;

4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "⁷THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, 'MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD, MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

5 '⁸EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED, AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW; THE CROOKED WILL BECOME * STRAIGHT, AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH;

6 ⁹AND ALL FLESH WILL ¹⁰SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.' "

7 So he began saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, "¹¹You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 "Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and ¹²do not begin to say to yourselves, '¹³We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

9 "Indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; so ¹⁴every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

10 And the crowds were questioning him, saying, "¹⁵Then what shall we do?"

11 And he would answer and say to them, "The man who has two tunics is to ¹⁶share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise."

12 And some ¹⁷tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"

13 And he said to them, "Collect no more than what you have been ordered to."

14 Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, "And what about us, what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do not take money from anyone by force, or ¹⁸accuse anyone falsely, and ¹⁹be content with your wages."

15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were wondering in their hearts about John, ²⁰as to whether he was the Christ,

16 ²¹John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

17 "His ²²winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with ²³unquenchable fire."

18 So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.

19 But when ²⁴Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of ²⁵Herodias, his brother's wife, and because of all the wicked things which ²⁶Herod had done,

20 Herod also added this to them all: ²⁷he locked John up in prison.

Read Chapter Compare