3 ¹ IN THE FIFTEENTH YEAR of the Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, when Herod was prince of Galilee, his brother Philip prince of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias prince of Abilene, 3 ² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 ³ And he went all over the Jordan valley proclaiming a baptism in token of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 3 ^{4 [ Is.40.3-5. ]} as it is written in the book of the prophecies of Isaiah:

'A voice crying aloud in the wilderness,
"Prepare a way for the Lord;
Clear a straight path for him.
3 ⁵ Every ravine shall be filled in,
And every mountain and hill levelled;
The corners shall be straightened,
And the rough ways made smooth;
3 ⁶ And all mankind shall see God's deliverance." '

3 ⁷ Crowds of people came out to be baptized by him, and he said to them: 'You vipers' brood! Who warned you to escape from the coming retribution? 3 ⁸ Then prove your repentance by the fruit it bears; and do not begin saying to yourselves, "We have Abraham for our father." I tell you that God can make children for Abraham out of these stones here. 3 ⁹ Already the axe is laid to the roots of the trees; and every tree that fails to produce good fruit is cut down and thrown on the fire.'


---

Notes: This page displays the Revised Standard Version as flowing text. The katapi New Study Bible reference section has been incorporated into the page as follows: Links to parallel passages show below passage headings. Links to Old Testament quotations in New Testament verses show after the verse number.
Quotations of OT passages by NT authors can in most cases be viewed within their context of the OT passage as a whole, with the quoted text displayed in bold font, coloured blue.
Any mismatches, truncated verses, other mistakes ?
Please e-mail me. © Paul Ingram 2012.