The Mission of John the Baptist

(Isaiah 40:1–5; Matthew 3:1–12; Mark 1:1–8; John 1:19–28)

3In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

³He went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

⁷Then John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹The axe lies ready at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”

¹¹John replied, “Whoever has two tunics should share with him who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”

¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

¹³“Collect no more than you are authorized,” he answered.

¹⁴Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

“Do not take money by force or false accusation,” he said. “Be content with your wages.”

¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John could be the Christ. ¹⁶John answered all of them: “I baptize you with water,^b but One more powerful than I will come, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.^c He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.^d17His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸With these and many other exhortations, John proclaimed the good news to the people. ¹⁹But when he rebuked Herod the tetrarch regarding his brother’s wife Herodias and all the evils he had done, ²⁰Herod added this to them all: He locked John up in prison.

The Baptism of Jesus

(Matthew 3:13–17; Mark 1:9–11; John 1:29–34)

²¹When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in a bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”

The Genealogy of Jesus

(Ruth 4:18–22; Matthew 1:1–17)

²³Jesus Himself was about thirty years old when He began His ministry.