The Preaching of John

3 It was the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar. These men were under Caesar: Pontius Pilate was the ruler of Judea. Herod was the ruler of Galilee. Philip, Herod’s brother, was the ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis. And Lysanias was the ruler of Abilene. ² Annas and Caiaphas were the high priests. At this time, a command from God came to John son of Zechariah. John was living in the desert. ³ He went all over the area around the Jordan River and preached to the people. He preached a baptism of changed hearts and lives for the forgiveness of their sins. ⁴ As it is written in the book of Isaiah the prophet:

⁷ Crowds of people came to be baptized by John. He said to them, “You poisonous snakes! Who warned you to run away from God’s anger that is coming? ⁸ You must do the things that will show that you really have changed your hearts. Don’t say, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God can make children for Abraham from these rocks here. ⁹ The ax is now ready to cut down the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”^[a]

¹⁰ The people asked John, “What should we do?”

¹¹ John answered, “If you have two shirts, share with the person who does not have one. If you have food, share that too.”

¹² Even tax collectors came to John to be baptized. They said to John, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ John said to them, “Don’t take more taxes from people than you have been ordered to take.”

¹⁴ The soldiers asked John, “What about us? What should we do?”

John said to them, “Don’t force people to give you money. Don’t lie about them. Be satisfied with the pay you get.”

¹⁵ All the people were hoping for the Christ to come, and they wondered about John. They thought, “Maybe he is the Christ.”

¹⁶ John answered everyone, “I baptize you with water, but there is one coming later who can do more than I can. I am not good enough to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. ¹⁷ He will come ready to clean the grain. He will separate the good grain from the chaff. He will put the good part of the grain into his barn. Then he will burn the chaff with a fire that cannot be put out.”^{[b] 18} And John continued to preach the Good News, saying many other things to encourage the people.

¹⁹ But John spoke against Herod, the governor, because of his sin with Herodias, the wife of Herod’s brother. John also criticized Herod for the many other evil things Herod did. ²⁰ So Herod did another evil thing: He put John in prison.

Jesus Is Baptized by John

²¹ When all the people were being baptized by John, Jesus also was baptized. While Jesus was praying, heaven opened and ²² the Holy Spirit came down on him. The Spirit was in the form of a dove. Then a voice came from heaven and said, “You are my Son and I love you. I am very pleased with you.”

The Family History of Jesus

²³ When Jesus began to teach, he was about 30 years old. People thought that Jesus was Joseph’s son.