⁷ And he preached, saying, ^(A)“There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. ^8 (B)I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you ^(C)with the Holy Spirit.”

John Baptizes Jesus^(D)

^9 (E)It came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ^10 (F)And immediately, coming up ^[a]from the water, He saw the heavens ^[b]parting and the Spirit ^(G)descending upon Him like a dove. ¹¹ Then a voice came from heaven, ^(H)“You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

⁹ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, ^(A)and more than a prophet. ¹⁰ For this is he of whom it is written:

¹¹ “Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

^17 (A)From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ^(B)“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven ^[a]is at hand.”

^11 (A)I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. ^(B)He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit ^[a]and fire. ^12 (C)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will ^(D)burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁴ And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

¹⁵ But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that ^(A)passed between those pieces. ¹⁸ On the same day the Lord ^(B)made a covenant with Abram, saying:

^(C)“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates—

Moses at the Burning Bush^(A)

3 Now Moses was tending the flock of ^(B)Jethro his father-in-law, ^(C)the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to ^(D)Horeb, ^(E)the mountain of God. ² And ^(F)the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this ^(G)great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called ^(H)to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

²¹ And ^(A)the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night.

¹⁶ Now ^(A)the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ The sight of the glory of the Lord was like ^(B)a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.