Matthew 3:1-12 New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Preaching of John the Baptist

3 Now in those days John the Baptist *^[a]came, ^[b]preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ² “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven ^[c]is at hand.” ³ For this is the one referred to ^[d]by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

⁴ Now John himself had ^[g]a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ At that time Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan; ⁶ and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷ But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for ^[h]baptism, he said to them, “You ^[i]offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸ Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance; ⁹ and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰ And the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹ “As for me, I baptize you ^[j]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you ^[k]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹² His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”