1 Now in those days John the Baptist
came, preaching F1 in the
wilderness of Judea, saying, 2 "Repent,
for the kingdom of heaven F2
is F3 at hand." 3 For
this is the one referred to by F4
Isaiah the prophet, saying, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
'Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!' " 4 Now
John himself had a F5
garment of camel's hair, and a leather belt about his waist; and his food was
locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem was
going out to him, and all Judea, and all the district 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 baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers,
who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 "Therefore
bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and
do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our
father'; for I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up
children to Abraham. 10 "And the axe is
already laid at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 "As
for me, I baptize you with F6
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 with the Holy Spirit and
fire. 12 "And 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."
13 Then Jesus
arrived from Galilee at the Jordan coming to John, to be baptized by him. 14 But
John tried to prevent Him, saying, "I have need to be baptized by You,
and do You come to me?" 15 But Jesus
answering said to him, "Permit it at this time; for
in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness."
Then he permitted Him. 16 And
after being baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water; and behold,
the heavens were opened, and he F7
saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon Him, 17 and
behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, "This
is My F8 beloved Son, in
whom I am well-pleased."
Footnotes
F1Or, proclaiming as a herald
F2Lit., the heavens
F3Lit., has come near
F4Lit., through
F5Lit., his garment
F6The Gr. here can be translated in, with or by
F7Or, He
F8Lit., My Son, the Beloved
The Scripture quotations above are taken from the NEW
AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE�, Copyright � 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975,
1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used
by permission.
