Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when ^aPontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and ^bHerod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of ^aAnnas and ^bCaiaphas, ^cthe word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. 3 And he came into all ^athe district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins; 4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,“^aTHE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE ¹LORD,MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

7 So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him, “^aYou brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, and ^ado not begin to say ¹to yourselves, ‘^bWe have Abraham for our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. 9 But indeed the axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, ^aevery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “^aThen what should we do?” 11 And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two ¹tunics is to ^ashare with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” 12 And ^atax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 And he said to them, “¹Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” 14 And soldiers were also questioning him, saying, “What should we also do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or ^aextort anyone, and ^bbe content with your wages.”

15 Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were reasoning in their hearts about John, ^aas to whether he was the ¹Christ, 16 ^aJohn answered, saying to them all, “As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His ^awinnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but He will burn up the chaff with ^bunquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people. 19 But when ^aHerod the tetrarch was reproved by him because of ^bHerodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which ^cHerod had done, 20 Herod also added this to them all: ^ahe locked John up in prison.

21 ^aNow it happened that when all the people were being baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was ^bpraying, heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “^aYou are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

23 ^aWhen He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, ¹as was supposed,