John the Baptist Preaches

3 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, ² in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. ³ And he came into all the 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,

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

¹⁰ And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what shall we do?” ¹¹ And he would answer and say to them, “The man who has two tunics is to share with him who has none; and he who has food is to do likewise.” ¹² And some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” ¹³ And he said to them, “^[d]Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.” ¹⁴ Some soldiers were questioning him, saying, “And what about us, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not take money from anyone by force, or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

¹⁵ Now while the people were in a state of expectation and all were ^[e]wondering in their hearts about John, as to whether he was ^[f]the Christ, ¹⁶ John answered and said 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 thong of His sandals; He will baptize you ^[g]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing 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 unquenchable fire.”

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

Jesus Is Baptized

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

Genealogy of Jesus

²³ When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, ^[h]as was supposed, the son of Joseph, ^[i]the son of ^[j]Eli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵ the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of ^[k]Hesli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷ the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of ^[l]Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹ the son of ^[m]Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰ the son of Simeon, the son of ^[n]Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³² the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of ^[o]Salmon, the son of ^[p]Nahshon, ³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of ^[q]Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of ^[r]Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of ^[s]Heber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶ the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸ the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

False Prophets Condemned

13 Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own ^[a]inspiration, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord! ³ Thus says the Lord ^[b]God, “Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing. ⁴ O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins. ⁵ You have not gone up into the breaches, nor did you build the wall around the house of Israel to stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. ⁶ They see ^[c]falsehood and lying divination who are saying, ‘The Lord declares,’ when the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope for the fulfillment of their word. ⁷ Did you not see a false vision and speak a lying divination when you said, ‘The Lord declares,’ but it is not I who have spoken?”’”

⁸ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Because you have spoken ^[d]falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you,” declares the Lord God. ⁹ “So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will ^[e]have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, ^[f]that you may know that I am the Lord God. ¹⁰ It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash; ¹¹ so tell those who plaster it over with whitewash, that it will fall. A flooding rain will come, and you, O hailstones, will fall; and a violent wind will break out. ¹² Behold, when the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, ‘Where is the plaster with which you plastered it?’” ¹³ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “I will make a violent wind break out in My wrath. There will also be in My anger a flooding rain and hailstones to consume it in wrath. ¹⁴ So I will tear down the wall which you plastered over with whitewash and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation is laid bare; and when it falls, you will be consumed in its midst. And you will know that I am the Lord. ¹⁵ Thus I will spend My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it over with whitewash; and I will say to you, ‘The wall ^[g]is gone and its plasterers are gone, ¹⁶ along with the prophets of Israel who prophesy to Jerusalem, and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace,’ declares the Lord God.

¹⁷ “Now you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their own ^[h]inspiration. Prophesy against them ¹⁸ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “Woe to the women who sew magic bands on ^[i]all wrists and make veils for the heads of persons of every stature to hunt down ^[j]lives! Will you hunt down the ^[k]lives of My people, but preserve the ^[l]lives of others for yourselves? ¹⁹ For handfuls of barley and fragments of bread, you have profaned Me to My people to put to death ^[m]some who should not die and to keep ^[n]others alive who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies.”’”

²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am against your magic bands by which you hunt ^[o]lives there as ^[p]birds and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let ^[q]them go, even those ^[r]lives whom you hunt as ^[s]birds. ²¹ I will also tear off your veils and deliver My people from your hands, and they will no longer be in your hands to be hunted; and you will know that I am the Lord. ²² Because you disheartened the righteous with falsehood when I did not cause him grief, but have ^[t]encouraged the wicked not to turn from his wicked way and preserve his life, ²³ therefore, you women will no longer see ^[u]false visions or practice divination, and I will deliver My people out of your hand. Thus you will know that I am the Lord.”