Luke 3 — TCENT
The Preaching of John the Baptist
3Verse 1In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,Verse 2during the+high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.Verse 3He went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,Verse 4as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord;
make his paths straight.
Verse 5Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be brought low.
The crooked roads will be made straight,
and the rough ways will be made smooth.
Verse 6And all flesh will see the salvation of God.’ ”Verse 7John said to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?Verse 8Produce fruit consistent with repentance, and do not begin to 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.Verse 9Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”Verse 10So the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”Verse 11John answered them, “Whoever has two tunics must share with him who has none, and whoever has food must do likewise.”Verse 12Some tax collectors also came to be+baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”Verse 13He said to them, “Collect no more than what you have been authorized to collect.”Verse 14Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by+threats or false accusations, and be content with your wages.”Verse 15Now as the people were waiting in expectation and were all questioning in their hearts whether John might be the Christ,Verse 16John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one is coming who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.Verse 17His winnowing fork is in his+hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”Verse 18With these and many other exhortations John preached good news to the people.Verse 19But when John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of his marriage to Herodias, his+brother's wife, and because of all the evils he had done,Verse 20Herod added this to everything else: He locked John up in prison.