John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of jTiberius Caesar, kPontius Pilate lbeing governor of Judea, and mHerod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 during nthe high priesthood of Annas and oCaiaphas, pthe word of God came to qJohn the son of Zechariah in rthe wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming sa baptism of repentance tfor the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in uthe book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
v“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
w‘Prepare the way of the Lord,1
make his paths straight.
5 xEvery valley shall be filled,
yand every mountain and hill shall be made low,
zand the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
