John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 ^aIn those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 ^b“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is ^cat hand.”¹ 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

4 Now John wore a garment of ^ecamel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You ^fbrood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the ^gwrath to come? 8 Bear fruit ^hin keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have ⁱAbraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^jEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you ^kwith water for repentance, but ^lhe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ^mwith the Holy Spirit and ⁿfire. 12 His ^owinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^pgather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with ^qunquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

13 ^rThen Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all ^srighteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, ^tthe heavens were opened to him,³ and he saw the ^uSpirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, ^v“This is my ^wbeloved Son,^{4 x}with whom I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

1 ^yThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the ^zwilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after ^afasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the ^bSon of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

and

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ^g‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a ^hvery high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you ⁱwill fall down and ^jworship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, ^langels came and were ministering to him.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 ^aThe beginning of the gospel of Jesus ^bChrist, the ^cSon of God.¹

2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,²

4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with ^fcamel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you ^gwith water, but he will baptize you ^hwith the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

9 ⁱIn those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10 And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw ^jthe heavens being ^ktorn open and the Spirit descending ^lon him like a dove. 11 And a voice came from heaven, ^m“You are my ⁿbeloved Son;^{4 o}with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

12 ^pThe Spirit immediately drove him out into the ^qwilderness. 13 And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the ^rwild animals, and the ^sangels were ministering to him.

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

1 ^bIn the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, ^cPontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and ^dHerod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother ^ePhilip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of ^fAnnas and ^gCaiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a ^hbaptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You ^kbrood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the ^lwrath to come? 8 Bear fruits ^min keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have ⁿAbraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^oEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has ^ptwo tunics² is to ^qshare with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, ^r“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning ^sJohn, whether he might be ^tthe Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you ^uwith water, ^vbut he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the ^wHoly Spirit and fire. 17 His ^xwinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ^ygather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with ^zunquenchable fire.”

18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19 ^aBut Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, ^bhis brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20 added this to them all, that ^che locked up John in prison.

21 ^dNow when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, ^ethe heavens were opened, 22 and the ^fHoly Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ^g“You are my ^hbeloved Son;^{3 i}with you I am well pleased.”⁴

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

23 Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about ^jthirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, 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 Esli, 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 Shealtiel,⁵ 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 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 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 ^kson of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, 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 Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, 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 Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

The Temptation of Jesus

1 ^lAnd Jesus, ^mfull of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the ⁿwilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ^oate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ^p‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been ^qdelivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will ^rworship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,

9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,

11 and

12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ^v‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”