1 ^g“Behold, I send ^hmy messenger, and ⁱhe will prepare the way before me. And the Lord ^jwhom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and ^kthe messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But ^lwho can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For ^mhe is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit ⁿas a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring ^oofferings in righteousness to the Lord.¹ 4 ^pThen the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be ^qa swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those ^rwho oppress the hired worker in his wages, ^sthe widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.

6 “For ^tI the Lord do not change; ^utherefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. 7 ^vFrom the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. ^wReturn to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. ^xBut you say, ‘How shall we return?’

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

2 ^dGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 ^eI thank my God ^fin all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 ^gbecause of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began ^ha good work in you ⁱwill bring it to completion at ^jthe day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you ^kin my heart, for you are all ^lpartakers with me of grace,¹ both ^min my imprisonment and in ⁿthe defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For ^oGod is my witness, ^phow I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that ^qyour love may abound more and more, ^rwith knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, ^sand so be pure and blameless ^tfor the day of Christ, 11 filled ^uwith the fruit of righteousness that comes ^vthrough Jesus Christ, ^wto the glory and praise of God.

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,

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

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

15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, ^owhether he might be ^pthe Christ, 16 ^qJohn answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but ^rhe who is mightier than I is coming, ^sthe strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you ^twith the Holy Spirit and ^ufire. 17 His ^vwinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ^wgather the wheat into his barn, ^xbut the chaff he will burn with ^yunquenchable fire.”

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