Luke 3:3-20

ACV^{(i) 3} And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching an immersion of repentance for remission of sins, ⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, which says, The voice of a man crying out in the wilderness: Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight. ⁵ Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be brought low. And the crooked things will be into straight and the rough into smooth ways. ⁶ And all flesh will see the salvation of God. ⁷ He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be immersed by him, Ye offspring of vipers, who showed you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, We have a father, Abraham. For I say to you, that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹ And even now the axe is laid at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore not making good fruit is cut down, and cast into fire. ¹⁰ And the crowds questioned him, saying, What then shall we do? ¹¹ And having answered, he says to them, He who has two coats, let him share with him not having, and he who has food, let him do likewise. ¹² And tax collectors also came to be immersed, and they said to him, Teacher, what should we do? ¹³ And he said to them, Collect not one thing more than from what has been appointed for you. ¹⁴ And men who were soldiers also questioned him, saying, And we, what should we do? And he said to them, Do violence to no man, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages. ¹⁵ And as the people were expectant, and all pondering in their hearts about John, if perhaps he was the Christ, ¹⁶ John responded, saying to them all, I indeed immerse you in water, but a man mightier than I comes, of whom I am not worthy to unloose the strap of his shoes. He will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and fire, ¹⁷ whose winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. ¹⁸ Indeed therefore, also exhorting the people with many other things, he preached the good news. ¹⁹ But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him about Herodias his brother's wife, and about all of which evil things Herod had done, ²⁰ also added this to them all, he even locked up John in prison.