Mark 1:2-5 In accord with what has been written in Isaiah the prophet other MSS: in the prophets: "Look and consider! I, Myself, am periodically sending forth My agent (messenger) on a mission – before Your face – who will progressively construct (build; furnish; equip; put in readiness) Your road (Way; path). : Mal.

JMNT⁽ⁱ⁾ ² In accord with what has been written in Isaiah the prophet [other MSS: in the prophets]: "Look and consider! I, Myself, am periodically sending forth My agent (messenger) on a mission – before Your face – who will progressively construct (build; furnish; equip; put in readiness) Your road (Way; path). [Mal. 3:1] ³ "A voice! One repeatedly crying out (shouting; exulting; exclaiming; imploring): 'Within the midst of the wilderness (desert; desolate place; abandoned and uninhabited region) you folks at once prepare and make ready the road of [the] Lord (the path whose source is [Yahweh]; the Way whose character is that of, and which pertains to, [the] Owner [= Yahweh])! Be progressively constructing (or: Make it a habit of making) His highway (thoroughfare) well-placed and straight.'" (or: "A sound! One is continuously crying out within the midst of the desert: ... ") [Isa. 40:3] ⁴ John – the one habitually baptizing (immersing; dipping) – came into the scene within the wilderness (or: came to be in the uninhabited area of the desert), repeatedly heralding the proclamation of a baptism (an immersion) which signifies, is connected to, and has the characteristics of a change of thinking [= recognition of being headed in the wrong direction] (a change of perception, frame of mind and mode of thought; a change of understanding; = a new attitude involving trust and obedience) and a turning back [to Yahweh, which leads] into an abandoning of and divorcing from failures (a sending-away of errors; a letting-go of sins; a release from and a dismissal of mistakes; a letting-flow-away of situations where the target was missed). ⁵ And all the Judean territory (province; region; country) – even all the people of Jerusalem – kept on traveling out to him in a steady stream, [to be] face to face with him, and were one by one being immersed (baptized) by him within the midst of the Jordan River, while they were continuing in openly confessing-out and acknowledging their failures (mistakes; errors; sins; times of being out of line and falling short of the goal).