Worrell(i)
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the country of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2 in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness;
3 and he came into all the region of the Jordan, preaching the immersion of repentance unto remission of sins;
4 as it has been written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight His paths.
5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough ways smooth;
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"
7 He was saying, therefore, to the multitudes coming forth to be immersed by him, "Broods of vipers! who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
8 Produce, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance; and begin not to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'; for I say to you, that God is able out of these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
9 And already the axe also is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, therefore, not producing good fruit, is cut down, and cast into the fire."
10 And the multitudes were asking him, saying, "What, then, shall we do?"
11 And he, answering, said to them, "Let him who has two coats share with him who has none; and let him who has food do likewise."
12 And there came also tax-collectors to be immersed, and they said to him, "Teacher, what shall we do?"
13 And he said to them, "Exact no more than that which has been appointed you."
14 And soldiers also were questioning him, saying, "And what shall we do?" And he said to them, "Do violence to no one, neither accuse any one falsely, and be content with your wages."
15 And, as the people were in expectation, and all were reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he himself were the Christ,
16 John answered, saying to them all, "I, indeed, immerse you in water; but He is coming, Who is mightier than I—the latchet of Whose sandals I am not worthy to loose—He will immerse you in the Holy Spirit and in fire;
17 Whose fan is in His hand, thoroughly to cleanse His threshing-floor, and to gather the wheat into His granary; but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire."
18 Therefore, indeed, exhorting them as to many and various things, he was proclaiming the good news to the people;
19 but Herod, the tetrarch, being reproved by him concerning Herodias, the wife of his brother, and concerning all the evils which Herod did,
20 added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.