Matthew 3:1 Cross References - BBE

¹ And in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the waste land of Judaea,

¹⁰ And now, as you see, the Lord has kept me safe these forty-five years, from the time when the Lord said this to Moses, while Israel was wandering in the waste land: and now I am eighty-five years old.

⁶¹ In the waste land, Beth-arabah, Middin, and Secacah; ⁶² And Nibshan, and the Town of Salt, and En-gedi; six towns with their unwalled places.

¹⁶ Now Hobab the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, had come up out of the town of palm-trees, with the children of Judah, into the waste land of Arad; and he went and was living among the Amalekites;

³ A voice of one crying, Make ready in the waste land the way of the Lord, make level in the lowland a highway for our God. ⁴ Let every valley be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low, and let the rough places become level, and the hilltops become a valley, ⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be made clear, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has said it. ⁶ A voice of one saying, Give a cry! And I said, What is my cry to be? All flesh is grass, and all its strength like the flower of the field.

⁸ Let your change of heart be seen in your works:

⁷ And when they were going away, Jesus, talking of John, said to all the people, What went you out into the waste land to see? a tall stem moving in the wind?

¹¹ Truly I say to you, Among the sons of women there has not been a greater than John the Baptist: but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

² And he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has come back from the dead, and so these powers are working in him. ³ For Herod had taken John and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ⁴ Because John had said to him, It is not right for you to have her. ⁵ And he would have put him to death, but for his fear of the people, because in their eyes John was a prophet. ⁶ But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias was dancing before them, and Herod was pleased with her. ⁷ So he gave her his word with an oath to let her have whatever she might make request for. ⁸ And she, at her mother's suggestion, said, Give me here on a plate the head of John the Baptist. ⁹ And the king was sad; but because of his oaths and because of his guests, he gave the order for it to be given to her; ¹⁰ And he sent and had John's head cut off in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was put on a plate and given to the girl; and she took it to her mother. ¹² And his disciples came, and took up his body and put it in the earth; and they went and gave Jesus news of what had taken place. ¹³ Now when it came to the ears of Jesus, he went away from there in a boat, to a waste place by himself: and the people hearing of it, went after him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ And he came out and saw a great number of people and he had pity on them, and made well those of them who were ill.

¹⁴ And they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

¹² But I say to you that Elijah has come, and they had no knowledge of him, but did to him whatever they were pleased to do; the same will the Son of man undergo at their hands. ¹³ Then the disciples saw that he was talking to them of John the Baptist.

²⁵ The baptism of John, where did it come from? from heaven or from men? And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, If we say, From heaven; he will say to us, Why then did you not have faith in him? ²⁶ But if we say, From men; we are in fear of the people, because all take John to be a prophet. ²⁷ And they made answer and said, We have no idea. Then he said to them, And I will not say to you by what authority I do these things.

³² For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you had no faith in him, but the tax-farmers and the loose women had faith in him: and you, when you saw it, did not even have regret for your sins, so as to have faith in him.

³ The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight; ⁴ John came, and gave baptism in the waste land, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed. ⁵ And there went out to him all the people of Judaea, and all those of Jerusalem, and they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying that they were sinners. ⁶ And John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey. ⁷ And he said to them all, There is one coming after me who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo. ⁸ I have given you baptism with water, but he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit.

¹⁵ And saying, The time has come, and the kingdom of God is near: let your hearts be turned from sin and have faith in the good news.

¹⁶ But Herod, when he had news of it, said, John, whom I put to death, has come back from the dead. ¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent men out to take John and put him in prison, because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had taken for himself. ¹⁸ For John said to Herod, It is wrong for you to have your brother's wife. ¹⁹ And Herodias was bitter against him, desiring to put him to death; but she was not able; ²⁰ For Herod was in fear of John, being conscious that he was an upright and holy man, and kept him safe. And hearing him, he was much troubled; and he gave ear to him gladly. ²¹ And the chance came when Herod on his birthday gave a feast to his lords, and the high captains, and the chief men of Galilee; ²² And when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and did a dance, Herod and those who were at table with him were pleased with her; and the king said to the girl, Make a request for anything and I will give it you. ²³ And he took an oath, saying to her, Whatever is your desire I will give it to you, even half of my kingdom. ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, What is my request to be? And she said, The head of John the Baptist. ²⁵ And she came in quickly to the king, and said, My desire is that you give me straight away on a plate the head of John the Baptist. ²⁶ And the king was very sad; but because of his oaths, and those who were with him at table, he would not say 'No' to her. ²⁷ And straight away the king sent out one of his armed men, and gave him an order to come back with the head: and he went and took off John's head in prison, ²⁸ And came back with the head on a plate, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ And when his disciples had news of it, they came and took up his body, and put it in its last resting-place.

¹³ But the angel said, Have no fear, Zacharias, for your prayer has come to the ears of God, and your wife Elisabeth will have a son, and his name will be John. ¹⁴ And you will be glad and have great delight; and numbers of people will have joy at his birth. ¹⁵ For he will be great in the eyes of the Lord; he will not take wine or strong drink; and he will be full of the Spirit of God from his birth. ¹⁶ And through him great numbers of the children of Israel will be turned to the Lord their God. ¹⁷ And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness; to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord.

⁷⁶ And you, child, will be named the prophet of the Most High: you will go before the face of the Lord, to make ready his ways;

¹ Now in the fifteenth year of the rule of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being ruler of Judaea, and Herod being king of Galilee, his brother Philip king of the country of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias king of Abilene, ² When Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of the Lord came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the waste land. ³ And he came into all the country round about Jordan, preaching baptism as a sign of forgiveness of sin for those whose hearts were changed. ⁴ As it says in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, make his roads straight. ⁵ Every valley will be lifted up, and all the mountains and hills made low, and the twisted will be made straight, and the rough ways smooth; ⁶ And all flesh will see the salvation of God. ⁷ So he said to the people who went out to him for baptism: You offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come? ⁸ Make clear by your acts that your hearts have been changed; and do not say to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children of Abraham. ⁹ And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; and every tree which does not have good fruit will be cut down and put into the fire. ¹⁰ And the people put questions to him, saying, What have we to do? ¹¹ And he made answer and said to them, He who has two coats, let him give to him who has not even one; and he who has food, let him do the same. ¹² Then tax-farmers came to him for baptism and said to him, Master, what have we to do? ¹³ And he said to them, Do not make an attempt to get more money than the right amount. ¹⁴ And men of the army put questions to him, saying, And what have we to do? And he said to them, Do no violent acts to any man, and do not take anything without right, and let your payment be enough for you. ¹⁵ And while the people were waiting, and all men were questioning in their hearts about John, if he was the Christ or not, ¹⁶ John made answer, saying to them all, Truly, I give you baptism with water, but one is coming who is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: ¹⁷ In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned in the fire which will never be put out. ¹⁸ And so comforting them with these and other words, he gave the good news to the people; ¹⁹ But Herod the king, because John had made a protest on account of Herodias, his brother's wife, and other evil things which Herod had done, ²⁰ Did this most evil thing of all, and had John shut up in prison.

²⁴ And when the men who were sent by John had gone away, he said to the people, about John, What did you go out into the waste land to see? a tall stem moving in the wind?

⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. ⁷ He came for witness, to give witness about the light, so that all men might have faith through him. ⁸ He himself was not the light: he was sent to give witness about the light.

¹⁵ John gave witness about him, crying, This is he of whom I said, He who is coming after me is put over me because he was in existence before me. ¹⁶ From his full measure we have all been given grace on grace. ¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and the true way of life are ours through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is. ¹⁹ And this is the witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to him with the question, Who are you? ²⁰ He said quite openly and straightforwardly, I am not the Christ. ²¹ And they said to him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And his answer was, I am not. ²² So they said to him, Who are you then? We have to give some answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself? ²³ He said, I am the voice of one crying in the waste land, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. ²⁴ Those who had been sent came from the Pharisees. ²⁵ And they put this question to him, saying, Why then are you giving baptism if you are not the Christ, or Elijah, or the prophet? ²⁶ John's answer was: I give baptism with water; but there is one among you of whom you have no knowledge; ²⁷ It is he who is coming after me; I am not good enough to undo his shoes. ²⁸ These things took place at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was giving baptism. ²⁹ The day after, John sees Jesus coming to him and says, See, here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰ This is he of whom I said, One is coming after me who is put over me because he was in existence before me. ³¹ I myself had no knowledge of him, but I came giving baptism with water so that he might be seen openly by Israel. ³² And John gave this witness, saying, I saw the Spirit coming down from heaven like a dove and resting on him. ³³ I had no knowledge who he was, but he who sent me to give baptism with water said to me, The one on whom you see the Spirit coming down and resting, it is he who gives baptism with the Holy Spirit. ³⁴ This I saw myself and my witness is that he is the Son of God. ³⁵ The day after, John was there again with two of his disciples; ³⁶ And looking at Jesus while he was walking he said, See, there is the Lamb of God!

²⁷ And this was John's answer: A man is unable to have anything if it is not given to him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves give witness that I said, I am not the Christ. What I said was, I am sent before the Christ. ²⁹ He who has the bride is the husband: but the husband's friend, whose place is by his side and whose ears are open to him, is full of joy because of the husband's voice: such is my joy, and it is complete. ³⁰ He has to become greater while I become less. ³¹ He who comes from heaven is greater than all others: he who comes from earth is of the earth, and of the earth are his words: he who comes from heaven is over all. ³² He gives witness of what he has seen and of what has come to his ears; and no man takes his witness as true. ³³ He who so takes his witness has made clear his faith that God is true. ³⁴ For he whom God has sent says God's words; and God does not give him the Spirit by measure. ³⁵ The Father has love for the Son and has put all things into his hands. ³⁶ He who has faith in the Son has eternal life; but he who has not faith in the Son will not see life; God's wrath is resting on him.

²² Starting from the baptism of John till he went up from us, one will have to be a witness with us of his coming back from death.

²⁴ For whose coming John made ready the way by preaching to all the people of Israel the baptism which goes with a change of heart. ²⁵ And when John was completing his work, he said, What do I seem to you to be? I am not he; but one is coming after me, whose shoes I am not good enough to undo.

³ And he said, What sort of baptism did you have? And they said, The baptism of John. ⁴ And Paul said, John gave a baptism which goes with a change of heart, saying to the people that they were to have faith in him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.