¹Now in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judaea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother was tetrarch of Ituraea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, ²at the time when Annas and Caiaphas were high priest, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the desert, ³and he went to the whole area around the Jordan, proclaiming the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins, ⁴as it stands written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, where he says, ⁷Then he said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of adders, who has intimated to you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Well then, produce fruit worthy of repentance, and do not start saying to yourselves, ‘We have our father Abraham.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones, ⁹and the axe also already lies at the root of the trees. For every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” ¹⁰Then the crowds questioned him and said, “What shall we do, then?” ¹¹At this he replied and said to them, “Let him who has two tunics share with him who does not have any, and let him who has food do likewise.” ¹²Then some tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” ¹³And he said to them, “Do not exact any more than you have been authorized.” ¹⁴Then some men on military service also questioned him, and they said, “And as for us, what shall we do?” At that he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone or falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your pay.” ¹⁵Moreover, since the people were in expectation and everyone was considering John in their hearts, as to whether he might be the Christ, ¹⁶John reacted and said to them all, “I baptize you with water. But he who is mightier than me is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not fit to unloose. He will baptize you with holy spirit and fire, ¹⁷and his winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his store, but he will burn up the chaff with inextinguishable fire.” ¹⁸Then in many other respects he comforted and brought good tidings to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, because he was being rebuked by him concerning Herodias the wife of his brother, and concerning all the wicked things Herod had done, ²⁰added this as well to everything and shut John up in prison. ²¹Then it came to pass, when all the people had been baptized, and Jesus had been baptized and was praying, that heaven was opened, ²²and the holy spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him, and a voice from heaven came and said, “You are my beloved son; I am very pleased with you.” ²³Now Jesus himself was about thirty years old, beginning his ministry, being, as was reckoned by law, the son-in-law of Joseph, who was the son-in-law of Heli, ²⁴who was the son of Mattath, who was the son of Levi, who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Janna, who was the son of Joseph, ²⁵who was the son of Mattathiah, who was the son of Amos, who was the son of Naum, who was the son of Esli, who was the son of Naggai, ²⁶who was the son of Maath, who was the son of Mattathiah, who was the son of Semei, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Judah, ²⁷who was the son of Johanan, who was the son of Resha, who was the son of Zerubbabel, who was the son of Shealtiel, who was the son of Neri, ²⁸who was the son of Melchi, who was the son of Addi, who was the son of Cosam, who was the son of Elmodam, who was the son of Er, ²⁹who was the son of Jose, who was the son of Eliezer, who was the son of Jorim, who was the son of Mattath, who was the son of Levi, ³⁰who was the son of Simeon who was the son of Judah, who was the son of Joseph, who was the son of Jonah, who was the son of Eliakim, ³¹who was the son of Melea, who was the son of Menan, who was the son of Mattattah, who was the son of Nathan, who was the son of David, ³²who was the son of Jesse, who was the son of Obed, who was the son of Boaz, who was the son of Salmon, who was the son of Nahshon, ³³who was the son of Amminadab, who was the son of Ram, who was the son of Hezron, who was the son of Perez, who was the son of Judah, ³⁴who was the son of Jacob, who was the son of Isaac, who was the son of Abraham, who was the son of Terah, who was the son of Nahor, ³⁵who was the son of Serug, who was the son of Reu, who was the son of Peleg, who was the son of Eber, who was the son of Salah, ³⁶who was the son of Cainan, who was the son of Arphaxad, who was the son of Shem, who was the son of Noah, who was the son of Lamech, ³⁷who was the son of Methuselah, who was the son of Enoch, who was the son of Jared, who was the son of Mahalaleel, who was the son of Cainan, ³⁸who was the son of Enos, who was the son of Seth, who was the son of Adam, who was the son of God.

Reference(s) in Chapter 3: v.4 ↔ Isaiah 40:3 ● v.5 ↔ Isaiah 40:4 ● v.6 ↔ Isaiah 40:5.