Chapter Three Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius
Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee,
and his brother Philip, tetrarch of Etruria, and of the region of Trachonitis,
and Lysanus the tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests,
the word of God came unto John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.
And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of
repentance for the remission of sins, as it is written in the book of the words
of Esaias, the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low,
and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth,
and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.
Then said he to the multitude that came forth to be baptized of him, O generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within
yourselves, We have Abraham to our father.
For I say unto you, that God is able, of these stones, to raise up children unto
Abraham.
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees.
Every tree therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down,
and cast into the fire.
And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then?
He answereth, and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart to
him that hath none.
And he that hath meat, let him do likewise.
Then came also publicans to be baptized, and said unto him, Master, what shall we
do?
And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed you.
And the soldiers likewise demanded of him, saying, And what shall we do?
And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely,
and be content with your wages.
And as the people were in expectation, and all men mused in their hearts of John,
whether he were the Christ or not, John answered, saying unto them all,
I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh,
the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose.
He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand,
and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner,
but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
And many other things in his exhortation preached he unto the people.
But Herod the Tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother Philip's
wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added yet this above all,
that he shut up John in prison.
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being
baptized and praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a
bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said,
Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased.
And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed,
the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, which was the son of Mathat,
which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Jana,
which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of
Amos, which was the son of Nahum, which was the son of Ezli, which was the
son of Nagi, which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mattathias,
which was the son of Semii, which was the son of Joseph,
which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Jonan, which was the son of
Eliakim, which was the son of Melia, which was the son of Menan, which was the
son of Matathah, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David,
which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Boaz,
which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasan, which was the son of
Amminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Ezram, Which was the
son of Pharaoh, which was the son of Judah, which was the son of Jacob,
which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of
Pharaoh, which was the son of Nacor, which was the son of Serac, which was the
son of Ragah, which was the son of Phalic, which was the son of Heber, which was the
son of Selah, which was the son of Canaan, which was the son of Arphaxad,
which was the son of Sam, which was the son of Noah, which was the son of Lamech,
which was the son of Methuselah,