¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,

²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came upon John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.

³And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan, proclaiming an immersion of change of heart for forgiveness of sins,

⁴as it has been written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

⁵Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low; and the crooked will become straight, and the rough into smooth ways;

⁶and all flesh will behold the salvation of God.

⁷Therefore he was saying to the crowds coming out to be immersed by him: Offspring of vipers, who forewarned you to flee from the wrath soon coming?

⁸Therefore produce fruits worthy of change of heart, and do not begin to say in yourselves, We have Abraham as father; for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.

⁹Now already also the ax is applied to the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹⁰And the crowds were asking him, saying: What then shall we do?

¹¹Answering, he was saying to them: The one who has two tunics should impart to the one having none, and the one who has food should likewise do.

¹²Then tax collectors also came to be immersed, and they said to him: Teacher, what shall we do?

¹³And he said to them: Collect nothing more beyond that appointed to you.

¹⁴Then those being soldiers also were asking him, saying: And what shall we ourselves do? And he said to them: Extort from no one, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.

¹⁵Then when the people were expecting and all were wondering in their hearts concerning John, whether he himself would be the Anointed One,

¹⁶John answered, saying to all: I myself indeed immerse you with water; however the One mightier than I comes, of whom I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He himself will immerse you with the Holy Spirit and with fire,

¹⁷of whom the winnowing fork is in his hand, to scour his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn. But the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

¹⁸Therefore, exhorting many other things indeed, he was bringing good news to the people.

¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him concerning Herodias the wife of Philip his brother, and concerning all the evils that Herod did,

²⁰added this yet to all: he also locked up John in the prison.

²¹Now it came to pass, as all the people were immersed, when Jesus, having been immersed and having prayed, the heaven was opening,

²²and the Holy Spirit descending in a bodily form as a dove upon him, and a voice coming out of heaven, saying: You yourself are my beloved Son, in you I am well pleased.

²³And Jesus himself was beginning, being about thirty years old, son, as was supposed, of Joseph, of Heli,

²⁴of Matthat, of Levi, of Melchi, of Jannai, of Joseph,

²⁵of Mattathias, of Amos, of Nahum, of Esli, of Naggai,

²⁶of Maath, of Mattathias, of Semein, of Josech, of Joda,

²⁷of Joannen, of Rhesa, of Zerubbabel, of Shealtiel, of Neri,

²⁸of Melchi, of Addi, of Cosam, of Elmadam, of Er,

²⁹of Joshua, of Eliezer, of Jorim, of Matthat, of Levi,

³⁰of Simeon, of Judah, of Joseph, of Jonam, of Eliakim,

³¹of Melea, of Menna, of Mattatha, of Nathan, of David,

³²of Jesse, of Obed, of Boaz, of Sala, of Nahshon,

³³of Amminadab, of Admin, of Arni, of Hezron, of Perez, of Judah,

³⁴of Jacob, of Isaac, of Abraham, of Terah, of Nahor,

³⁵of Serug, of Reu, of Peleg, of Heber, of Shelah,

³⁶of Cainan, of Arphaxad, of Shem, of Noah, of Lamech,

³⁷of Methuselah, of Enoch, of Jared, of Mahalalel, of Cainan,

³⁸of Enosh, of Seth, of Adam, of God.