New Testament · Gospels and Acts

Matthew chapter 3

Around that time, showed up in the , and his message was simple:“ — because is arriving right now!”This is the one the prophet was talking about when he said: “A voice is shouting in the wilderness: ‘Clear a path for ! Straighten out the road for him!’”John wore clothes made from with a leather belt around his waist, and he lived on and wild honey.People from Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from the entire Jordan River region were to see him.They were , and John was them in the Jordan River.But when John saw a bunch of and showing up to be submerged, he said to them, “You bunch of ! Who tipped you off to run from the that’s coming? that you’ve actually .And don’t even think about telling yourselves, ‘We’re — we’re fine.’ Let me tell you something: God could raise up descendants for Abraham from right here.The of the trees. Every tree that doesn’t produce gets chopped down and thrown into the fire.I’m as a sign that you’ve changed direction. But someone is coming after me who is way more powerful than I am — I’m not even worthy to . He will submerge you in and in .He’s got his in his hand, and he’s going to thoroughly clean out his . He’ll gather his grain into the barn, but the worthless husks he’ll burn up in a .”Then arrived at the Jordan River from and came to John to be submerged by him.But John . “I’m the one who needs to be submerged by you,” he said, “and you’re coming to me?”But Jesus answered him, “Let it happen for now — this is how we .” So John agreed.As soon as Jesus came up out of the water, and he saw coming down and landing on him.And a voice came from the sky: “This is , and . .”