Luke 3

¹In the fifteenth year of the imperial reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governing Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene— ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, a spoken word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. ³He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of radical reorientation for the release of sins, ⁴just as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet: “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. ⁵Every ravine shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be leveled; the crooked paths shall become straight, and the rough roads shall become smooth; ⁶and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”

⁷John began saying to the crowds who were coming out to be baptized by him, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming fury? ⁸Produce, therefore, fruits that are consistent with a radical reorientation. Do not even begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these very stones. ⁹Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰The crowds were questioning him, saying, “What then should we do?”

¹¹In response, he told them, “The person who has two tunics must share with the one who has none, and the person who has food must do the same.”

¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³He said to them, “Collect nothing more than what has been commanded to you.”

¹⁴Those serving as soldiers were also questioning him, saying, “And what about us? What should we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by a shakedown or by false accusation, and be satisfied with your rations.”

¹⁵While the people were in a state of high expectation and everyone was debating in their hearts about John, whether he might perhaps be the Christ, ¹⁶John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but the one who is more powerful than I am is coming; I am not even worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing shovel is in his hand to thoroughly clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So, with many other exhortations, he brought the good news to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch—having been rebuked by John concerning Herodias, the wife of his brother, and concerning all the evil things Herod had done— ²⁰added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

²¹Now it happened that when all the people were being baptized, and after Jesus had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in a physical form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven: “You are my Son, the Beloved; in you I take great delight.”

²³Jesus himself, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years old, being a son (as was legally reckoned) of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon, ³³the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.