Matthew 3

New King James Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 In those days ^(B)John the Baptist came preaching ^(C)in the wilderness of Judea, ²and saying, “Repent, for ^(D)the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

^(E)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^(F)‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”

⁴Now ^(G)John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(H)locusts and ^(I)wild honey. ⁵^(J)Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him ⁶^(K)and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^(L)“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(M)the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ⁹and do not think to say to yourselves, ^(N)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. ^(O)Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹^(P)I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. ^(Q)He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit ^[a]and fire. ¹²^(R)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will ^(S)burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John Baptizes Jesus^(T)

¹³^(U)Then Jesus came ^(V)from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

¹⁵But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

¹⁶^(W)When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and ^[b]He saw ^(X)the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷^(Y)And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ^(Z)“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”