Daily Bread

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)(B)

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—when Pontius Pilate^(C) was governor of Judea, Herod^(D) tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene— ² during the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas,^(E) the word of God came to John^(F) son of Zechariah^(G) in the wilderness. ³ He went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.^{(H) 4} As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

⁷ John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers!^(J) Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?^{(K) 8} Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’^(L) For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. ⁹ The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”^(M)

¹⁰ “What should we do then?”^(N) the crowd asked.

¹¹ John answered, “Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same.”^(O)

¹² Even tax collectors came to be baptized.^(P) “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”

¹³ “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,”^(Q) he told them.

¹⁴ Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”

He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely^(R)—be content with your pay.”