John the Baptist prepares people to meet Jesus
1 This report is about John, the son of Zechariah. It happened when Tiberius Caesar had been the Roman ruler for 15 years. Pontius Pilate was the Roman ruler of Judea. Herod had authority over the region of Galilee. Herod's brother Philip had authority over Iturea and Trachonitis. Lysanias had authority over Abilene. 2 At this time, the leaders of the priests were Annas and Caiaphas. John was living in the wilderness. While he was there, God spoke to him.
3:1Tiberius Caesar ruled over all the countries where Rome had authority. Judea was the country where many of the Jewish people lived. Galilee, Iturea, Trachonitis and Abilene were the names of different regions where the Romans had authority. They chose men to rule those places for them.
3 John went to many places near the Jordan River and he spoke a message from God. He taught people, ‘You have done many wrong things. You must turn away from them and change how you live. Then God will forgive you and I will baptize you.’
3:3The Jordan River went from Galilee in the north to the Salt Sea (Dead Sea) in the south.
4 The prophet Isaiah wrote this message from God in his book:
‘Somebody's voice is shouting in the wilderness,
“The Lord will come soon, so prepare a way for him.
Make the paths straight for him.
5 Fill in every valley. Make every mountain and hill flat.
Take away every bend so that the road is straight.
Take away all the rocks so that the road is flat.
6 Then everyone will see how God can save them.” ’
3:6See Isaiah 40:3-5. At that time, people mended the roads before a king travelled along them. Isaiah showed that someone would prepare the way for the Lord to come. John the Baptist was that person. 7 Crowds of people were going out into the wilderness. They wanted John to baptize them. He told them, ‘You are like dangerous snakes! God is angry. You are trying to run away from him. But he will soon punish people like you. 8 You have to show that you are sorry. Change how you live. Stop doing things that God does not like. Do not begin to say to yourselves, “We are descendants of Abraham. God will surely not punish us.” Listen! God can take these stones and make children for Abraham out of them! 9 You are like trees that have bad fruit. God has an axe ready to use. He will cut down every tree that does not make good fruit. He will throw those trees into the fire.’
3:9God wanted his people to live good lives. He was ready to punish those people if they would not obey him.
10 People in the crowd asked John, ‘So what should we do?’
11 John answered, ‘If you have two shirts, give one away. Give it to someone who does not have even one shirt. If you have some food, give some of it away. Give it to someone who has no food.’
12 In the crowd, there were men who took taxes from people. These men also wanted John to baptize them. They asked him, ‘Teacher, what should we do?’
13 John told them, ‘You must take the right amount of money from people. You must not take more money than the rules say you should take.’
3:13Many people who took taxes for the Romans were not honest. They often took too much money.
14 Then some soldiers asked John, ‘What about us? What should we do?’
John replied, ‘Do not rob people of their money. Do not say that a person is guilty if he has not done anything wrong. You must not take money for yourself in that way. You should be happy with the money that you receive for your work.’
15 At this time people were thinking, ‘Is John the Messiah that God has promised to send to us?’ They were all hoping that he might be.
16 John said to the people, ‘I baptize you with water. But someone else is coming soon. He is much greater than I am. I am not good enough even to undo his shoes for him. This man will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He is like a farmer who brings the wheat home from his field. He uses a special tool to throw the wheat up in the air. He does this to make the wheat seeds separate from the chaff. Then he cleans his yard. He carefully stores all the seeds to keep them safe. But he burns everything else in a great fire that nobody can put out.’
18 John said many more things to the people. He was telling them the good news about how God could change their lives.
