Luke 3
3
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
Matt. 3:1-12; Mk. 1:1-8; Jn. 1:19-28
1 Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came upon John the son of Zechariah in the deserted place . 3 And he went into all the circumjacent region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“The voice of one calling aloud in the deserted place,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make His paths straight.*
5 Every valley will be filled,
and every mountain and hill will be levelled,
and the crooked places will become straight,
and the rough places will become level paths;*
6 then all flesh will see the salvation of God.’ ”*
7 Therefore, he was saying to the crowds that came out to be baptised by him, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Produce, then, fruits appropriate to repentance. Do not even begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham! 9 Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 And the crowds were asking him, saying, “What then should we do?”* 11 And he would answer, saying to them, “The one who has two tunics, let him share with the one who has none; and the one who has food, let him do in the same way.” 12 And tax collectors also came to be baptised and said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than what has been prescribed for you.” 14 And those who served in the military were also asking him, saying, “What should we also do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort from anyone, or accuse them falsely, and be content with your wages.”
15 And as the people were anticipating and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John,* whether he might be the Christ, 16 John gave an answer to them all, saying, “I indeed baptise you with water,* but the One who is mightier than I is coming, of whom I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in His hand, to clean out* His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn, but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
18 So with many other things, he exhorted them, and he kept preaching the good news to the people. 19 But Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him concerning Herodias, the wife of his brother, and concerning all the evil acts that Herod had done, 20 added this also to them all: He also confined John in prison.
The Baptism of Jesus
Matt. 3:13-17; Mk. 1:9-11
21 Now it occurred that, when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised, and while He was praying, the heaven was opened 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came from heaven, “You are My Son, the Beloved One; in You I am well pleased.”*
The Genealogy of Jesus
Matt. 1:1-17
23 And Jesus Himself, when He began His ministry,* was about thirty years old, being the son (as it was thought) of Joseph the son of Heli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala,* the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
Notes
4 Or make the paths straight for Him
5 Or smooth ways
6 Quoted from Is. 40:3-5
10 One ancient Greek manuscript inserts the subordinate, purpose clause that we may be saved at the end of the verse, likely as an interpolation from Acts 16:30, which reads: that I may be saved
15 One ancient Greek manuscript omits the prepositional phrase concerning John
16 In order to form a Synoptic parallel with Matt. 3:11, some ancient manuscripts insert the phrase prepositional phrase for repentance at this point
17 In order to form a Synoptic parallel with Matt. 3:12, some ancient manuscripts read and He will clean out
22 Or You are My Beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased
23 Greek And Jesus Himself, when He began, was about thirty years old… .
32 Some ancient manuscripts read Salmon
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Copyright © 2026 Michael Adeyemi Adegbola. This Scripture text is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0).
