Matthew 3  Complete Jewish Bible

3 It was during those days that Yochanan the Immerser arrived in the desert of Y’hudah and began proclaiming the message, ² “Turn from your sins to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near!” ³ This is the man Yesha‘yahu was talking about when he said,

⁴ Yochanan wore clothes of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ People went out to him from Yerushalayim, from all Y’hudah, and from the whole region around the Yarden. ⁶ Confessing their sins, they were immersed by him in the Yarden River.

⁷ But when Yochanan saw many of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim coming to be immersed by him, he said to them, “You snakes! Who warned you to escape the coming punishment? ⁸ If you have really turned from your sins to God, produce fruit that will prove it! ⁹ And don’t suppose you can comfort yourselves by saying, ‘Avraham is our father’! For I tell you that God can raise up for Avraham sons from these stones! ¹⁰ Already the axe is at the root of the trees, ready to strike; every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown in the fire! ¹¹ It’s true that I am immersing you in water so that you might turn from sin to God; but the one coming after me is more powerful than I — I’m not worthy even to carry his sandals — and he will immerse you in the Ruach HaKodesh and in fire. ¹² He has with him his winnowing fork; and he will clear out his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn but burning up the straw with unquenchable fire!”

¹³ Then Yeshua came from the Galil to the Yarden to be immersed by Yochanan. ¹⁴ But Yochanan tried to stop him. “You are coming to me? I ought to be immersed by you!” ¹⁵ However, Yeshua answered him, “Let it be this way now, because we should do everything righteousness requires.” Then Yochanan let him. ¹⁶ As soon as Yeshua had been immersed, he came up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, he saw the Spirit of God coming down upon him like a dove, ¹⁷ and a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; I am well pleased with him.”