Matthew 3  Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

The Herald of the Messiah

3 In those days John the Baptist came,^(A) preaching in the wilderness of Judea^{(B) 2} and saying, ‘Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near! ’^{(C) 3} For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said:

⁴ Now John had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵ Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶ and they were baptised by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.^(E)

⁷ When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees^(F) coming to his baptism, he said to them, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?^{(G) 8} Therefore produce fruit^(H) consistent with^[b] repentance. ⁹ And don’t presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.”^(I) For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰ The axe is already at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.^(J)

¹¹ ‘I baptise you with^[c] water for repentance,^(K) but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove^[d] his sandals. He himself will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.^{(L) 12} His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.’^(M)

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him.^{(N) 14} But John tried to stop him, saying, ‘I need to be baptised by you, and yet you come to me? ’

¹⁵ Jesus answered him, ‘Allow it for now, because this is the way for us to fulfil all righteousness.’ Then John allowed him to be baptised.

¹⁶ When Jesus was baptised, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens^(O) suddenly opened for him,^[e] and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down onto him.^{(P) 17} And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.’^(Q)