Now in those days John the Baptist* came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,

那时，有施洗的约翰出来，在犹太的旷野传道，说：

在那些日子，施洗的约翰出来，在犹太的旷野宣讲：

在那些日子，施洗的约翰出来，在犹太的旷野宣讲：

那时，施洗者约翰来到犹太的旷野传道，说：

那时，施洗的约翰出来，在犹太的旷野传道，

在那些日子里，施洗者约翰来了，在犹太的旷野传道，

那時，有施洗的約翰出來，在猶太的曠野傳道，說：

在那些日子，施洗的約翰出來，在猶太的曠野宣講：

在那些日子，施洗的約翰出來，在猶太的曠野宣講：

那時，施洗者約翰來到猶太的曠野傳道，說：

那時，施洗的約翰出來，在猶太的曠野傳道，

當那些日子、施洗者約翰出來，在猶太的野地宣傳

在那些日子裡，施洗者約翰來了，在猶太的曠野傳道，

維時、施洗約翰至、宣言於猶太野、

維時、施洗約翰至猶太野、言曰、

維時有施洗約翰來、在猶太曠野宣道曰、

維時、施洗者如望宣道於猶太曠野中曰：

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

In those days John the Baptist came and preached in the Desert of Judea.

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was,

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judæa, saying,

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Wilderness of Judea

In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming,

In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying,

The voice of one calling out,“ Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.Let every valley be lifted up, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the uneven ground become a plain, And the rugged terrain a broad valley;Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, And all flesh will see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”A voice says,“ Call out.” Then he answered,“ What shall I call out?” All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist! Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

And they said,“ Some say John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.”

But the angel said to him,“ Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall name him John.You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice over his birth.For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while still in his mother’s womb.And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.And it is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers back to their children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

A man came, one sent from God, and his name was John.He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him.He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

after John had proclaimed, before His coming, a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.And while John was completing his course, he kept saying,‘ What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. But behold, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

And you, child, also will be called the prophet of the Most High; For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;

beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us— one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.”

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 his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.And he came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:“ The voice of one calling out in the wilderness,‘ Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!Every ravine will be filled, And every mountain and hill will be lowered; The crooked will become straight, And the rough roads smooth;And all flesh will see the salvation of God!’ ”So he was saying to the crowds who were going out to be baptized by him,“ You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?Therefore produce fruits that are consistent with repentance, and do not start saying to yourselves,‘ We have Abraham as our father,’ for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children for Abraham.But indeed the axe is already being laid at the root of the trees; so every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”And the crowds were questioning him, saying,“ Then what are we to do?”And he would answer and say to them,“ The one who has two tunics is to share with the one who has none; and the one who has food is to do likewise.”Now even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they said to him,“ Teacher, what are we to do?”And he said to them,“ Collect no more than what you have been ordered to.”And soldiers also were questioning him, saying,“ What are we to do, we as well?” And he said to them,“ Do not extort money from anyone, nor harass anyone, and be content with your wages.”Now while the people were in a state of expectation and they all were thinking carefully in their hearts about John, whether he himself perhaps was the Christ,John responded to them all, saying,“ As for me, I baptize you with water; but He is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the straps of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor, and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people.But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him regarding Herodias, his brother’s wife, and regarding all the evil things which Herod had done,Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John:“ What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

And he said,“ Into what then were you baptized?” And they said,“ Into John’s baptism.”Paul said,“ John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”

The voice of one calling out in the wilderness,‘ Prepare the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!’ ”John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.And all the country of Judea was going out to him, and all the people of Jerusalem; and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.John was clothed with camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist, and his diet was locusts and wild honey.And he was preaching, saying,“ After me One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to bend down and untie the straps of His sandals.I baptized you with water; but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

In the wilderness: Beth arabah, Middin, and Secacah,Nibshan, the City of Salt, and Engedi; six cities with their villages.

Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance;

and said to his servants,“ This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.For John had been saying to him,“ It is not lawful for you to have her.”Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet.But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod,so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.And after being prompted by her mother, she* said,“ Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and his dinner guests.He sent word and had John beheaded in the prison.And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.John’s disciples came and took away the body and buried it; and they went and reported to Jesus.Now when Jesus heard about John, He withdrew from there in a boat to a secluded place by Himself; and when the people heard about this, they followed Him on foot from the cities.When He came ashore, He saw a large crowd, and felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

But when Herod heard about it, he kept saying,“ John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”For Herod himself had sent men and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her.For John had been saying to Herod,“ It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”And Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death, and could not do so;for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he had been protecting him. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; and yet he used to enjoy listening to him.An opportune day came when Herod, on his birthday, held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders, and the leading people of Galilee;and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl,“ Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”And he swore to her,“ Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you, up to half of my kingdom.”And she went out and said to her mother,“ What shall I ask for?” And she said,“ The head of John the Baptist.”Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying,“ I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”And although the king was very sorry, because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her.Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and beheaded him in the prison,and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother.When his disciples heard about this, they came and carried away his body, and laid it in a tomb.

John* testified about Him and called out, saying,“ This was He of whom I said,‘ He who is coming after me has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’ ”For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.No one has seen God at any time; God the only Son, who is in the arms of the Father, He has explained Him.This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him,“ Who are you?”And he confessed and did not deny; and this is what he confessed:“ I am not the Christ.”And so they asked him,“ What then? Are you Elijah?” And he* said,“ I am not.”“ Are you the Prophet?” And he answered,“ No.”Then they said to him,“ Who are you? Tell us, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”He said,“ I am the voice of one calling out in the wilderness,‘ Make the way of the Lord straight,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”And the messengers had been sent from the Pharisees.They asked him, and said to him,“ Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”John answered them, saying,“ I baptize in water, but among you stands One whom you do not know.It is He who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy even to untie the strap of His sandal.”These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing people.The next day he* saw Jesus coming to him, and* said,“ Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!This is He in behalf of whom I said,‘ After me is coming a Man who has proved to be my superior, because He existed before me.’And I did not recognize Him, but so that He would be revealed to Israel, I came baptizing in water.”And John testified, saying,“ I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him.And I did not recognize Him, but He who sent me to baptize in water said to me,‘ He upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon Him, this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.’And I myself have seen, and have testified that this is the Son of God.”Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples,and he looked at Jesus as He walked, and* said,“ Behold, the Lamb of God!”

but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

John replied,“ A person can receive not even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven.You yourselves are my witnesses that I said,‘ I am not the Christ,’ but,‘ I have been sent ahead of Him.’He who has the bride is the groom; but the friend of the groom, who stands and listens to him, rejoices greatly because of the groom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.He must increase, but I must decrease.“ He who comes from above is above all; the one who is only from the earth is of the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.What He has seen and heard, of this He testifies; and no one accepts His testimony.The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true.For He whom God sent speaks the words of God; for He does not give the Spirit sparingly.The Father loves the Son and has entrusted all things to His hand.The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

The baptism of John was from what source: from heaven or from men?” And they began considering the implications among themselves, saying,“ If we say,‘ From heaven,’ He will say to us,‘ Then why did you not believe him?’But if we say,‘ From men,’ we fear the people; for they all regard John as a prophet.”And answering Jesus, they said,“ We do not know.” He also said to them,“ Neither am I telling you by what authority I do these things.

And now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty five years old today.

Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.

For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him.

As these disciples of John were going away, Jesus began speaking to the crowds about John:“ What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

and saying,“ The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”