1 At that time there was another important ruler in Rome called Tiberius, who ruled over very many people in different countries. He had been ruling for fifteen years. A man called Pontius Pilate ruled over all the people of Judea. And another man called Herod ruled over all the people of Galilee. Herod's younger brother Philip ruled over two countries called Iturea and Trachonitis that were near Galilee. And there was another man called Lysanias who ruled in another country called Abilene. 2 At the same time as they were ruling in those places, there were two high priests in Jerusalem called Annas and Caiaphas.
4 Long ago there was a man called Isaiah who was a prophet. He said,
7 Crowds of people went to John because they wanted him to baptize them in the river. But he said to them, “You wicked people! You are like snakes! You won't escape when God punishes you!
8 “If you really want God to save you, then you should get yourselves straight today. Do good, just like a good tree that has good fruit, so that people will know you have stopped doing wrong. And don't think, ‘We are all right because Abraham is our ancestor,’ but listen to what I am telling you today. If God wants to, he can change these stones lying here on the ground. From these very stones he can make children for Abraham.
9 “Listen! God will decide about you all, whether you people are good or bad. God is working like a man who chops trees down with an axe. He chops down all the trees that haven't had any good fruit. He cuts them underneath at the roots and throws them into the fire and burns them. God will work like that, and he is ready to work now.”
10 They all said, “Help! Then what can we do?”
11 John answered, “I will tell you. If one of you has two coats to wear, you must give one of them to someone who hasn't any. And if one of you has food to eat, you must share it with someone who has no food.”
12 There were some people who worked for the Roman rulers taking tax money from other people to give to the Romans. They also came to John to be baptized and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 John said, “When you take tax money, take what you have been told, and no more.”
14 Some soldiers asked, “What about us? What should we do?”
15 At that time many people were wondering about John. They thought, “Maybe John is the Messiah, the one God promised to send to us. Maybe he is, maybe not.”
16 So John said to them, “I am baptizing you today with water and that is all. But someone is coming later who is much greater than I am. When I think of him, I know that I am not very important. I am not good enough to work for him or even to untie his shoes. And when he comes here he will baptize you with God's Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He is ready to decide whether you are good or bad, and to separate you, just like someone who separates the wheat seeds from the bits of grass. He gathers the wheat in his storehouse and he burns the grass in the fire. It will be like that when the man I have been telling you about comes here. But his fire will never go out. It will burn forever.”
18 John spoke many different things to all the people who came to him. He told them the good news about God, and he persuaded them to stop doing wrong and obey God.
19 He also spoke strong words to Herod. Herod was the ruler of Galilee I have told you about. John blamed him because he had married his younger brother's wife, Herodias, before her husband Philip had died. He had done many other evil things. Because of that John kept saying to Herod, “You are very wicked.” 20 Then Herod did something even worse. He told his soldiers to put John in prison. And they took him and locked him up.
21 Before John was put in prison, Jesus went to him, and John baptized Jesus after everyone else. After John had baptized him, Jesus prayed. While he was praying God opened the heavens 22 and sent his Holy Spirit to him. The Holy Spirit came down from above like a dove and rested on him.
23 When Jesus began his work he was thirty years old. When people talked about him, they said, “Jesus' father is Joseph.” But Joseph only brought him up. Joseph's father was called Heli.