Luke 3:3-19

³And he went into all the surrounding region of the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,

⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.

⁵Every valley shall be filled and every mountain and hill shall be humbled; the crooked roads shall become straight, and the rough roads shall become smooth;

⁶and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”

⁷Then he said to the crowds which came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁸Therefore produce fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham out of these stones!

⁹And even now the ax is being laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and is thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰So the people were asking him, saying, “What shall we do then?”

¹¹He answered and said to them, “He who has two shirts, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”

¹²Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?”

¹³And he said to them, “Collect nothing more than the amount which has been commanded to you.”

¹⁴Likewise the soldiers also were asking him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse anyone falsely, and be content with your wages.”

¹⁵Now while the people waited, and all considered in their hearts about John, whether he might be the Christ,

¹⁶John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire;

¹⁷whose winnowing shovel is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸And with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people.

¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done,