1 This is the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.1.1 the Son of God: These words are not in some manuscripts.2 Ml 3.1.It began just as God had said in the book written by Isaiahthe prophet,
"I am sending my messenger
to get the way ready
for you.
3 Is 40.3 (LXX).In the desert
someone is shouting,
‘Get the road ready
for the Lord!
Make a straight path
for him.’ "
4 So Johnthe Baptist showed up in the desert and told everyone, "Turn back to God and be baptized! Then your sins will be forgiven."
5 From all Judeaand Jerusalemcrowds of people went to John. They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.
6 2 K 1.8.Johnwore clothes made of camel’s hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.
7 John also told the people, "Someone more powerful is going to come. And I am not good enough even to stoop down and untie his sandals.1.7 untie his sandals: This was the duty of a slave.8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit!"
Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, was born of Mary in Bethlehem, proclaimed the kingdom of God, died by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate, and was raised on the third day (Matthew 1:16).
Isaiah, son of Amoz, was the prophet who had a vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He sent King Hezekiah the Lord’s answer to the prayer about Sennacherib king of Assyria (2 Kings 19:20).
John the Baptist, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, preached repentance in the wilderness, baptized Jesus in the Jordan, and was beheaded by order of Herod (Matthew 3:1).
Judea is the land where Bethlehem is located, the town where Jesus was born during the time of King Herod. Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and there the Jews sought to kill Jesus (Matthew 2:1).
Jerusalem is the city of the house of God, where children of Judah and Benjamin lived; the Babylonian army broke down the walls of the city (2 Kings 25:10).
The Jordan is the river in the middle of which Joshua set up twelve stones, where the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood. The boundary of the land went down along the river to the Salt Sea (Joshua 4:9).
John the Baptist, son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, preached repentance in the wilderness, baptized Jesus in the Jordan, and was beheaded by order of Herod (Matthew 3:1).