Luke 3

Evangelical Heritage Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene— ² during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. ³ He went into the whole region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴ Just as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

⁷ So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸ Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. ⁹ Even now the ax is ready to strike^[c] the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰ The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?”

¹¹ He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”

¹² Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³ To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.”

¹⁴ Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?”

He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵ The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might be the Christ. ¹⁶ John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷ His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸ Then with many other words, he appealed to them and was preaching good news to the people. ¹⁹ But after John rebuked Herod the tetrarch because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the evil things he had done— ²⁰ Herod added this to them all: He locked John in prison.

John Baptizes Jesus

²¹ When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. While he was praying, heaven was opened, ²² and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love. I am well pleased with you.”

²³ Jesus himself was about thirty years old when he began his ministry.

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

Jesus was the son (so it was thought) of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵ the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, ²⁷ the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, ²⁹ the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰ the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, ³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³² the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, ³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram,^[d] the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶ the son of Cainan,^[e] the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Malaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸ the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.