Mark 1:3-5

New Catholic Bible

³The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ ”

⁴Hence, John the Baptist appeared in the desert, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵People from the entire Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him, and as they confessed their sins they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.