¹ And in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the waste land of Judaea,

² Saying, Let your hearts be turned from sin; for the kingdom of heaven is near.

³ For this is he of whom Isaiah the prophet said, The voice of one crying in the waste land, Make ready the way of the Lord, Make his roads straight.

⁴ Now John was clothed in camel's hair, with a leather band about him; and his food was locusts and honey.

⁵ Then Jerusalem and all Judaea went out to him, and all the people from near Jordan;

⁶ And they were given baptism by him in the river Jordan, saying openly that they had done wrong.

⁷ But when he saw a number of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, Offspring of snakes, at whose word are you going in flight from the wrath to come?

⁸ Let your change of heart be seen in your works:

⁹ And say not to yourselves, We have Abraham for our father; because I say to you that God is able from these stones to make children for Abraham.

¹⁰ And even now the axe is put to the root of the trees; every tree then which does not give good fruit is cut down, and put into the fire.

¹¹ Truly, I give baptism with water to those of you whose hearts are changed; but he who comes after me is greater than I, whose shoes I am not good enough to take up: he will give you baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire:

¹² In whose hand is the instrument with which he will make clean his grain; he will put the good grain in his store, but the waste will be burned up in the fire which will never be put out.

¹³ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be given baptism by him.

¹⁴ But John would have kept him back, saying, It is I who have need of baptism from you, and do you come to me?

¹⁵ But Jesus made answer, saying to him, Let it be so now: because so it is right for us to make righteousness complete. Then he gave him baptism.

¹⁶ And Jesus, having been given baptism, straight away went up from the water; and, the heavens opening, he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him as a dove;

¹⁷ And a voice came out of heaven, saying, This is my dearly loved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

¹ The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

² Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

³ I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones.

⁴ The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle.

⁵ They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.

⁶ Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.

⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt.

⁸ They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.

⁹ Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.

¹⁰ For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

¹¹ I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the haughtiness of the terrible.

¹² I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.

¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, and in the day of his fierce anger.