Luke

¹Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. ³He came into the entire region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins. ⁴As it is written in the book of the words of Isaias (Isaiah) the prophet, saying:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness,⁶⁵⁹

“Make ready the way of the Lord.

Make his paths straight.

⁵Every valley will be filled.

Every mountain and hill will be brought low.

The crooked will become straight,

and the rough ways smooth.

⁶All flesh will see God’s salvation.”⁶⁶⁰

⁷To the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, John said, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore, bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones! ⁹Even now, the axe also lies at the root of the tree,⁶⁶¹ and so every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is [to be] cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰The multitudes asked him, “What then must we do?”

¹¹John⁶⁶² answered them, “Whoever has two coats should give to the one who has none. He who has food should do likewise.”

¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what must we do?”

¹³He replied, “Do not collect more than what is appointed to you.”

¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “What about us? What must we do?”

He said to them, “Do not accuse [anyone] wrongfully, and extort from no one by violence. Be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and everyone reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ, ¹⁶John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but the one who is coming is more powerful than I! I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals! He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire! ¹⁷His winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn; but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸With many other exhortations, he preached Good News to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s⁶⁶³ wife, and for all the evil things which he had done, ²⁰added this also to them all, that he shut up John in prison.

Theophany: The Lord’s Baptism

²¹Now it happened, after all the people were baptized, that Jesus was also baptized. As he was praying, heaven⁶⁶⁴ was opened, ²²and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him. A voice came out of heaven⁶⁶⁵ “which said, “You are my beloved Son! In you I am well pleased.”⁶⁶⁶

²³Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech⁶⁶⁷, the son of Judah, ²⁷the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Jose,⁶⁶⁸ the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, ³³the son of Amminadab, the son of Aram,⁶⁶⁹ the son of Joram,⁶⁷⁰ the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶the son of Cainan,⁶⁷¹ the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

The temptation in the desert

659. NT agrees with LXX against MT.
660. Isaias 40:3-5. NT agrees with LXX against MT.
661. See the traditional icon of the Lord’s baptism
662. Greek “he”
663. TR reads “brother Philip’s” instead of “brother’s”
664. Or “the sky”
665. Or “the sky”
666. Codex Bezae (D) reads “You are my son, I today have begotten you” (Psalm 2:7) which is mentioned by Justin Martyr and Clement of Alexandria.
667. MT and TR read “Joseph” instead of “Josech”
668. CT reads “Joshua” (or “Jesus”) instead of “Jose”
669. CT reads “Admin, the son of Arni” instead of “Aram”
670. CT omits “the son of Joram”
671. See Appendix G for a discussion of this second Cainan and the relationship between Luke and the LXX.