Matthew 3

During that time John the Baptist came and began preaching in the desert country of Judea.

1In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

Note"In those days" is a loose connector rather than a date; the narrative has just left Jesus' childhood and jumps ahead roughly thirty years. "The Baptist" is a description, not a surname or a denomination: it means "the one who baptizes." The "wilderness of Judaea" was the dry, thinly settled scrubland falling away from the hills around Jerusalem toward the Jordan valley and the Dead Sea. It had shepherds, tracks and villages at its edges, so it was open uninhabited country rather than sand dunes.

2He said, "Turn away from your sins, because the kingdom of heaven is near."

2And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Note"Repent ye" translates a Greek word meaning to change one's mind and turn around, a reversal of direction rather than simply feeling sorry. "The kingdom of heaven" is this Gospel's regular phrase where Mark and Luke usually say "the kingdom of God"; Jewish writers of the period often said "heaven" as a respectful way of not pronouncing the divine name. The phrase means God's rule or reign arriving, not a place people travel to after death. "At hand" means near, close enough to matter now.

3John is the man the prophet Isaiah was talking about when he said, "Someone is calling out in the desert: 'Get the road ready for the Lord. Make his paths straight.'"

3For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

Note"Esaias" is the Greek spelling of Isaiah; the quotation is Isaiah 40:3. Ancient kings sent work crews ahead of a royal journey to clear, level and straighten the road, so "prepare ye the way of the Lord" is a picture of roadwork before an arriving ruler. The Hebrew of Isaiah is genuinely ambiguous about where "in the wilderness" belongs: it can go with the voice (a voice calling in the wilderness) or with the command (prepare a road in the wilderness). The Greek quoted here keeps the ambiguity.

4John's clothes were made of camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.

4And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

Note"Raiment" is clothing, and "a leathern girdle about his loins" is a leather belt around the waist. "Meat" in 1611 English meant food of any sort, not flesh in particular. Coarse camel hair cloth plus a leather belt matches the description of the prophet Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8, and the first hearers would have caught the echo. The locusts are the insect; the Law of Moses named them among the very few insects Israelites were permitted to eat (Leviticus 11:22), and they were dried or roasted. Wild honey was taken from bees' nests in rock clefts and hollow trees, not from kept hives.

5People came out to him from Jerusalem, from all of Judea, and from the whole area around the Jordan River.

5Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,

NoteNaming "Jerusalem" and "Judaea" is a way of naming the people who lived there. "All" is the ordinary exaggeration of a crowd report, meaning people came from everywhere in those districts.

6They admitted their sins out loud, and he baptized them in the Jordan River.

6And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Note"Baptized of him" means baptized by him; in the King James Version "of" very often carries the sense of the modern "by." The verb behind "baptize" means to dip, plunge or immerse. Ritual washing for purity was already familiar in Jewish practice, but those washings were repeated and self-administered; what John did was a single act performed on a person by someone else, tied to an admission of specific wrongs.

7But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said to them, "You family of poisonous snakes! Who warned you to run away from the anger that is coming?

7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

NoteThe Pharisees were a lay movement committed to exact observance of the Law, including a body of tradition handed down alongside the written text. The Sadducees were built around the priestly and landowning families who controlled the temple, and they rejected that extra tradition. The two groups were rivals, so naming them in one breath is pointed. "Generation of vipers" does not mean an age or era: "generation" here means brood or offspring, so he is calling them a litter of poisonous snakes. "The wrath to come" was a stock phrase for God's judgment at the end of the age.

8So live in a way that shows you have really turned from your sins.

8Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Note"Meet" is an adjective meaning fitting or suitable, unrelated to the verb "meet" and to "meat." "Bring forth ... fruits" is farming language for behavior that grows out of the change, the way a crop grows out of a healthy tree.

9And do not tell yourselves, 'Abraham is our father.' I tell you, God can make children for Abraham out of these very stones.

9And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

NoteDescent from Abraham was the standard basis for claiming a share in the promises God made to Israel, so "We have Abraham to our father" is a claim of secure standing, not a genealogical remark. In Hebrew and Aramaic the words for stones and for sons or children sound nearly alike (abanim and banim), so the saying carries a pun that does not survive into English.

10The axe is already lying at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not grow good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.

10And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

NoteAn axe "laid unto the root" is one already resting against the base of the trunk with the swing about to come, not a tool put away in a shed. The image is of felling that is about to begin.

11I baptize you with water so that you will turn from your sins. But someone is coming after me who is stronger than I am. I am not good enough even to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

11I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

Note"Unto repentance" means with a view to repentance, that is, the washing goes with the turning. Carrying or untying a master's sandals was slave's work; Jewish teaching of the period said a student could be required to perform almost any service for his teacher except this one, which is why the comparison is so extreme. "Holy Ghost" is simply older English for Holy Spirit, since "ghost" meant spirit in 1611 with no suggestion of a haunting. The Greek preposition rendered "with" can equally be rendered "in," and "with fire" is left unexplained here; the fire of the next verse burns chaff, while fire elsewhere in scripture also refines metal.

12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean off his threshing floor completely. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but he will burn the husks in a fire that never goes out."

12Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

NoteA "fan" here is a winnowing fork or shovel, nothing to do with cooling air: after the grain was beaten loose, workers threw it up into the evening breeze with this tool so that the wind carried off the light husks while the heavy kernels fell straight back down. "Throughly" is the older spelling of thoroughly. The "floor" is a threshing floor, a flat, hard, open patch of ground, usually on a rise to catch the wind. A "garner" is a granary or storehouse. "Chaff" is the husks and broken straw left behind, worth nothing as food and usually burned as quick fuel.

13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River, to John, to be baptized by him.

13Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.

NoteGalilee is the northern region and the Jordan crossings near the Judean wilderness lie far to the south, so this is a journey on foot of several days, something on the order of seventy miles depending on the route taken.

14But John tried to stop him. He said, "I am the one who needs to be baptized by you, and you come to me?"

14But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

Note"Forbad" in 1611 English covers attempting to prevent as well as succeeding. The Greek verb form here carries the sense "kept trying to stop him," which is why John does in the end allow it.

15Jesus answered him, "Let it happen this way for now. This is how we should do everything that God says is right." Then John agreed.

15And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

Note"Suffer" meant permit or allow, so "Suffer it to be so now" means let it happen for the present, and "then he suffered him" at the end of the verse means then he let him do it. "It becometh us" means it is fitting or proper for us. "Fulfil all righteousness" is left open in the Greek and was heard in more than one way: to carry out everything God requires, or to fill up completely what is right.

16As soon as Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water. Just then the heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and settling on him.

16And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

Note"Straightway" means at once, immediately. "Lo" is an old word for look or behold, marking something that suddenly comes into view. "Lighting upon him" means alighting, settling, the way a bird comes to rest. Two things stay genuinely open in the Greek: who "he saw" refers to, John or Jesus, and whether "like a dove" describes the appearance of the Spirit or the manner of the descent, coming down the way a dove comes down.

17And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love. I am very pleased with him."

17And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

NoteThe wording gathers phrases a Jewish hearer would recognize: "my beloved Son" resembles Psalm 2:7, spoken to a king at his enthronement, and "in whom I am well pleased" resembles Isaiah 42:1, spoken of a chosen servant. "Beloved" in the Greek of this period can also carry the sense of "only." Mark and Luke report the words in the second person, "Thou art my beloved Son," spoken to Jesus; here they are in the third person, "This is," addressed to whoever is listening.