Matthew 3:1-3

The Ministry of John the Baptist

3:1 In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness ¹  of Judea proclaiming, 3:2 “Repent, ²  for the kingdom of heaven is near.” 3:3 For he is the one about whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken: ³ 

“The voice ⁴  of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make ⁵  his paths straight.’” ⁶ 

Matthew 3:5

3:5 Then people from Jerusalem, ⁷  as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him,

Matthew 21:25

21:25 Where did John’s baptism come from? From heaven or from people?” ⁸  They discussed this among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’

Mark 1:3-5

1:3 the voice of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ⁹  his paths straight.’” ¹⁰ 

1:4 In the wilderness ¹¹  John the baptizer ¹²  began preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ¹³  1:5 People ¹⁴  from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem ¹⁵  were going out to him, and he was baptizing them ¹⁶  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

Luke 3:3-7

3:3 He ¹⁷  went into all the region around the Jordan River, ¹⁸  preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ¹⁹ 

3:4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

“The voice ²⁰  of one shouting in the wilderness: ²¹ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ²²  his paths straight.

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ²³ 

and every mountain and hill will be brought low,

and the crooked will be made straight,

and the rough ways will be made smooth,

3:6 and all humanity ²⁴  will see the salvation of God.’” ²⁵ 

3:7 So John ²⁶  said to the crowds ²⁷  that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! ²⁸  Who warned you to flee ²⁹  from the coming wrath?

Luke 8:18

8:18 So listen carefully, ³⁰  for whoever has will be given more, but ³¹  whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has ³²  will be taken from him.”

John 1:38

1:38 Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, “What do you want?” ³³  So they said to him, “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), ³⁴  “where are you staying?”

John 5:35

5:35 He was a lamp that was burning and shining, ³⁵  and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time ³⁶  in his light.

[3:1]  ¹ tn Or “desert.”

[3:2]  ² tn Grk “and saying, ‘Repent.’” The participle λέγων (legwn) at the beginning of v. 2 is redundant in English and has not been translated.

[3:3]  ³ tn Grk “was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying.” The participle λέγοντος (legonto") is redundant and has not been translated. The passive construction has also been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:3]  ⁵ sn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[3:3]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[3:5]  ⁷ tn Grk “Then Jerusalem.”

[21:25]  ⁸ tn The plural Greek term ἀνθρώπων (anqrwpwn) is used here (and in v. 26) in a generic sense, referring to both men and women (cf. NAB, NRSV, “of human origin”; TEV, “from human beings”; NLT, “merely human”).

[1:3]  ⁹ sn This call to “make his paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[1:3]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.

[1:4]  ¹¹ tn Or “desert.”

[1:4]  ¹² tn While Matthew and Luke consistently use the noun βαπτίστης (baptisths, “[the] Baptist”) to refer to John, as a kind of a title, Mark prefers the substantival participle ὁ βαπτίζων (Jo baptizwn, “the one who baptizes, the baptizer”) to describe him (only twice does he use the noun [Mark 6:25; 8:28]).

[1:4]  ¹³ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it.

[1:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “And the whole Judean countryside.” Mark uses the Greek conjunction καί (kai) at numerous places in his Gospel to begin sentences and paragraphs. This practice is due to Semitic influence and reflects in many cases the use of the Hebrew ו (vav) which is used in OT narrative, much as it is here, to carry the narrative along. Because in contemporary English style it is not acceptable to begin every sentence with “and,” καί was often left untranslated or rendered as “now,” “so,” “then,” or “but” depending on the context. When left untranslated it has not been noted. When given an alternative translation, this is usually indicated by a note.

[1:5]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:5]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “they were being baptized by him.” The passive construction has been rendered as active in the translation for the sake of English style.

[3:3]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[3:3]  ¹⁸ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁹ sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it (Luke 3:10-14).

[3:4]  ²⁰ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:4]  ²¹ tn Or “desert.” The syntactic position of the phrase “in the wilderness” is unclear in both Luke and the LXX. The MT favors taking it with “Prepare a way,” while the LXX takes it with “a voice shouting.” If the former, the meaning would be that such preparation should be done “in the wilderness.” If the latter, the meaning would be that the place from where John’s ministry went forth was “in the wilderness.” There are Jewish materials that support both renderings: 1QS 8:14 and 9.19-20 support the MT while certain rabbinic texts favor the LXX (see D. L. Bock, Luke [BECNT], 1:290-91). While it is not absolutely necessary that a call in the wilderness led to a response in the wilderness, it is not unlikely that such would be the case. Thus, in the final analysis, the net effect between the two choices may be minimal. In any case, a majority of commentators and translations take “in the wilderness” with “The voice of one shouting” (D. L. Bock; R. H. Stein, Luke [NAC], 129; I. H. Marshall, Luke [NIGTC], 136; NIV, NRSV, NKJV, NLT, NASB, REB).

[3:4]  ²² tn This call to “make paths straight” in this context is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance as the verb ποιέω (poiew) reappears in vv. 8, 10, 11, 12, 14.

[3:5]  ²³ sn The figurative language of this verse speaks of the whole creation preparing for the arrival of a major figure, so all obstacles to his approach are removed.

[3:6]  ²⁴ tn Grk “all flesh.”

[3:6]  ²⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3-5. Though all the synoptic gospels use this citation from Isaiah, only Luke cites the material of vv. 5-6. His goal may well be to get to the declaration of v. 6, where all humanity (i.e., all nations) see God’s salvation (see also Luke 24:47).

[3:7]  ²⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:7]  ²⁷ sn The crowds. It is interesting to trace references to “the crowd” in Luke. It is sometimes noted favorably, other times less so. The singular appears 25 times in Luke while the plural occurs 16 times. Matt 3:7 singles out the Sadducees and Pharisees here.

[3:7]  ²⁸ tn Or “snakes.”

[3:7]  ²⁹ sn The rebuke “Who warned you to flee…?” compares the crowd to snakes who flee their desert holes when the heat of a fire drives them out.

[8:18]  ³⁰ tn Or “Therefore pay close attention”; Grk “Take heed therefore how you hear.”

[8:18]  ³¹ tn Grk “and.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[8:18]  ³² sn The phrase what he thinks he has is important, because it is not what a person thinks he has that is important but whether he actually has something or not. Jesus describes the person who does not heed his word as having nothing. The person who has nothing loses even that which he thought was something but was not. In other words, he has absolutely nothing at all. Jesus’ teaching must be taken seriously.

[1:38]  ³³ tn Grk “What are you seeking?”

[1:38]  ³⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[5:35]  ³⁵ sn He was a lamp that was burning and shining. Sir 48:1 states that the word of Elijah was “a flame like a torch.” Because of the connection of John the Baptist with Elijah (see John 1:21 and the note on John’s reply, “I am not”), it was natural for Jesus to apply this description to John.

[5:35]  ³⁶ tn Grk “for an hour.”