Matthew 3:1-8

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 

3:4 Now John wore clothing made from camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey. ⁷  3:5 Then people from Jerusalem, ⁸  as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him, 3:6 and he was baptizing them ⁹  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees ¹⁰  and Sadducees ¹¹  coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 3:8 Therefore produce fruit ¹²  that proves your ¹³  repentance,

Isaiah 35:8

35:8 A thoroughfare will be there –

it will be called the Way of Holiness. ¹⁴ 

The unclean will not travel on it;

it is reserved for those authorized to use it ¹⁵  –

fools ¹⁶  will not stray into it.

Jeremiah 6:16

6:16 The Lord said to his people: ¹⁷ 

“You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. ¹⁸ 

Ask where the old, reliable paths ¹⁹  are.

Ask where the path is that leads to blessing ²⁰  and follow it.

If you do, you will find rest for your souls.”

But they said, “We will not follow it!”

Luke 3:8-13

3:8 Therefore produce ²¹  fruit ²²  that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say ²³  to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ ²⁴  For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones! ²⁵  3:9 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, ²⁶  and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be ²⁷  cut down and thrown into the fire.”

3:10 So ²⁸  the crowds were asking ²⁹  him, “What then should we do?” 3:11 John ³⁰  answered them, ³¹  “The person who has two tunics ³²  must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.” 3:12 Tax collectors ³³  also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?” 3:13 He told them, “Collect no more ³⁴  than you are required to.” ³⁵ 

Luke 3:2

3:2 during the high priesthood ³⁶  of Annas and Caiaphas, the word ³⁷  of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³⁸ 

Luke 2:21

2:21 At ³⁹  the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel ⁴⁰  before he was conceived in the womb.

[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.

[3:4]  ⁷ sn John’s lifestyle was in stark contrast to many of the religious leaders of Jerusalem who lived in relative ease and luxury. While his clothing and diet were indicative of someone who lived in the desert, they also depicted him in his role as God’s prophet (cf. Zech 13:4); his appearance is similar to the Prophet Elijah (2 Kgs 1:8). Locusts and wild honey were a common diet in desert regions, and locusts (dried insects) are listed in Lev 11:22 among the “clean” foods.

[3:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “Then Jerusalem.”

[3:6]  ⁹ 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.

[3:7]  ¹⁰ sn Pharisees were members of one of the most important and influential religious and political parties of Judaism in the time of Jesus. There were more Pharisees than Sadducees (according to Josephus, Ant. 17.2.4 [17.42] there were more than 6,000 Pharisees at about this time). Pharisees differed with Sadducees on certain doctrines and patterns of behavior. The Pharisees were strict and zealous adherents to the laws of the OT and to numerous additional traditions such as angels and bodily resurrection.

[3:7]  ¹¹ sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.

[3:8]  ¹² sn Fruit worthy of repentance refers to the deeds that indicate a change of attitude (heart) on the part of John’s hearers.

[3:8]  ¹³ tn Grk “fruit worthy of.”

[35:8]  ¹⁴ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and there will be there a road and a way, and the Way of Holiness it will be called.” וְדֶרֶךְ (vÿderekh, “and a/the way”) is accidentally duplicated; the Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a does not reflect the repetition of the phrase.

[35:8]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of this line is uncertain. The text reads literally “and it is for them, the one who walks [on the] way.” In this context those authorized to use the Way of Holiness would be morally upright people who are the recipients of God’s deliverance, in contrast to the morally impure and foolish who are excluded from the new covenant community.

[35:8]  ¹⁶ tn In this context “fools” are those who are morally corrupt, not those with limited intellectual capacity.

[6:16]  ¹⁷ tn The words, “to his people” are not in the text but are implicit in the interchange of pronouns in the Hebrew of vv. 16-17. They are supplied in the translation here for clarity.

[6:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Stand at the crossroads and look.”

[6:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the ancient path,” i.e., the path the Lord set out in ancient times (cf. Deut 32:7).

[6:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the way of/to the good.”

[3:8]  ²¹ tn The verb here is ποιέω (poiew; see v. 4).

[3:8]  ²² tn Grk “fruits.” The plural Greek term καρπούς has been translated with the collective singular “fruit” (so NIV; cf. Matt 3:8 where the singular καρπός is found). Some other translations render the plural καρπούς as “fruits” (e.g., NRSV, NASB, NAB, NKJV).

[3:8]  ²³ tn In other words, “do not even begin to think this.”

[3:8]  ²⁴ sn We have Abraham as our father. John’s warning to the crowds really assumes two things: (1) A number of John’s listeners apparently believed that simply by their physical descent from Abraham, they were certain heirs of the promises made to the patriarch, and (2) God would never judge his covenant people lest he inadvertently place the fulfillment of his promises in jeopardy. In light of this, John tells these people two things: (1) they need to repent and produce fruit in keeping with repentance, for only that saves from the coming wrath, and (2) God will raise up “children for Abraham from these stones” if he wants to. Their disobedience will not threaten the realization of God’s sovereign purposes.

[3:8]  ²⁵ sn The point of the statement God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham is that ancestry or association with a tradition tied to the great founder of the Jewish nation is not an automatic source of salvation.

[3:9]  ²⁶ sn Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees. The imagery of an “ax already laid at the root of the trees” is vivid, connoting sudden and catastrophic judgment for the unrepentant and unfruitful. The image of “fire” serves to further heighten the intensity of the judgment referred to. It is John’s way of summoning all people to return to God with all their heart and avoid his unquenchable wrath soon to be poured out. John’s language and imagery is probably ultimately drawn from the OT where Israel is referred to as a fruitless vine (Hos 10:1-2; Jer 2:21-22) and the image of an “ax” is used to indicate God’s judgment (Ps 74:5-6; Jer 46:22).

[3:9]  ²⁷ tn Grk “is”; the present tense (ἐκκόπτεται, ekkoptetai) has futuristic force here.

[3:10]  ²⁸ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the people’s response.

[3:10]  ²⁹ tn Though this verb is imperfect, in this context it does not mean repeated, ongoing questions, but simply a presentation in vivid style as the following verbs in the other examples are aorist.

[3:11]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:11]  ³¹ tn Grk “Answering, he said to them.” This construction with passive participle and finite verb is pleonastic (redundant) and has been simplified in the translation to “answered them.”

[3:11]  ³² tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic’ was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.’ On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.

[3:12]  ³³ sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked. Yet even they were moved by John’s call.

[3:13]  ³⁴ tn In the Greek text μηδὲν πλέον (mhden pleon, “no more”) is in an emphatic position.

[3:13]  ³⁵ tn Or “than you are ordered to.”

[3:2]  ³⁶ sn Use of the singular high priesthood to mention two figures is unusual but accurate, since Annas was the key priest from a.d. 6-15 and then his relatives were chosen for many of the next several years. After two brief tenures by others, his son-in-law Caiaphas came to power and stayed there until a.d. 36.

[3:2]  ³⁷ tn The term translated “word” here is not λόγος (logos) but ῥῆμα (rJhma), and thus could refer to the call of the Lord to John to begin ministry.

[3:2]  ³⁸ tn Or “desert.”

[2:21]  ³⁹ tn Grk “And when eight days were completed.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[2:21]  ⁴⁰ sn Jesus’ parents obeyed the angel as Zechariah and Elizabeth had (1:57-66). These events are taking place very much under God’s direction.