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 

Mark 1:2-5

1:2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, ⁷ 

“Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way, ⁸ 

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 3:2-6

3:2 during the high priesthood ¹⁷  of Annas and Caiaphas, the word ¹⁸  of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ¹⁹  3:3 He ²⁰  went into all the region around the Jordan River, ²¹  preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ²² 

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

“The voice ²³  of one shouting in the wilderness: ²⁴ 

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

make ²⁵  his paths straight.

3:5 Every valley will be filled, ²⁶ 

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 ²⁷  will see the salvation of God.’” ²⁸ 

John 1:23

1:23 John ²⁹  said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight ³⁰  the way for the Lord,’ ³¹  as Isaiah the prophet said.”

[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.

[1:2]  ⁷ tc Instead of “in Isaiah the prophet” the majority of mss read “in the prophets” (A W ˹³ Ï Ir^lat). Except for Irenaeus (2nd century), the earliest evidence for this is thus from the 5th (or possibly late 4th) century (W A). The difficulty of Irenaeus is that he wrote in Greek but has been preserved largely in Latin. His Greek remains have “in Isaiah the prophet.” Only the later Latin translation has “in the prophets.” The KJV reading is thus in harmony with the majority of late mss. On the other hand, the witnesses for “in Isaiah the prophet” (either with the article before Isaiah or not) are early and geographically widespread: א B D L Δ Θ Ë¹ 33 565 700 892 1241 2427 al sy^p co Ir. This evidence runs deep into the 2nd century, is widespread, and is found in the most important Alexandrian, Western, and Caesarean witnesses. The “Isaiah” reading has a better external pedigree in every way. It has the support of the earliest and best witnesses from all the texttypes that matter. Moreover it is the harder reading, since the quotation in the first part of the verse appears to be from Exod 23:20 and Mal 3:1, with the quotation from Isa 40:3 coming in the next verse. The reading of the later mss seems motivated by a desire to resolve this difficulty.

[1:2]  ⁸ sn The opening lines of the quotation are from Exod 23:20; Mal 3:1. Here is the forerunner who points the way to the arrival of God’s salvation. His job is to prepare and guide the people, as the cloud did for Israel in the desert.

[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.

[3:2]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Or “desert.”

[3:3]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.

[3:3]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Or “A voice.”

[3:4]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Grk “all flesh.”

[3:6]  ²⁸ 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).

[1:23]  ²⁹ tn Grk “He”; the referent (John the Baptist) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:23]  ³⁰ sn This call to “make straight” is probably an allusion to preparation through repentance.

[1:23]  ³¹ sn A quotation from Isa 40:3.