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3:1  Years later, John the Baptist started preaching in the desert of Judea.
3:2  He said, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.”
3:3  John was the one the prophet Isaiah was talking about, when he said, “In the desert someone is shouting, ‘Get the road ready for the Lord! Make a straight path for him.’ ”
3:4  John wore clothes made of camel's hair. He had a leather strap around his waist and ate grasshoppers and wild honey.
3:5  From Jerusalem and all Judea and from the Jordan River Valley crowds of people went to John.
3:6  They told how sorry they were for their sins, and he baptized them in the river.
3:7  Many Pharisees and Sadducees also came to be baptized. But John said to them: You bunch of snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment?
3:8  Do something to show you have really given up your sins.
3:9  And don't start telling yourselves that you belong to Abraham's family. I tell you that God can turn these stones into children for Abraham.
3:10  An ax is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into a fire.
3:11  I baptize you with water so you will give up your sins. But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
3:12  His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks. He will store the wheat in a barn and burn the husks in a fire that never goes out.
3:13  Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.
3:14  But John kept objecting and said, “I ought to be baptized by you. Why have you come to me?”
3:15  Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.
3:16  So Jesus was baptized. And as soon as he came out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him like a dove.
3:17  Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him.”