CHAPTER IV.
THE VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS.
OW in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar,
Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being
tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of
Iturea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the
tetrarch of Abilene, Annas and Caiaphas being the high-priests, the word of God came unto John the Baptist, the
son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. And he came into all the
country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins; saying, " Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand"; as it is written in the prophets, "Behold, I send my messenger
before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." " The voice of
one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill
shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of
God."
And 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.
Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordon, confessing their sins. But 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?
