kingdom of heaven is nigh. ³For this is the person spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying⁵, “The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness, Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths strait.” ⁴Now this John had his garment made of camel’s hair, and a girdle of leather about his loins, and his food was locusts and wild honey.

⁵Then went out to him Jerusalem and all Judea, and all the regions about Jordan, ⁶and were baptized by him in Jordan, on making confession of their sins. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, O ye broods of vipers! who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Produce then worthy fruits of repentance: ⁹and think not to say in yourselves, We have Abraham for our father: for I say unto you, that God is able out of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ¹⁰And now also the ax is laid to the root of the trees: every tree therefore which produceth not good fruit, is hewing down, and casting into the fire. ¹¹I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry: he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire: ¹²whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will collect the wheat into his granary; but the chaff will he burn up with fire unquenchable.

¹³Then came Jesus from Galilee unto Jordan to John, that he might be baptized by him. ¹⁴But John earnestly withheld him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? ¹⁵But Jesus answering said unto him, Permit it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he permitted him. ¹⁶And Jesus, after his baptism, came straight from the water: and lo! the heavens were opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as it were a dove, and coming upon him: ¹⁷and lo! a voice from the heavens, saying, This is my Son, the beloved, in whom is my delight.

CHAP. IV.

THEN was Jesus led away by the spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. ²And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he became hungry. ³And the tempter coming to him said, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made loaves. ⁴But he answering said, It is written⁶, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

⁵Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and placed him on a wing of the temple, ⁶and saith to him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written⁷, “that he shall give his angels a charge concerning thee: and in their hands shall they hold thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” ⁷Jesus said unto him, It is written again⁸, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

⁸Again the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the