5. Fill up every valleyand level every mountainand hill.Straighten the crooked pathsand smooth outthe rough roads.
6. Then everyone will seethe saving power of God.’ ”
7. Crowds of people came out to be baptized, but John said to them, “You snakes! Who warned you to run from the coming judgment?
8. Do something to show that you really have given up your sins. Don't start saying that you belong to Abraham's family. God can turn these stones into children for Abraham.
9. An axe is ready to cut the trees down at their roots. Any tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”
10. The crowds asked John, “What should we do?”
11. John told them, “If you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn't have any. If you have food, share it with someone else.”
12. When tax collectors came to be baptized, they asked John, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13. John told them, “Don't make people pay more than they owe.”
14. Some soldiers asked him, “And what about us? What do we have to do?”John told them, “Don't force people to pay money to make you leave them alone. Be satisfied with your pay.”
15. Everyone became excited and wondered, “Could John be the Messiah?”
16. John said, “I am just baptizing with water. But someone more powerful is going to come, and I am not good enough even to untie his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
17. His threshing fork is in his hand, and he is ready to separate the wheat from the husks. He will store the wheat in his barn and burn the husks with a fire that never goes out.”
18. In many different ways John preached the good news to the people.
19. But to Herod the ruler, he said, “It was wrong for you to take Herodias, your brother's wife.” John also said that Herod had done many other bad things.
20. Finally, Herod put John in jail, and this was the worst thing he had done.
21. While everyone else was being baptized, Jesus himself was baptized. Then as he prayed, the sky opened up,