2. “Turn away from your sins,” he said, “because the Kingdom of heaven is near!”
3. John was the man the prophet Isaiah was talking about when he said:“Someone is shouting in the desert,‘Prepare a road for the Lord;make a straight path for him to travel!’ ”
4. John's clothes were made of camel's hair; he wore a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5. People came to him from Jerusalem, from the whole province of Judea, and from all the country near the River Jordan.
6. They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan.
7. When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them, “You snakes — who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?
8. Do those things that will show that you have turned from your sins.
9. And don't think you can escape punishment by saying that Abraham is your ancestor. I tell you that God can take these stones and make descendants for Abraham!
10. The axe is ready to cut down the trees at the roots; every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown in the fire.