1. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,
2. during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
3. He went into all the region around the Jordan River, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
4. As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one shouting in the wilderness:‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make his paths straight.