Luke 1:13-17

13But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for ^ayour prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and ^byou shall call his name John. 14And you will have joy and gladness, and many will ^crejoice at his birth, 15for he will be ^dgreat before the Lord. And ^ehe must not drink wine or strong ^fdrink, and ^ghe will be ^hfilled with the Holy Spirit, ⁱeven from his mother’s womb. 16And he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, 17and ^jhe will go before him ^kin the spirit and power of Elijah, ^lto turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and ^mthe disobedient to the wisdom of the just, ⁿto make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

Luke 1:76

76And you, child, will be called ^othe prophet of ^pthe Most High;
for ^qyou will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

Luke 3:2-20

2during ^rthe high priesthood of Annas and ^sCaiaphas, ^tthe word of God came to ^uJohn the son of Zechariah in ^vthe wilderness. 3And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming ^wa baptism of repentance ^xfor the forgiveness of sins. 4As it is written in ^ythe book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

^z“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^aa‘Prepare the way of the Lord, ▼

▼Or  crying, Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord

make his paths straight.
5 ^acEvery valley shall be filled,
^adand every mountain and hill shall be made low,
^aeand the crooked shall become straight,
and the rough places shall become level ways,
6 ^afand all flesh shall see ^agthe salvation of God.’”
7He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ^ah“You brood of ^aivipers! Who warned you to flee from ^ajthe wrath to come? 8Bear fruits ^akin keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ^al‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from ^amthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^anEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

10And the crowds asked him, ^ao“What then shall we do?” 11And he answered them, ^ap“Whoever has two tunics ▼

▼Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin

is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 ^arTax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, ^aswhat shall we do?” 13And he said to them, ^at“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ^auwhat shall we do?” And he said to them, ^av“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ^awwages.”

15As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, ^axwhether he might be ^aythe Christ, 16 ^azJohn answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but ^bahe who is mightier than I is coming, ^bbthe strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you ^bcwith the Holy Spirit and ^bdfire. 17His ^bewinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ^bfgather the wheat into his barn, ^bgbut the chaff he will burn with ^bhunquenchable fire.”

18So ^biwith many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. 19But ^bjHerod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, 20added this to them all, that ^bkhe locked up John in prison.

John 1:6-8

6There was a man ^blsent from God, whose name was ^bmJohn. 7He came as a ^bnwitness, to bear witness about the light, ^bothat all might believe through him. 8 ^bpHe was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

John 1:15-36

15( ^bqJohn bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ^br‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16For from ^bshis fullness we have all received, ^btgrace upon grace. ▼

▼Or  grace in place of grace

17For ^bvthe law was given through Moses; ^bwgrace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 ^bxNo one has ever seen God; ^bythe only God, ▼

▼Or  the only One, who is God; some manuscripts  the only Son

who is at the Father’s side, ▼

▼Greek in the bosom of the Father

^cbhe has made him known.

The Testimony of John the Baptist

19And this is the ^cctestimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ^cd“Who are you?” 20 ^ceHe confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” 21And they asked him, “What then? ^cfAre you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you ^cgthe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” 23He said, “I am ^chthe voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight ▼

▼Or  crying out, ‘In the wilderness make straight

the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”

24(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25They asked him, ^cj“Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26John answered them, ^ck“I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27even ^clhe who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

Behold, the Lamb of God

29The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, ^cmthe Lamb of God, who ^cntakes away the sin ^coof the world! 30This is he of whom I said, ^cp‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him, but ^cqfor this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32And John ^crbore witness: ^cs“I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and ^ctit remained on him. 33I myself did not know him, but ^cuhe who sent me to baptize ^cvwith water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, ^cwthis is he who baptizes ^cxwith the Holy Spirit.’ 34And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, ^cythe Lamb of God!”

John 3:27-36

27John answered, ^cz“A person cannot receive even one thing ^daunless it is given him ^dbfrom heaven. 28You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ^dc‘I am not the Christ, but ^ddI have been sent before him.’ 29 ^deThe one who has the bride is the bridegroom. ^dfThe friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, ^dgrejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 ^dhHe must increase, but I must decrease.” ▼

▼Some interpreters hold that the quotation continues through verse 36

31 ^djHe who comes from above ^dkis above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and ^dlspeaks in an earthly way. ^dmHe who comes from heaven ^dnis above all. 32 ^doHe bears witness to what he has seen and heard, ^dpyet no one receives his testimony. 33Whoever receives his testimony ^dqsets his seal to this, ^drthat God is true. 34For he whom ^dsGod has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit ^dtwithout measure. 35 ^duThe Father loves the Son and ^dvhas given all things into his hand. 36 ^dwWhoever believes in the Son has eternal life; ^dxwhoever does not obey the Son shall not ^dysee life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

Acts 1:22

22 ^dzbeginning from the baptism of John until the day when ^eahe was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us ^eba witness to his resurrection.”

Acts 13:24-25

24Before his coming, ^ecJohn had proclaimed ^eda baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25And as John was finishing his course, ^eehe said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’