Matthew 3:1-12
Prepare the way of the Lord
3:1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,
3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”
3:3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
3:4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
3:5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him,
3:6 and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.
3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
3:8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance,
3:9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.
3:10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
3:11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
[1]Ἐν δὲ ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις παραγίνεται ᾿Ιωάννης ὁ βαπτιστὴς κηρύσσων ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ τῆς ᾿Ιουδαίας
[2] καὶ λέγων· μετανοεῖτε· ἤγγικε γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν.
[3] οὗτος γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ῥηθεὶς ὑπὸ ῾Ησαΐου τοῦ προφήτου λέγοντος·
φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ,
ἑτοιμάσατε τὴν ὁδὸν Κυρίου,
εὐθείας ποιεῖτε τὰς τρίβους αὐτοῦ.
[4] Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ ᾿Ιωάννης εἶχε τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ, ἡ δὲ τροφὴ αὐτοῦ ἦν ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.
[5] Τότε ἐξεπορεύετο πρὸς αὐτὸν ῾Ιεροσόλυμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ᾿Ιουδαία καὶ πᾶσα ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου,
[6] καὶ ἐβαπτίζοντο ἐν τῷ ᾿Ιορδάνῃ ὑπ᾿ αὐτοῦ ἐξομολογούμενοι τὰς ἁμαρτίας αὐτῶν.
[7] ἰδὼν δὲ πολλοὺς τῶν Φαρισαίων καὶ Σαδδουκαίων ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα αὐτοῦ εἶπεν αὐτοῖς· γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, τίς ὑπέδειξενὑμῖν φυγεῖν ἀπὸ τῆς μελλούσης ὀργῆς;
[8] ποιήσατε οὖν καρπὸν ἄξιον τῆς μετανοίας,
[9] καὶ μὴ δόξητε λέγειν ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, πατέρα ἔχομεν τὸν ᾿Αβραάμ· λέγω γὰρ ὑμῖν ὅτι δύναται ὁ Θεὸς ἐκ τῶν λίθων τούτων ἐγεῖραι τέκνα τῷ ᾿Αβραάμ.
[10] ἤδη δὲ καὶ ἡ ἀξίνη πρὸς τὴν ῥίζαν τῶν δένδρων κεῖται· πᾶν οὖν δένδρον μὴ ποιοῦν καρπὸν καλὸν ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται.
[11] ἐγὼ μὲν βαπτίζω ὑμᾶς ἐν ὕδατι εἰς μετάνοιαν· ὁ δὲ ὀπίσω μου ἐρχόμενος ἰσχυρότερός μου ἐστίν, οὗ οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς τὰ ὑποδήματα βαστάσαι· αὐτὸς ὑμᾶς βαπτίσει ἐν Πνεύματι ῾Αγίῳ καὶ πυρί.
[12] οὗ τὸ πτύον ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ καὶ διακαθαριεῖ τὴν ἅλωνα αὐτοῦ, καὶ συνάξει τὸν σῖτον αὐτοῦ εἰς τὴν ἀποθήκην, τὸ δὲ ἄχυρον κατακαύσει πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ.
Comments
The Baptist’s region-wide impact is conveyed by personification. μετανοέω, ‘repent’, literally means ‘change one’s mind or purpose’.
[1] παραγίνεται: this historic present (less freq. in Mt) lends vividness: ‘(John) arrives.’ Παραγίνομαι (koine form of παραγίγνομαι), abs., ‘arrive, come up to’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v., II.1); ‘make a public appearance, appear’ (Bauer-Danker s.v., 2). The account opens vividly and dramatically.
[2] μετανοεῖτε: μετανοέω, lit., ‘change (μετα) one’s mind (cf. νοῦς) or purpose’, a sense found, e.g., in Plato (LSJ s.v., 2); here, ‘repent’, a sense found in cl. Gk but esp. in LXX and NT (LSJ s.v., 3). ‘Repentance’ is μετάνοια, as in vv. 8 and 11.
[3] φωνὴ βοῶντος ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ: ‘(the) voice of one crying out in the wilderness’ is part of the LXX quotation from Isaiah; in the Greek text, the prepositional phrase ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ is attached to the part. ‘the one crying out’. ἔρημος, ἡ, wilderness’; cf. the Engl. ‘hermit’, ‘eremite’, ‘hermitage’.
[5] Ιεροσόλυμα καὶ πᾶσα ἡ ᾿Ιουδαία καὶ πᾶσα ἡ περίχωρος τοῦ ᾿Ιορδάνου: ‘Jerusalem and the whole of Judaea and the whole of the region around the Jordan River’. The city with its wider surroundings is personified and St John’s impact is magnified; hence ‘they came forth’ and ‘were baptised’ (v.6).
[7] ἐρχομένους ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα αὐτοῦ: the prep. phrase ἐπὶ τὸ βάπτισμα αὐτοῦ is neutral; the sentence ‘he saw them coming to baptism by him’ tells us nothing about their real intent. We only learn of this from John’s vituperation in the same verse (when he calls them ‘brood of snakes’). ἔχιδνα, ‘viper’ or generic snake (in cl. Gk s.v.). ‘Εχιδνα is a female monster (half-woman, half-snake) in Hesiod, Theogony 295.
[10] ἐκκόπτεται καὶ εἰς πῦρ βάλλεται: ‘is cut from the root and thrown into the fire’; the prediction is cast in the prophetic present, which expresses a future action that is certain to occur without delay.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 