1Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
2in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.
3He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance to remission of sins.
4As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, `Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.
5Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, And the rough ways smooth.