Matthew 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Some time later John the Baptist appeared on the scene, proclaiming in the Judean desert,
1 Y EN aquellos días vino Juan el Bautista predicando en el desierto de Judea,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has arrived!”
2 Y diciendo: Arrepentíos, que el reino de los cielos se ha acercado.
3 He was the one Isaiah spoke about when he said, “A voice is heard crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord. Make the paths straight for him.’”
3 Porque éste es aquel del cual fué dicho por el profeta Isaías, que dijo: Voz de uno que clama en el desierto: Aparejad el camino del Señor, enderezad sus veredas.
4 John had clothes made of camel hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
4 Y tenía Juan su vestido de pelos de camellos, y una cinta de cuero alrededor de sus lomos; y su comida era langostas y miel silvestre.
5 People came to him from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and the entire Jordan region,
5 Entonces salía á él Jerusalem, y toda Judea, y toda la provincia de alrededor del Jordán;
6 and were baptized in the Jordan River, publicly admitting their sins.
6 Y eran bautizados de él en el Jordán, confesando sus pecados.
7 But when John saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he said to them, “You vipers' brood! Who warned you to run away from the coming judgment?
7 Y viendo él muchos de los Fariseos y de los Saduceos, que venían á su bautismo, decíales: Generación de víboras, ¿quién os ha enseñado á huir de la ira que vendrá?
8 Show by what you do that you have truly repented,
8 Haced pues frutos dignos de arrepentimiento,
9 and don't presume to say proudly to yourselves, ‘Abraham is our father.’ I tell you that God could make children of Abraham from these stones.
9 Y no penséis decir dentro de vosotros: A Abraham tenemos por padre: porque yo os digo, que puede Dios despertar hijos á Abraham aun de estas piedras.
10 In fact the ax is ready to chop down the trees. Every tree that doesn't produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
10 Ahora, ya también la segur está puesta á la raíz de los árboles; y todo árbol que no hace buen fruto, es cortado y echado en el fuego.
11 Yes, I baptize you in water to show repentance, but after me is coming one who is greater than I am. I'm not worthy even to remove his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
11 Yo á la verdad os bautizo en agua para arrepentimiento; mas el que viene tras mí, más poderoso es que yo; los zapatos del cual yo no soy digno de llevar; él os bautizará en Espíritu Santo y [en] fuego.
12 He has his winnowing tool ready in his hand. He will clean up the threshing floor and gather the wheat into the storehouse, but he will burn the chaff with fire that can't be put out.”
12 Su aventador en su mano está, y aventará su era: y allegará su trigo en el alfolí, y quemará la paja en fuego que nunca se apagará.
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.
13 Entonces Jesús vino de Galilea á Juan al Jordán, para ser bautizado de él.
14 But John tried to change his mind. He told Jesus, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me to baptize you?”
14 Mas Juan lo resistía mucho, diciendo: Yo he menester ser bautizado de ti, ¿y tú vienes á mí?
15 “Please do so, because it's good for us to do what God says is right,” Jesus told him. So John agreed to do it.
15 Empero respondiendo Jesús le dijo: Deja ahora; porque así nos conviene cumplir toda justicia. Entonces le dejó.
16 Immediately after he was baptized, Jesus came out of the water. The heavens were opened, and he saw God's Spirit like a dove descending, landing on him.
16 Y Jesús, después que fué bautizado, subió luego del agua; y he aquí los cielos le fueron abiertos, y vió al Espíritu de Dios que descendía como paloma, y venía sobre él.
17 A voice from heaven said, “This is my son whom I love, who pleases me.”
17 Y he aquí una voz de los cielos que decía: Este es mi Hijo amado, en el cual tengo contentamiento.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
John the Baptist
Son of Zechariah, who preached in the wilderness and baptized in the Jordan, pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God, rebuked Herod over Herodias and was imprisoned and beheaded.
Cited in the guide: Matthew 3:1; Matthew 14:3; Luke 1:13
Cross references (17)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Isaiah 40:3–6; John 1:6–8; Luke 1:13–17; Luke 1:76; Luke 3:1–20
- 2 Mark 1:15; Matthew 4:17; Daniel 2:44; 2 Corinthians 7:10; Luke 24:47
- 3 Isaiah 40:3; Malachi 3:1; John 1:23; Luke 1:76; Mark 1:3
- 4 2 Kings 1:8; Mark 1:6; Matthew 11:8; Zechariah 13:4; Leviticus 11:22
- 5 Mark 1:5; John 5:35; Matthew 11:7–12; John 3:23; Luke 3:7
- 6 Acts 19:18; Matthew 3:13–16; 1 John 1:9; John 1:25–28; Ezekiel 36:25
- 7 Matthew 12:34; 1 Thessalonians 1:10; Matthew 22:23; Romans 5:9; Matthew 23:33
- 8 Luke 3:8; Acts 26:20; 2 Peter 1:4–8; Galatians 5:22–23; Ephesians 5:9
- 9 Luke 3:8; Romans 9:7–8; Galatians 3:27–29; John 8:33; Acts 13:26
- 10 John 15:6; Luke 3:9; Matthew 7:19; John 15:2; Luke 13:6–9
- 11 Isaiah 4:4; Luke 3:16; Acts 1:5; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:2–4
- 12 Malachi 4:1; Matthew 13:30; Luke 3:17; Isaiah 41:16; Jeremiah 51:2
- 13 John 1:32–34; Matthew 2:22; Mark 1:9–11; Luke 3:21–22
- 14 John 3:3–7; Acts 1:5–8; John 13:6–8; John 1:16; Ephesians 2:3–5
- 15 John 4:34; Isaiah 42:21; John 13:15; John 15:10; Philippians 2:7–8
- 16 Isaiah 11:2; Luke 3:21–22; Mark 1:10; John 1:31–34; Isaiah 42:1
- 17 Isaiah 42:1; Matthew 17:5; Psalm 2:7; Luke 9:35; Matthew 12:18
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
How "in those days"? For not then, surely, when He was a child, and came to Nazareth, but thirty years after, John cometh; as Luke also testifies. How then is it said, "in those days"?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough into smooth ways; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." There is therefore one and the same God, the Father of our Lord, who also promised, through the prophets, that He would send His forerunner; and …
For Thou correctest man for iniquity, and "Thy judgments are a great deep." But because Thy Spirit was "borne over the waters," Thy mercy forsook not our misery, and Thou saidst, "Let there be light," "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Repent ye, let there be light.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… a better country." And again, "These all died in faith, not having obtained the promises, but having seen them afar off, and embraced them." And John too said unto those that were coming to him, "Think not to say, We have Abraham to our father." And Paul again, "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel; neither they, …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
This man was baptizing in Jordan, and there went out unto him all Jerusalem, to enjoy the first-fruits of baptisms: for in Jerusalem is the prerogative of all things good.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)