1 At that time John the Baptist came to the desert of Judea and started preaching.
2 “Turn away from your sins,” he said, “because the Kingdom of heaven is near!”
3 John was the man the prophet Isaiah was talking about when he said:“Someone is shouting in the desert,‘Prepare a road for the Lord;make a straight path for him to travel!’ ”
4 John's clothes were made of camel's hair; he wore a leather belt round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
5 People came to him from Jerusalem, from the whole province of Judea, and from all the country near the River Jordan.
6 They confessed their sins, and he baptized them in the Jordan.
7 When John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him to be baptized, he said to them, “You snakes — who told you that you could escape from the punishment God is about to send?