Passage

Luke 3.1

Book: Luke · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,"

"2. in the high-priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3. And he came into all the region round about the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance unto remission of sins;" (Luke 3:1-3, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. Now 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,"

"2. in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness. 3. He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins." (Luke 3:1-3, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene, ^{tetrarch: or, governor of four provinces}"

"2. Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. 3. And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;" (Luke 3:1-3, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother, tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene --"

"2. Annas and Caiaphas being chief priests, there came a word of God unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness, 3. and he came to all the region round the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of reformation, to remission of sins," (Luke 3:1-3, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: Luke the physician (traditionally) / narrator + Jesus's direct teaching
Audience: Theophilus + Gentile Christian audience (companion to Acts)
Location: first-century Palestine (events); composition possibly Caesarea or Rome
Time period: events c. 4 BC, AD 30/33; composed c. AD 60-80

Theological reading

Key words

No Strong's-tagged lexicon matches found in this passage. (Lexicon coverage is curated, ~159 of the most apologetically-loaded Greek/Hebrew terms.)

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.