Passage

Matthew 3.3

Book: Matthew · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"1. And in those days cometh John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, saying, 2. Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

"3. For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye ready the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

"4. Now John himself had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5. Then went out unto him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about the Jordan;" (Matthew 3:1-5, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"1. In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, 2. “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!”"

"3. For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”"

"4. Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5. Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him." (Matthew 3:1-5, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"1. In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2. And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."

"3. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

"4. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. 5. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan," (Matthew 3:1-5, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"1. And in those days cometh John the Baptist, proclaiming in the wilderness of Judea, 2. and saying, 'Reform, for come nigh hath the reign of the heavens,'"

"3. for this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, 'A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye His paths.'"

"4. And this John had his clothing of camel's hair, and a girdle of skin round his loins, and his nourishment was locusts and honey of the field. 5. Then were going forth unto him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about the Jordan," (Matthew 3:1-5, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: TBD
Audience: TBD
Location: TBD
Time period: TBD

Theological reading

Patristic / early-church-father exegesis, to be added.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

TBD
TBD
TBD
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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.