Mark 1:4
Isaiah was talking about a man called John. God sent him to get things ready for Jesus, so he started to tell people God’s message. He lived out in the bush and wore rough clothes made out of camel’s hair, and a leather belt. He ate grasshoppers and bush honey. John talked to people out there in the bush. He said, “You mob have to be really sorry for the wrong way you are living. You have to turn right around and live God’s way.” He also told them, “If you do that, I will baptise you. That means, I will take you through a special washing ceremony. And God will not do payback for the bad things you did.” A lot of people went out into the bush to listen to John. They came from the city called Jerusalem and from other towns in that country called Judea. Some people told John that they were sorry for the wrong things they did, so he baptised them in the Jordan River.
Plain English Version
In The King James Version
John did baptize in the wilderness, and preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
In Context
Cross References
Matthew 3:1Many years later, while Jesus was still in Nazareth, John the Baptiser started his work. He went to the bush in Judea country, and he started to tell everybody his message.
Matthew 3:11John kept on talking to the people. He said, “If you say you are sorry for the bad things you did, and if you turn to God, then I will baptise you with water. But somebody is coming soon, and he is more important than me. I’m not even good enough to carry his shoes. I’m just nothing. He will put the Holy Spirit in you, that is, he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit, and with fire.
Acts 10:37Listen, you know the things that happened, first in Galilee country, and then in Judea country. At first John the Baptiser told the people to turn to God.
Acts 19:3So Paul asked them, “Who baptised you, and why did they do it?” They said, “We got John the Baptiser to baptise us, to show we were sorry for doing bad things.”
Matthew Henry on Mark 1:2-9
Mark We have heard the evidence given in by the first witness to the doctrine and miracles of our Lord Jesus; and now here is another witness produced, who calls for our attention. The second living creature saith, Come, and see, Rev. vi. 3 . Now let us enquire a little, I. Concerning this witness. His name is Mark. Marcus was a Roman name, and a very common one, and yet we have no reason to think, but that he was by birth a Jew; but as Saul, when he went among the nations, took the Roman name of Paul, so he of… Read the whole commentary →