Matthew 3:4

John wore coarse clothing made from camel’s hair. And as the prophet Elijah did long ago, he wore a leather belt around his waist. His food was only grasshoppers and honey that he found in that desolate area.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

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.

In Context

3John was the person who fulfilled what was said by Isaiah the prophet {what Isaiah the prophet predicted when he said}, long ago: In a desolate area ◄ people will hear someone/someone will be heard► shouting to the people who pass by, Prepare yourselves to receive the Lord when he comes! Make yourselves ready so that you will be prepared when he comes [MET, DOU], just like people improve and straighten out the road for an important official!

5People who lived in Jerusalem city [MTY], many [HYP] people who lived in other places in Judea district [MTY], and many [HYP] people who lived in the area around the Jordan River [MTY] came to John to hear him preach.

Read all of Matthew 3

Cross References

Leviticus 11:22They include locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers.

1 Samuel 14:25The Israeli army went into the forest, and they found honeycombs on the ground, but they did not eat any honey.

Zechariah 13:4At that time, the false prophets will be ashamed that they claimed to have received messages from me in their visions and prophesies that they told to people. They will no longer deceive people by wearing the clothes that prophets usually wear, clothes made of animals’ hair.

Matthew 11:8Then what kind of person did you go there to see [RHQ]? ◄ You did not go there to see a man who was wearing expensive clothes. /Did you go there to see a man who was wearing expensive clothes?► [RHQ] No! You know very well that people who wear beautiful clothes reside in kings’ palaces and not in desolate areas.

Mark 1:6John wore rough clothes made of camel’s hair. And as the prophet Elijah had done, he wore a leather belt around his waist; and what he ate was only grasshoppers and honey that he found in that desolate area.

Revelation 11:3I will appoint my two ◄witnesses/men who will tell others about me►. They will proclaim what I reveal to them for 1,260 days. They will wear rough clothes made from goat’s hair to show that they are sad about people’s sin.’”

Matthew Henry on Matthew 3:2-7

The Preaching of John the Baptist. 1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 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… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Matthew 3:4