A Voice Crying

An examination of the Jewish setting of John the Baptist's proclamation of an immersion of repentance for the release of Israel's sin indebtedness.

Matt. 3:1-6; Mark 1:1-6; Luke 3:1-7a

(Huck 1; Aland 13; Crook 16)^[1]

Revised: 11 March 2022

וּבִשְׁנַת חֲמֵשׁ עֶשְׂרֵה לְמֶמְשֶׁלֶת טִיבִירְיוֹס קֵיסַר בִּמְשֹׁל פּוֹנְטִיּוֹס פִּילָטוֹס בִּיהוּדָה וּבִמְלֹךְ הֵרוֹדֵיס בַּגָּלִיל וּבִמְלֹךְ פְּלִיפּוֹס אָחִיו בִּיטוּר וּטְרָכוֹן וּבִמְלֹךְ לוּסַנְיָה בָּאֲבֵילִין וּבְכַהֵן חָנָן כֹּהֵן גָּדוֹל וְקַיָּפָא הָיָה דְּבַר אֱלֹהִים עַל יוֹחָנָן בֶּן זְכַרְיָה בַּמִּדְבָּר וַיָּבֹא אֶל כָּל כִּכַּר הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיִּקְרָא טְבִילַת תְּשׁוּבָה לִשְׁמִטַּת עֲוֹנוֹת כַּכָּתוּב בְּסֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי יְשַׁעְיָה הַנָּבִיא קוֹל קוֹרֵא בַּמִּדְבָּר פַּנּוּ דֶּרֶךְ יי [וְהִנֵּה אֻכְלוּסִים גְּדוֹלִים יֹצְאִים אֵלָיו לִטְבּוֹל לְפָנָיו]

Now in the fifteenth year of the imperial rule of Emperor Tiviryos, during the governorship of Pontiyos Pilatos in Yehudah, and during the reign of Herodes in the Galil, and during the reign of his brother Pelipos in Yetur and Trachon, and during the reign of Lusanyah in the Avelin, and during the high priesthood of Hanan and Kayafa, the word of God came to Zecharyah’s son, Yohanan the Immerser, who was in the desert. So Yohanan went into the whole Yarden Valley and proclaimed a repentance immersion for the cancellation of Israel’s debt of sin, as it is written in Yeshayah the prophet’s book of oracles, A voice cries, “Prepare the LORD’s way in the desert” [Isa. 40:3].

Large crowds went out to Yohanan the Immerser to be purified under his supervision.^[2]

Table of Contents

1. Reconstruction

2. Story Placement

3. Conjectured Stages of Transmission

4. Crucial Issues

5. Comment

6. Redaction Analysis

7. Results of This Research

8. Conclusion

Reconstruction

To view the reconstructed text of A Voice Crying, click on the link below:

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^[1] For abbreviations and bibliographical references, see “Introduction to ‘The Life of Yeshua: A Suggested Reconstruction.’” ↩
^[2] This translation is a dynamic rendition of our reconstruction of the conjectured Hebrew source that stands behind the Greek of the Synoptic Gospels. It is not a translation of the Greek text of a canonical source. ↩