Now as these men were going, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John: "What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft garments are in kings' houses.

So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

in the time of the high priest Annas and [the high priest] Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.

In those days John the Baptist arrived preaching in the wilderness of Judea,

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: "A voice of one crying in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.'"

Then Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him

John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

And all the Judean country and the inhabitants of Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD," ' just as Isaiah the prophet said."

You were insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for you went up to the bed of your father; then you defiled the couch, whereupon you went up.

Therefore, when I decided this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I decide, do I decide according to the flesh, that there may be with me "Yes, Yes," and "No, No?"

For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us--by me, Silvanus, and Timothy--was not "Yes and no," but in Him was "Yes."

that we may no longer be infants, being tossed as by waves, and being carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in regard to deceitful scheming,

But let him ask in faith, doubting nothing, for he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.

he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

These are waterless wells, clouds being driven by a storm, for whom the darkness of the netherworld has been reserved forever.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on guard, lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being carried away by the error of the wicked;