Yohanan the Immerser’s Eschatological Discourse

John the Baptist anticipated the coming of an Elijah-like priestly messiah who would purify the Temple on an eschatological Day of Atonement.

Matt. 3:11-12; Mark 1:7-8; Luke 3:15-17

(Huck 4; Aland 16; Crook 19)^[1]

Updated: 21 March 2024

וַיַּחְשְׁבוּ הָאֻכְלוּסִים בְּלִבָּם יוֹחָנָן הוּא הַמָּשִׁיחַ וַיַּעַן יוֹחָנָן אוֹתָם לֵאמֹר אֲנִי מַטְבִּיל אֶתְכֶם בַּמַּיִם וַהֲרֵי בָּא אַחֲרַי מִי שֶׁאֵינִי כָּשֵׁר לְהַתִּיר לוֹ רְצוּעַת מִנְעָלָיו הוּא יַטְבִּיל אֶתְכֶם בָּרוּחַ וּבָאֵשׁ מִי שֶׁהָרַחַת בְּיָדוֹ וְיָבוֹר אֶת גּוֹרְנוֹ וְיַכְנִיס אֶת הַחִטִּים לְאוֹצָרוֹ וְהַקַּשׁ יִשְׂרֹף בְּאֵשׁ תָּמִיד

The people in the crowds were thinking, “Yohanan the Immerser must be the messianic priest!”

But Yohanan replied, “I immerse you in water, but be aware: Someone is coming after me for whom I am unfit even to undo his sandal straps. When he comes he will immerse you in wind and fire. Already this someone has his winnowing shovel in his hand, and he intends to purify his threshing floor. The wheat he will store in his storeroom, but the stubble that remains on the threshing floor he will burn in the flames of the altar.”^[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 Yohanan the Immerser’s Eschatological Discourse, 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. ↩