1 tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Due to the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.
2 tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
3 sn A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins was a call for preparation for the arrival of the Lord’s salvation. To participate in this baptism was a recognition of the need for God’s forgiveness with a sense that one needed to live differently as a response to it (Luke 3:10-14).
4 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the parenthetical nature of the comment by the author.
5 sn See the note on tax collectors in 3:12.
6 tn Or “vindicated God”; Grk “justified God.” This could be expanded to “vindicated and responded to God.” The point is that God’s goodness and grace as evidenced in the invitation to John was justified and responded to by the group one might least expect, tax collector and sinners. They had more spiritual sensitivity than others. The contrastive response is clear from v. 30.
7 tn The participle βαπτισθέντες (baptisqente") has been translated as a causal adverbial participle.