But John ¹  tried to prevent ²  him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

People ¹  from the whole Judean countryside and all of Jerusalem ²  were going out to him, and he was baptizing them ³  in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

So they asked John, ¹  “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, ²  nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John answered them, ¹  “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, ² 

I did not recognize ¹  him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.” ² 

Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ²  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus ¹  went back across the Jordan River ²  again to the place where John ³  had been baptizing at an earlier time, ⁴  and he stayed there.

So those who accepted ¹  his message ²  were baptized, and that day about three thousand people ³  were added. ⁴ 

But when they believed Philip as he was proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God ¹  and the name of Jesus Christ, ²  they began to be baptized, ³  both men and women.

Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized, he stayed close to ¹  Philip constantly, and when he saw the signs and great miracles that were occurring, he was amazed. ² 

(For the Spirit ¹  had not yet come upon ²  any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) ³ 

Now as they were going along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, there is water! What is to stop me ¹  from being baptized?” ² 

So he ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, ¹  and Philip baptized ²  him.

Immediately ¹  something like scales ²  fell from his eyes, and he could see again. He ³  got up and was baptized,

“No one can withhold the water for these people to be baptized, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, ¹  can he?” ² 

At ¹  that hour of the night he took them ²  and washed their wounds; ³  then ⁴  he and all his family ⁵  were baptized right away. ⁶ 

Crispus, the president of the synagogue, ¹  believed in the Lord together with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard about it ²  believed and were baptized.

And now what are you waiting for? ¹  Get up, ²  be baptized, and have your sins washed away, ³  calling on his name.’ ⁴ 

Is Christ divided? Paul wasn’t crucified for you, was he? ¹  Or were you in fact baptized in the name of Paul? ² 

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel – and not with clever speech, so that the cross of Christ would not become useless. ¹