John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
- KJV And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.
- NKJV Now John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
- NASB Now John himself had a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was locusts and wild honey.
- NLT John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
John wears camel's hair and eats locusts and wild honey, living like a prophet of old. His rugged simplicity marks him as God's spokesman.
Overview
John's dress and diet recall Elijah (2 Kings 1:8), identifying him with the promised return of an Elijah-like prophet. His wilderness austerity embodies the repentance he preaches and his separation from worldly comfort. Everything about him points away from himself and toward the greater One to come.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 2 Kgs 1:8“He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.
- Lev 11:22Of these you may eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.
- Zech 13:4And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
- Matt 11:8Otherwise, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothing are found in kings’ palaces.
- Mark 1:6John was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
- Mal 4:5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of the LORD.
- Luke 1:17And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
- Matt 11:18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
- 1 Sam 14:25–27Then all the troops entered the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
- Deut 32:13He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,
- Rev 11:3And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Matthew presents Jesus as the promised King — son of David, son of Abraham — the new Moses and true Israel in whom every prophecy reaches 'that it might be fulfilled.'
How Matthew 3:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.