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.
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.
- BSB John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food 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 1:8And they answered him, He was an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite.
- Lev 11:22Even these of them ye may eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind.
- Zech 13:4And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
- Matt 11:8But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.
- Mark 1:6And John was clothed with camel’s hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins; and he did eat locusts and wild honey;
- Mal 4:5Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
- Luke 1:17And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
- Matt 11:18For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil.
- 1 Sam 14:25–27And all they of the land came to a wood; and there was honey upon the ground.
- Deut 32:13He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
- Rev 11:3And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore 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
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