Matthew 3:4

Matthew 3:4 in other versions

• King James Version (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.
• New International Version (NIV)John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey.
• New King James Version (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.

Context of Matthew 3:4

2“Turn away from your sins, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” 3For he is the one Isaiah the prophet spoke about, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of Adonai, and make His paths straight.’” Now John wore clothing from camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5Then Jerusalem was going out to him, and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were being immersed by him in the Jordan River.

Matthew 3:4 word by word

Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Ἰωάννης εἶχεν τὸ ἔνδυμα αὐτοῦ ἀπὸ τριχῶν καμήλου καὶ ζώνην δερματίνην περὶ τὴν ὀσφὺν αὐτοῦ· ἡ δὲ τροφὴ ἦν αὐτοῦ ἀκρίδες καὶ μέλι ἄγριον.¶Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• Andδέde · thenG1161
• the sameαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• JohnἸωάννηςIōannēs · JohnG2491
• hadἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
• raimentἔνδυμαenduma · clothingG1742
• ofἀπόapo · away fromG575
• camel’sκάμηλοςkamēlos · camelG2574
• hairθρίξthrix trichos · hairG2359
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• a leathernδερμάτινοςdermatinos · made of leatherG1193
• girdleζώνηzōnē · belt/sash/girdleG2223
• aboutπερίperi · aboutG4012
• loinsὀσφῦςosphus · loinsG3751
• meatτροφήtrophē · foodG5160
• wasεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• locustsἀκρίςakris · locustG200
• wildἄγριοςagrios · wildG66
• honeyμέλιmeli · honeyG3192

Cross-references for Matthew 3:4

• Matthew 11:8No? So what did you go out to see? A man dressed in finery? Look, those who wear finery are in the palaces of kings!
• 2 Kings 1:8They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist.” “It’s Elijah the Tishbite,” he said.
• Zechariah 13:4Therefore in that day each ‘prophet’ will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will no longer wear a hairy mantle in order to deceive
• Mark 1:6John wore clothes made from camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.
• Luke 1:17And he will go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to the children and the disobedient ones to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready for Adonai a prepared people.
• Revelation 11:3And I will grant authority to My two witnesses and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, dressed in sackcloth.”
• Matthew 11:18“For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’
• Leviticus 11:22You may eat from any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket and any kind of grasshopper.
• Deuteronomy 32:13He made him mount the heights of the land. so he ate the produce of the field. He suckled him with honey from a rock, with oil from a flinty boulder.
• 1 Samuel 14:25But when all the people of the land entered the forest, there was honey on the ground.

Commentaries on Matthew 3:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4His raiment of camel's hair - A sort of coarse or rough covering, which, it appears, was common to the prophets, Zechariah 13:4. In such a garment we find Elijah clothed, 2 Kings 1:8. And as John had been designed under the name of this prophet, Malachi 4:5, whose spirit and qualifications he was to possess, Luke 1:17, he took the same habit and lived in the same state of self-denial. His meat was locusts - . may either signify the insect called the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4His raiment of camel‘s hair - His clothing. This is not the fine hair of the camel from which our elegant cloth is made called camlet, nor the more elegant stuff brought from the East Indies under the name of “camel‘s hair,” but the long shaggy hair of the camel, from which a coarse cheap cloth is made, still worn by the poorer classes in the East, and by monks. This dress of the camel‘s hair, and a leather belt, it seems, was the common dress of the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4John wore the same kind of clothes and ate the same kind of food as Elijah, a prophet who had lived many years before (2 Kings 1:8; Malachi 4:5; Sirach 48:10–11).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair--woven of it. and a leathern girdle about his loins--the prophetic dress of Elijah (2Ki 1:8; and see Zec 13:4). and his meat was locusts--the great, well-known Eastern locust, a food of the poor (Le 11:22). and wild honey--made by wild bees (1Sa 14:25, 26). This dress and diet, with the shrill cry in the wilderness, would recall the stern days of Elijah.Read the comment

Topics related to Matthew 3:4

• Camel
• Girdle
• Honey
• Leather
• Locust
• Minister, Christian
• Stoicism

In the dictionaries

• Camel's Hair
• Apparel
• Camel
• Dress
• Dromedary
• Elijah
• Girdle
• Honey
• John the Baptist
• Kingdom

Commentaries on Matthew 3

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Catena Aurea
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• John Lightfoot Commentary
• Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• The Fourfold Gospel and Commentary on Acts
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings