活动时期西元1世纪初叶

犹太人先知，早期基督教会以他为耶稣基督的先驱。关于他的生平来源于四部〈福音书〉、〈使徒行传〉和史学家约瑟夫斯。其母名以利沙伯，可能是耶稣之母玛利亚的亲属；其父是祭司撒迦利亚。约翰的成长时期在犹太境旷野中度过，当时艾赛尼派和其他各派隐修人员在那里根据自己的理想教育青年。大约西元28年成为约旦河谷闻名的先知。他宣讲上帝的最后审判即将来临，为悔改者施洗礼。他为耶稣施洗，耶稣受洗后立即开始传教活动。由于他批评希律．安提帕的婚姻不合法而被捕入狱，后来因希律的继女撒罗米要求得到约翰的首级作为她为宾客跳舞的代价，约翰因而被处死。

Jewish prophet revered in Christianity as the forerunner of Jesus. Sources for
his life are the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the historian
Josephus. His mother, Elizabeth, was perhaps a relative of Mary; his father was
the priest Zechariah. As a young man John lived in the Judaean desert, either as
a hermit or as part of a Jewish monastic community such as the Essenes. He
attracted much public notice c. AD 28 as a prophet in the Jordan Valley. He
preached the imminent wrathful judgment of God and called on his hearers to
repent and be baptized. Jesus himself came to be baptized by John and shortly
afterward began his own mission. John was imprisoned for criticizing the illegal
marriage of Herod Antipas, and was executed after Herod's stepdaughter, Salome,
demanded his head as a reward for dancing for the king's guests.

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