3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness, 'Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!'"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The voice of one crying - See on Matthew 3:1-3 (note).
The voice of one crying in the wilderness,.... This is the other testimony in proof of the same, and may be read in Isaiah 40:3. See Gill on Matthew 3:3.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight--The second of these quotations is given by Matthew and Luke in the same connection, but they reserve the former quotation till they have occasion to return to the Baptist, after his imprisonment (Matthew 11:10; Luke 7:27). (Instead of the words, "as it is written in the Prophets," there is weighty evidence in favor of the following reading: "As it is written in Isaiah the prophet." This reading is adopted by all the latest critical editors. If it be the true one, it is to be explained thus--that of the two quotations, the one from Malachi is but a later development of the great primary one in Isaiah, from which the whole prophetical matter here quoted takes its name. But the received text is quoted by IRENÃUS, before the end of the second century, and the evidence in its favor is greater in amount, if not in weight. The chief objection to it is, that if this was the true reading, it is difficult to see how the other one could have got in at all; whereas, if it be not the true reading, it is very easy to see how it found its way into the text, as it removes the startling difficulty of a prophecy beginning with the words of Malachi being ascribed to Isaiah). For the exposition, see on Matthew 3:1-6, Matthew 3:11.
*More commentary available at chapter level.