活動時期西元1世紀初葉 猶太人先知，早期基督教會以他爲耶穌基督的先驅。關於他的生平來源於四部〈福音書〉、〈使徒行傳〉和史學家約瑟夫斯。其母名以利沙伯，可能是耶穌之母瑪利亞的親屬；其父是祭司撒迦利亞。約翰的成長時期在猶太境曠野中度過，當時艾賽尼派和其他各派隱修人員在那裏根據自己的理想教育青年。大約西元28年成爲約旦河谷聞名的先知。他宣講上帝的最後審判即將來臨，爲悔改者施洗禮。他爲耶穌施洗，耶穌受洗後立即開始傳教活動。由於他批評希律．安提帕的婚姻不合法而被捕入獄，後來因希律的繼女撒羅米要求得到約翰的首級作爲她爲賓客跳舞的代價，約翰因而被處死。 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.
