Baptized in the Jordan
John baptized Jesus in the Jordan. The heavens opened, the Spirit came down like a dove, and a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son.
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The whole story
John came preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, clothed in camel’s hair with a leathern girdle, eating locusts and wild honey, and saying, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). Crowds went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judaea and were baptized in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
When Jesus came, John forbade him, saying he had need to be baptized of him. Jesus answered that it became them to fulfil all righteousness. As he went up out of the water the heavens were opened, the Spirit came down like a dove, and the voice said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). Then he was led into the wilderness for forty days.
The place is remembered on both banks: at Qasr al-Yahud on the west, and on the east at Al-Maghtas, Bethany beyond Jordan, where archaeologists have found Byzantine churches, baptismal pools and the remains of a monastery. The east bank site was named a World Heritage Site in 2015.
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:
Matthew 3:16, KJV
Where it happened
Bethabara beyond Jordan, Al-Maghtas and Qasr al-Yahud, by Jericho (site by tradition).
John 1:28 names Bethabara beyond Jordan. The baptism is remembered on both banks of the river east of Jericho, at Al-Maghtas and Qasr al-Yahud.
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More from the Gospels
Matthew to John
Sources and editorial method
Research and editorial references used for this page include:
- The King James Bible, as published by bible-api.com
- The Book of Enoch, translated by R. H. Charles (1917), Project Gutenberg
Every story is told from the King James Bible, and from the Book of Enoch in R. H. Charles’s translation (1917) where a story names it. Every quotation was checked word for word against those texts. Where a place is not known, the page says so. The paintings and the narration were made for the house.
