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Place

Bethany beyond the Jordan

baptism

Summary

The place across the Jordan where John was baptizing and bore witness to Jesus, and where Jesus later withdrew (John 1:28; 10:40).

  • The place across the Jordan, in Perea, where John was baptizing and testified that Jesus is the Lamb of God.
  • Nearly all the ancient manuscripts of John 1:28 read "Bethany," not "Bethabara."
  • Late in His ministry Jesus withdrew here again, to the place where John had first been baptizing, and many believed.
  • The site is not the Bethany near Jerusalem where Lazarus lived; it is a separate village across the river.
  • Two modern sites carry the baptism tradition today, one on each bank, both resting on real early witnesses.

On this page

In Scripture

Verses
1
Books
1
See it on Reference map of ancient Palestine→

Near Bethany beyond the Jordan

Straight-line distances, computed from the gazetteer coordinates.

Where it is

the country around it

Coordinates
31.8363° N, 35.5526° Efind it on the Atlas →
Region
Perea
Kind of place
Region

1 place the record names with Bethany beyond the Jordan, the farthest 33 km away

The Dead SeaThe JordanJerichoJerichoAi?AiBethany beyond the Jordan20 km · 12 miN
  1. 1Priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem to ask John who he isJohn 1:19 · 33 kmAnd this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”
  • Located: the gazetteer fixes one site
  • Placed: the point stands for an area, or is rounded
  • ? Proposed: one candidate among several
  • A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix
Each line joins Bethany beyond the Jordan to a place one of its verses names, and carries that verse. Every line is headed the way its verse sends it. The lines are straight between two coordinates and are not roads. A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix. The Dead Sea and the Jordan are drawn from Natural Earth's public-domain outlines. Every mark sits at the coordinates the gazetteer records for it.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the coast, the hill country, the Jordan rift and the Dead Sea, with the towns of the biblical narrative marked.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the land from Dan to Beersheba: most of the historical books happen on this one sheet.Rand McNally reference map (1926), public domain.Open this plate full size in The Atlas →

Why Bethany beyond the Jordan matters

John the Baptist worked in the region across the Jordan, and priests and Levites came out from Jerusalem to ask him plainly who he was. He told them he was not the Christ, not Elijah, not the Prophet, but the voice crying in the wilderness that Isaiah had promised, sent to make the way straight for the Lord. The very next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" He testified that he had seen the Spirit come down and rest on Jesus like a dove, and that this was the sign he had been told to watch for: the one on whom the Spirit rests is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. John says plainly that this all happened "at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing." That one verse carries a real textual question. Nearly every ancient manuscript reads "Bethany." In the middle of the third century, Origen said he could find no Bethany on that side of the river in his own day, and proposed reading "Bethabara" instead, a site then being shown as the baptism place. Later commentators recorded his proposal and did not adopt it; Bethany remains the better-attested reading, and this page treats Bethabara as Origen's own conjecture rather than a rival original text. Jesus came back to this same region near the end of His ministry. After a tense exchange in Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication, where the crowd tried again to stone Him, He went back across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and stayed there. Many came to Him, remembering that everything John had said about Him was true, and many believed. The site is not the Bethany near Jerusalem where Lazarus, Mary and Martha lived; it is a separate village, across the river in the region called Perea, and this page keeps the two apart.

John's testimony at Bethany beyond the Jordan

John 1:19-34 and John 10:40-42, in the order it happens

Read John 1:19-34 and John 10:40-42, in the order it happens
  1. John denies being the Christ, Elijah or the ProphetJohn 1:20He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”
  2. A voice crying in the wildernessJohn 1:23John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet: “I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’”
  3. Where this happenedJohn 1:28All this happened at Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
  4. "Look, the Lamb of God"John 1:29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
  5. The Spirit descending like a doveJohn 1:32Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and resting on Him.
  6. "This is the Son of God"John 1:34I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
  7. Jesus returns to the place where John first baptizedJohn 10:40Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and He stayed there.
  8. Many believed thereJohn 10:42And many in that place believed in Jesus.

The name itself is disputed. Nearly all the manuscripts of John 1:28 read "Bethany," and Origen's proposed "Bethabara" is a third-century conjecture, not a rival original text.

What happened here, in order

in the order the canon tells it

  1. Priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem to ask John who he isJohn 1:19And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”
  2. John baptizes with water; one greater stands among themJohn 1:26“I baptize with water,” John replied, “but among you stands One you do not know.
  3. Why John came baptizing at allJohn 1:31I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel.”
  4. The Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, just beforeJohn 10:22At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,
  5. The Jews take up stones to stone HimJohn 10:31At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.
  6. Everything John said about Him was trueJohn 10:41Many came to Him and said, “Although John never performed a sign, everything he said about this man was true.”

Bethany beyond the Jordan in Scripture

1 verse names it, in 1 book

Common questions

Was the place called Bethany or Bethabara?

Readers differ; the positions are named

Nearly all the ancient Greek manuscripts of John 1:28 read "Bethany." In the middle of the third century, Origen wrote that he could find no Bethany on that side of the Jordan in his own day and proposed reading "Bethabara" instead, a site then being pointed out as the baptism place. Later commentators such as Adam Clarke and Albert Barnes both recorded that proposal and both held Bethany to be the true reading. This page follows the manuscripts and names Bethabara as Origen's conjecture rather than an equal alternative.

Where exactly did John baptize, and where was Jesus baptized?

Readers differ; the positions are named

Scripture gives no coordinates, only the name of the place and that it lay "beyond the Jordan." Two sites carry the tradition today. Al-Maghtas, on the eastern bank, holds the remains of a church built there in the reign of the Emperor Anastasius (491 to 518) and was excavated from 1997 onward; it is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Qasr el-Yahud, on the western bank, is supported by the sixth-century Madaba mosaic, which labels the place Bethabara on that side of the river. Both rest on real early witnesses, and this page names both without choosing between them.

Why did John call Jesus "the Lamb of God" the very next day?

John had just told the priests and Levites plainly that he was not the Christ, only the voice preparing the way. The next day, seeing Jesus approach, he named Him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and testified that he had seen the Spirit come down and rest on Him like a dove, the very sign he had been told would mark the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

Why did Jesus go back to this place late in His ministry?

Jesus had just faced an attempt to stone Him in Jerusalem, at the Feast of Dedication, after telling the Jews plainly that He and the Father are one. He withdrew back across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and John records that many came to Him there, remembering that everything John had said about Him was true, and many believed.

Is this the same Bethany as the village near Jerusalem where Lazarus lived?

No. That Bethany sat on the Mount of Olives, a little less than two miles from Jerusalem. This Bethany lay across the Jordan, in the region called Perea, and the two never share a page on this site.

Sources cited

Every source behind MannaFest →

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On this page

Books that name it1

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