Bethabara

Bethabara (meaning: house of the ford or house of crossing) is a place named in the Authorized Version of John 1:28 as the location east of the Jordan where John the Baptist was conducting his ministry of baptism when the delegation from Jerusalem came to question him. The Revised Version and most modern manuscripts read Bethany beyond the Jordan instead, which Origen already preferred in the third century on the grounds that no Bethabara could be located on the Jordan.

The place is probably to be identified with Beth-barah, the ford of the Jordan mentioned in the Gideon narrative of Judges 7:24. It lay somewhere in the lower Jordan valley, east of the river, in the region of Perea or the territory beyond Jordan. The site carries extraordinary theological significance as the location where John baptized Jesus, where the Holy Spirit descended as a dove, and where the Father's voice declared from heaven: This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Pilgrims have venerated various sites on the Jordan's east bank as candidates for this location.