Topic
Bethabara
14 passages cited, from 4 classic reference works.
These works date from 1884–1915 and are in the public domain. They reflect the Protestant scholarship of their time: their history, archaeology and dates can be out of date, and where they interpret, other traditions read the text differently. The verses are shown in the King James Version, the wording these works were written against.
The verses
The passages the works cite, those cited by more of them first.
- John 1:28Easton · Smith · ISBE · Nave John testifies to Christ's messiahship, and baptizes at
These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.
- Judges 7:24Easton · ISBE · Nave A city east of the Jordan
¶ And Gideon sent messengers throughout all mount Ephraim, saying, Come down against the Midianites, and take before them the waters unto Beth-barah and Jordan. Then all the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together, and took the waters unto Beth-barah…
- Joshua 13:27ISBE
And in the valley, Beth-aram, and Beth-nimrah, and Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, Jordan and his border, even unto the edge of the sea of Chinnereth on the other side Jordan eastward.
- Joshua 18:22ISBE
And Beth-arabah, and Zemaraim, and Beth-el,
- Matthew 3:5ISBE
Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,
- Mark 1:5ISBE
And there went out unto him all the land of Judæa, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
- John 1:29ISBE
¶ The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
- John 1:35ISBE
¶ Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples;
- John 1:43ISBE
¶ The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.
- John 10:39–42Nave Jesus at
Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand, And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that…
- John 10:40ISBE
And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.
- John 11:3ISBE
Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick.
Show 2 more
- John 11:6 ISBE
- John 11:27 ISBE
In the reference works
Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897) · 2 references
House of the ford, a place on the east bank of the Jordan, where John was baptizing (John 1:28). It may be identical with Bethbarah, the ancient ford of Jordan of which the men of Ephraim took possession (Judg. 7:24). The Revised Version reads “Bethany beyond Jordan.” It was the great ford, and still bears the name of “the ford,” Makhadhet ‘Abarah, “the ford of crossing over,” about 25 miles from Nazareth. (See BETHBARAH.)
Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884) · 1 references
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915) · 13 references
beth-ab'-a-ra beth`abharah; (Bethabara, "house of the ford"): According to the King James Version (following Textus Receptus of the New Testament) the place where John baptized (Joh 1:28). the Revised Version (British and American) (with Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek following Codex Sinaiticus, Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus, Codex Ephraemi) reads BETHANY. It is distinguished from the Bethany of Lazarus and his sisters as being "beyond the Jordan." The reading "Bethabara" became current owing to the advocacy of Origen. Various suggestions have been made to explain the readings. G. A. Smith (HGHL) suggests that Bethany ("house of the ship") and Bethabara ("house of the ford") are names for the same place. Bethabara has also been identified with Bethbarah, which, however, was probably not on the Jordan but among the streams flowing into it (Jud 7:24). It is interesting to note that LXXB reads Baithabara for Massoretic Text Beth-`arabhah, one of the cities of Benjamin (Jos 18:22). If this be correct, the site is in Judea.
Another solution is sought in the idea of a corruption of the original name into Bethany and Bethabara, the name having the consonants n, b and r after Beth. In Jos 13:27 (Septuagint, Codex Vaticanus) we find Baithanabra for Bethnimrah (Massoretic Text), and Sir George Grove in DB (arts. "Bethabara" and "Beth-nimrah") identifies Bethabara and Beth-nimrah. The site of the latter was a few miles above Jericho (see BETH-NIMRAH), "immediately accessible to Jerusalem and all Judea" (compare Mt 3:5; Mr 1:5, and see article "Bethany" in EB). This view has much in its favor.
Then, again, as Dr. G. Frederick Wright observes: "The traditional site is at the ford east of Jericho; but as according to Joh 1:29,35,43 it was only one day's journey from Cana of Galilee, while according to Joh 10:40; 11:3,6,27 it was two or three days from Bethany, it must have been well up the river toward Galilee. Conder discovered a well-known ford near Beisan called Abarah, near the mouth of the valley of Jezreel. This is 20 miles from Cana and 60 miles from Bethany, and all the conditions of the place fit in with the history."
See also BETHANY (2).
S. F. Hunter
In the topical indexes
Nave's Topical Bible (1896) · 3 references, grouped by sub-topic
- → A city east of the Jordan Jud 7:24
- → John testifies to Christ's messiahship, and baptizes at Joh 1:28
- → Jesus at Joh 10:39-42
Texts: Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897); Smith's Bible Dictionary (1884); International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915); Nave's Topical Bible (1896), from the CrossWire SWORD modules (public domain). Verse references were parsed from the works' own markup and checked against the KJV verse list.