ContradictionsReading order 566Bible context 2 min read
Where did John the Baptist baptize?
Some passages name the river where John baptizes, while John names a locality beyond Jordan; these descriptions are not shown to exclude one another.
- Textual conflict
- Weak contradiction
- The supplied passages do not establish incompatible claims. Different events, meanings, or conditions may account for the difference.
- Importance
- Minor
- A local detail in a story, chronology, or inventory.
A river and a locality beyond it are not established as incompatible baptism sites, and no passage restricts John to one site.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
John baptizes people in the Jordan River
And the same John had his raiment of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Matthew 3:4-6
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Matthew 3
And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
Mark 1:5
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Mark 1