Bible Strands
Mark 1:9
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator records Jesus’s arrival at the Jordan River immediately after John’s declaration that a greater one would follow him. This moment shifts the narrative from John’s preparatory preaching to the public inauguration of Jesus’s ministry.
The words — The text emphasizes ἦλθεν (ēlthen), literally “came,” to mark Jesus’s deliberate movement from Galilee to the baptismal site. This verb grounds the account in a concrete historical transition rather than a theological abstraction.
The thread — The event runs parallel to Matthew 3:13, which notes Jesus traveling from Galilee to the Jordan for John’s baptism, and Luke 3:21, which places Jesus in the crowd of baptized people while praying. The Nazareth origin in Mark 1:9 corresponds to Matthew 2:23’s record of his settlement in that town.
Why it lands — The text states that Jesus submitted to John’s water baptism without commentary or qualification. The reader is asked to observe his voluntary alignment with a repentance ritual before the Spirit’s descent and the heavens’ opening are recorded.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan.
Cross-references
- Matthew 2:23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
- Matthew 3:13 At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
- Luke 3:21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized too. And as He was praying, heaven was opened,