Bible Strands
Matthew 3:6
Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator describes John the Baptist’s ministry as crowds from Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding Jordan region gather to him. The moment captures the public response to John’s call for repentance immediately before his confrontation with religious leaders in verse 7.
The words — ἐβαπτίζοντο (ebaptizonto) conveys a continuous passive action, literally “they were being baptized,” while ὑπ᾽ αὐτοῦ (hup autou) specifies the agent as “by him.” The text records the physical act and its agent without elaborating on theological mechanics.
The thread — The pattern of public confession preceding baptism appears in Acts 19:18, where believers disclose their deeds, and 1 John 1:9 links confession to divine cleansing. The Jordan River setting is reused when Jesus himself approaches the same location for baptism in Matthew 3:13.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of personal wrongdoing as a prerequisite for the ritual act described. It requires the reader to recognize that repentance, documented through confession, precedes the outward sign of baptism.
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 were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.
Cross-references
- Acts 19:18 Many who had believed now came forward, confessing and disclosing their deeds.
- Matthew 3:13 At that time Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.
- 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- Ezekiel 36:25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- Matthew 3:11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but after me will come One more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.
- John 1:25 asked him, “Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
- Acts 2:38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
- Hebrews 9:10 They consist only in food and drink and special washings—external regulations imposed until the time of reform.
- Leviticus 16:21 Then he is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities and rebellious acts of the Israelites in regard to all their sins. He is to put them on the goat’s head and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man appointed for the task.
- Leviticus 26:40 But if they will confess their iniquity and that of their fathers in the unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, by which they have also walked in hostility toward Me—