("house of sweet water," or "house of leopards.") (See BETHABARA.) A Gadite "fenced city" E. of Jordan, "in the valley" beside Betharan (Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:36; Joshua 13:27). The Arabs calls the lower end of the wady Shoaib Nahr nimrin. The wady Shoaib (possibly the modern form of Hobab) discharges its waters into the Jordan near a ford above Jericho. By it tradition makes Israel to have descended to the Jordan. The Septuagint reads Bethanabra, almost identical with Bethabara. That this is the scene of John 1:28; Mark 1:5; Matthew 3:5, appears from there being abundant water, and its being near "the region round about Jordan," the CICCAR of the Old Testament, the oasis of Jericho, accessible to "Jerusalem and all Judea." But see for Conder's view BETHABARA.
From the co-author of the classic Jamieson, Fausset and Brown Commentary, Fausset's Bible Dictionary stands as one of the best single-volume Bible encyclopedias ever written for general use. The author's writing style is always clear and concise, and he tackles issues important to the average student of the Bible, not just the Biblical scholars. This makes Fausset an excellent tool for both everyday Bible study and in-depth lesson or sermon preparation.Wikipedia
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