Matthew 3:6

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
And	καὶ kai	G2532	and · conjunction
baptized	ἐβαπτίζοντο ebaptizonto	G907	to immerse · verb — imperfect passive indicative, 3rd person plural
of	ὑπ᾽ hup᾽	G5259	under · preposition
him	αὐτοῦ autou	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
in	ἐν en	G1722	"in · preposition
Jordan	Ἰορδάνῃ Iordanē	G2446	the Jordanes (i.e. Jarden) · noun — dative singular masculine, a place
confessing	ἐξομολογούμενοι exomologoumenoi	G1843	to acknowledge or (by implication · verb — present middle participle, nominative plural masculine
their	αὐτῶν.¶ autōn	G846	the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive plural masculine
sins	ἁμαρτίας hamartias	G266	a sin (properly abstract) · noun — accusative plural feminine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Acts 19:18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
Matthew 3:13-16 Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him.
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 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he sha…
John 1:25-28 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
Acts 2:38-41 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall rece…
Hebrews 9:10 Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 3:1-6

We have here an account of the preaching and baptism of John, which were the dawning of the gospel-day. Observe, I. The time when he appeared. In those days (Mat 3:1), or, after those days, long after what was recorded in the foregoing chapter, which left the child Jesus in his infancy. In those days, in the time appointed of the Father for the beginning of the gospel, when the fulness of time was come, which was often thus spoken of in the Old Testament, In those days. Now the last of Daniel's weeks began, or rather, the latter half of the week, when the Messiah was to confirm the covenant with many, Dan 9:27. Christ's appearances are all in their season. Glorious things were spoken both of…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 3:6

And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins--probably confessing aloud. This baptism was at once a public seal of their felt need of deliverance from sin, of their expectation of the coming Deliverer, and of their readiness to welcome Him when He appeared. The baptism itself startled, and was intended to startle, them. They were familiar enough with the baptism of proselytes from heathenism; but this baptism of Jews themselves was quite new and strange to them.

John Gill on Matthew 3:6

And were baptized of him,.... The place where they were baptized of him was, "in Jordan"; some copies read, "in the river Jordan", as in Mark 1:5. As to the name of this river, and the etymology of it, the Jews say (l) it was so called, "because it descended" from Dan, i.e. Leshem Dan, or Pamias, which they say is a cave at the head of it. It was in John's time and long after a considerable river, a river to swim in; we (m) read that "Resh Lakish was swimming in Jordan." And elsewhere (n), that one day "R. Jochanan was swimming in Jordan." Also it was a river for boats and ships to pass in, so that it was a navigable river; hence we read (o) of "the boat of Jordan", and of ships in it, a…

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John Calvin

The Church Fathers

The baptism of John did not provide forgiveness of sins, but it taught people to run to the baptism that is for the sake of sins.
— Cyril of Alexandria, FRAGMENT 18.34

Therefore John exhorted those coming to him. He preached that the sins they had committed by transgressing the precepts of divine law could be cleansed by repentance. Thus by satisfying God with worthy repentance they might receive forgiveness from him who said through the prophet: "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone … so turn and live." And again: "Turn to me, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will turn to you." And again: "I am the Lord who does not remember wickedness, provided one turn from his evil ways and all his iniquities so that he may live."
— Chromatius of Aquileia, TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 10.1.32

They who are about to enter baptism ought to pray with repeated prayers, fasts, and bendings of the knee, and vigils all the night through, and with the confession of all by- gone sins, that they may express the meaning even of the baptism of John: "They were baptized," saith (the Scripture), "confessing their own sins." To us it is matter for thankfulness if we do now publicly confess our iniquities or our turpitudes: for we do at the same time both make satisfaction for our former sins, by mortification of our flesh and spirit, and lay beforehand the foundation of defences against the temptations which will closely follow.
— Tertullian, On Baptism

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

John the Baptist — The “forerunner of our Lord.” We have but fragmentary and imperfect accounts of him in the Gospels. He was of priestly descent. His father, Zacharias, was a priest of the course of Abia (1 Chr.…
Jordan — Heb. Yarden, “the descender;” Arab. Nahr-esh-Sheriah, “the watering-place” the chief river of Palestine. It flows from north to south down a deep valley in the centre of the country. The name…
Baptism · General references — General references
John · His inf — His inf
Jordan · General references — General references
Jordan, The River · Remarkable events connected with: Baptism of multitudes by John the Baptist — Remarkable events connected with: Baptism of multitudes by John the Baptist
Rivers · Baptism often performed in — Baptism often performed in

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 3:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 3:6

John Gill on Matthew 3:6

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Matthew 3:1-6

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Matthew 3:6

John Gill on Matthew 3:6

John Calvin

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Matthew 3:5-6