328 Jeremy M. Hutton Although this article builds upon much of the foregoing literature, its purpose is to provide a reassessment and critique of the latest argument that would move the baptismal location of the Gospel of John away from the traditionally recognized site of that event’s remembrance. The argument presented here pertaining to the textual and traditional confusion of Bhqabara/', hbr[h tyb, and hrb tyb has been anticipated for decades (by, e.g., Lagrange, Clapp, and Wiefel), if not for centuries (e.g., Lightfoot). The article’s original contribution, therefore, lies in the recognition of the potential lexical confusion that seems to be intimately intertwined in Origen’s allusion (kataskeuh') to the verb kataskeuavzw of Mk 1,2 which, I have argued, proceeded from a tradition in which a toponymic tradition concerning a hrb[ tyb was somehow corrupted into hd:bo[} tyb, “House of Preparation”. Princeton Theological Seminary Jeremy M. HUTTON P.O. Box 821 Princeton, NJ, 08542 USA SUMMARY Origen selected ejn Bhqabara/' in John 1,28 as the superior reading in his Comm. Jo., an assessment challenged by modern critics. Although the text-critical data seem to indicate ejn Bhqaniva/ as the preferable reading, this claim may be questioned on literary and redactional grounds. Those same observations provide evidence for intentional literary commemoration of John’s ministry at the Jordan. Origen’s gloss of Bhqabara/' as “House of Preparation” (oi\ko" kataskeuh'") leads to an examination of Mk 1,2-3, and its lexical divergence from LXX Mal 3,1.22- 23 [=MT vv. 23-24]; Isa 40,3. Mark anomalously uses the verb kataskeuavzw, the nominal counterpart of which (kataskeuh') renders Heb. hd:bo[} “work, preparation” (LXXAB Exod 35,24), which is graphically similar to hrb[ tyb. When combined with historical-geographical study of the area surrounding Jericho, these data allow us to trace the process of textual and traditional development whereby the toponym hbr[h tyb (Josh 15,6.61; 18,22), preserved at the modern ≠¯ H. ‘En el-G˜arabe, served as the toponymic antecedent of both Bhqabara/' and Beth Barah (Judg 7,24). This process of development provides additional defense for the traditional localization of John’s ministry in the southern Jordan River Valley near the el-Magμtas and H˘aˇla fords. g