Bethab´ara or Bethbarah. This name means place of the ford, i.e. of or over the Jordan; and is mentioned in John 1:28, as the place where John baptized. The best manuscripts and recent editions, however, have Bethany: the reading Bethabara appears to have arisen from the conjecture of Origen, who in his day found no such place on the Jordan as Bethany, but knew a town called Bethabara, where John was said to have baptized, and therefore took the unwarrantable liberty of changing the reading.