23. Erat autem et Ioannes 23. And John also was baptizans in Aennon, iuxta baptizing in Ennon near Salim; Salim: quia aquae multae erant because there was much water illic, et veniebant, et there, and they came, and were baptizabantur. baptized. 23. *Ennon, near Salim.* The site of Aennon (Gr. Αἰνών, from a Chaldaic word meaning springs) is difficult to determine. If we compare verse 26 of this chapter with John i. 28, it would seem that Aennon was west of the Jordan. Eusebius and Jerome place it eight miles south of Scythopolis, “juxta Salim et Jordanem;” and the latter states that the ruins of Melchizedek’s palace existed in his day at Salim. These statements are so positive that they cannot lightly be set aside. In the Jordan valley, about seven and a‐half miles from Beisan (Scythopolis), there is a remarkable group of seven springs, all lying within a radius of a quarter of a mile, which answers well to the description “many waters.”(37) According to this view, Aennon was situated in the north‐east corner of Samaria. Others, however, think, from the connection between this verse and verse 22, in which Jesus is said to baptize in Judea, that Aennon also was in Judea, and refer to Josue xv. 32, where the cities of Selim and _Aen_ are mentioned as in the tribe of Juda. 24. Nondum enim missus fuerat 24. For John was not yet cast Ioannes in carcerem. into prison. 24. The Evangelist notes that the Baptist had not yet been imprisoned, probably lest it should be thought, from Matt. iv. 11, 12, that the imprisonment of the Baptist followed at once upon the return of Christ from the forty days’ fast in the desert. This verse, therefore, affords a strong proof that our Evangelist was acquainted with the Gospel of St. Matthew. 25. Facta est autem quaestio 25. And there arose a question ex discipulis Ioannis cum between some of John’s Iudaeis de purificatione. disciples and the Jews concerning purification: 26. Et venerunt ad Ioannem, et 26. And they came to John, and dixerunt ei: Rabbi, qui erat said to him: Rabbi, he that tecum trans Iordanem, cui tu was with thee beyond the testimonium perhibuisti, ecce Jordan, to whom thou gavest hic baptizat, et omnes veniunt testimony, behold he ad eum. baptizeth, and all men come to him. 25, 26. A question arose between (ἐκ τῶν μαθητῶν Ἰωάννου μετα Ἰονδαίου, _i.e._, “cujus auctores extitere discipuli Joannis,” Beel, _Gr. Gram._, § 51, B. 2, 8) John’s disciples and _the Jews_, _i.e._, some leading Jews, perhaps members of the Sanhedrim, concerning the relative merits of John’s baptism and Christ’s; and John’s disciples come to their master, jealous that his fame is being eclipsed by that of Him whom he had been the means of bringing before the public notice. The best supported reading is _a Jew_, not the Jews.