Matthew 3:6

He baptized them. In the Jordan river (Mark 1:5). The Jordan is the important river of Palestine. It begins in the mountains of Lebanon, runs south into the Lake of Galilee, leaving it descends southward along Galilee, Samaria and Judea, to end in the Dead Sea. (Ferry-boats were used on this river 2 Samuel 19:18 Septuagint.) Confessed their sins. Baptism itself is a burial in water, a "baptism into death," a symbol of burying the old life and of death to sin. They "verbalized" their confession, and also "acted it out" in baptism. Confession of sin, turning from sin to God, and baptism are prescribed as conditions of forgiveness.