Luke 3:3

All the region round about Jordan

(πασαν περιχωρον του Ιορδανου). The wilderness was John's abode (Luke 1:80) so that he began preaching where he was. It was the plain (Genesis 13:10) or valley of the Jordan, El Ghor, as far north as Succoth (2 Chronicles 4:17). Sometimes he was on the eastern bank of the Jordan (John 10:40), though usually on the west side. His baptizing kept him near the river.The baptism of repentance unto remission of sins

(βαπτισμα μετανοιας εις αφεσιν αμαρτιων). The same phrase as in Mark 1:4, which see for discussion of these important words. The word remission (αφεσις) "occurs in Luke more frequently than in all the other New Testament writers combined" (Vincent). In medical writers it is used for the relaxing of disease.