When a Brooklyn hardware merchant asked Jonathan Felt if he wanted to immerse a pot in rainwater, it sparked a question his translation team couldn't shake: the same Hebrew verb used for koshering dishes — taval — is the verb used for what happened at the Jordan River. So what was John's actual role?

Drawing on five Hebrew manuscripts of Luke, the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Mishnah, and Torah purification law, this essay traces a pattern that holds from Genesis to the Gospels: the person needing purification always immerses themselves. Never once, outside a single instance, is it someone else who dunks them.