We see here the desperate need of the times. The Israelites were in such a state of spiritual declension that before the coming of Christ a forerunner had to be sent to call them to repentance.
Where did John baptise? A place called in the Gospel of John Bethabara but in the modern translations you will often read Bethany. Not the Bethany of Lazarus and Martha and Mary, but a place called Bethany which was down the river Jordan on the east side, called both Bethabara and Bethany in all probability. But anyway the modern translations choose manuscripts which go for Bethany, and our King James Version goes for the manuscripts which say Bethabara.