John 1:46

1:46 Nathanael replied, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip replied, “Come and see.”

John 19:19

19:19 Pilate also had a notice written and fastened to the cross, which read: “Jesus the Nazarene, the king of the Jews.”

Matthew 2:23

2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus would be called a Nazarene. 10 

Matthew 21:11

21:11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth 11  in Galilee.”


tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

tn Grk “said to him.”

sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”

tn Or “an inscription.”

tn Grk “Pilate also wrote a notice and placed it on the cross.” The two verbs should be read as causatives, since it is highly unlikely that the Roman governor would perform either of these actions himself. He ordered them to be done.

tn Grk “Now it was written.”

sn Nazareth was a very small village in the region of Galilee (Galilee lay north of Samaria and Judea). The town was located about 15 mi (25 km) west of the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee. According to Luke 1:26, Mary was living in Nazareth when the birth of Jesus was announced to her.

tn There is no expressed subject of the third person singular verb here; the pronoun “he” is implied. Instead of this pronoun the referent “Jesus” has been supplied in the text to clarify to whom this statement refers.

10 tn The Greek could be indirect discourse (as in the text), or direct discourse (“he will be called a Nazarene”). Judging by the difficulty of finding OT quotations (as implied in the plural “prophets”) to match the wording here, it appears that the author was using a current expression of scorn that conceptually (but not verbally) found its roots in the OT.

11 map For location see Map1-D3; Map2-C2; Map3-D5; Map4-C1; Map5-G3.