Luke 4:16

Rejection at Nazareth

4:16 Now ¹  Jesus ²  came to Nazareth, ³  where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue ⁴  on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. ⁵  He ⁶  stood up to read, ⁷ 

Matthew 2:23

2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth ⁸  and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus ⁹  would be called a Nazarene. ¹⁰ 

John 1:46

1:46 Nathanael ¹¹  replied, ¹²  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ¹³  Philip replied, ¹⁴  “Come and see.”

¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ sn Nazareth was Jesus’ hometown (which is why he is known as Jesus of Nazareth) about 20 miles (30 km) southwest from Capernaum.

⁴ sn See the note on synagogues in 4:15.

⁵ tn Grk “according to his custom.”

⁶ tn Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁷ sn In normative Judaism of the period, the OT scripture was read and discussed in the synagogue by the men who were present. See the Mishnah, m. Megillah 3-4; m. Berakhot 2. First came the law, then the prophets, then someone was asked to speak on the texts. Normally one stood up to read out of respect for the scriptures, and then sat down (v. 20) to expound them.

⁸ 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.

⁹ 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 tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

¹² tn Grk “said to him.”

¹³ sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

¹⁴ tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”