8:5 When he entered Capernaum, 4 a centurion 5 came to him asking for help: 6
17:24 After 7 they arrived in Capernaum, 8 the collectors of the temple tax 9 came to Peter and said, “Your teacher pays the double drachma tax, doesn’t he?”
4:46 Now he came again to Cana 13 in Galilee where he had made the water wine. 14 In 15 Capernaum 16 there was a certain royal official 17 whose son was sick. 4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come back from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and begged him 18 to come down and heal his son, who was about to die. 4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people 19 see signs and wonders you will never believe!” 20 4:49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.” 4:50 Jesus told him, “Go home; 21 your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home. 22
4:51 While he was on his way down, 23 his slaves 24 met him and told him that his son was going to live. 4:52 So he asked them the time 25 when his condition began to improve, 26 and 27 they told him, “Yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon 28 the fever left him.” 4:53 Then the father realized that it was the very time 29 Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live,” and he himself believed along with his entire household. 4:54 Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign 30 when he returned from Judea to Galilee.
1 map For location see Map1-D3; Map2-C2; Map3-D5; Map4-C1; Map5-G3.
2 tn Grk “and leaving Nazareth, he came and took up residence in Capernaum.”
3 tn Or “by the lake.”
4 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
5 sn A centurion was a noncommissioned officer in the Roman army or one of the auxiliary territorial armies, commanding a centuria of (nominally) 100 men. The responsibilities of centurions were broadly similar to modern junior officers, but there was a wide gap in social status between them and officers, and relatively few were promoted beyond the rank of senior centurion. The Roman troops stationed in Judea were auxiliaries, who would normally be rewarded with Roman citizenship after 25 years of service. Some of the centurions may have served originally in the Roman legions (regular army) and thus gained their citizenship at enlistment. Others may have inherited it, like the apostle Paul did.
6 sn While in Matthew’s account the centurion came to him asking for help, Luke’s account (7:1-10) mentions that the centurion sent some Jewish elders as emissaries on his behalf.
7 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
8 map For location see Map1-D2; Map2-C3; Map3-B2.
9 tn Grk “Collectors of the double drachma.” This is a case of metonymy, where the coin formerly used to pay the tax (the double drachma coin, or δίδραχμον [didracmon]) was put for the tax itself (cf. BDAG 241 s.v.). Even though this coin was no longer in circulation in NT times and other coins were used to pay the tax, the name for the coin was still used to refer to the tax itself.
10 tn Grk “And he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
11 sn The proverb Physician, heal yourself! means that Jesus should prove his claims. It is a “Prove it to us!” mentality that Jesus says the people have.
12 sn The remark “What we have heard that you did at Capernaum” makes many suspect that Luke has moved this event forward in sequence to typify what Jesus’ ministry was like, since the ministry in Capernaum follows in vv. 31-44. The location of this event in the parallel of Mark 6:1-6 also suggests this transposition.
13 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
14 sn See John 2:1-11.
15 tn Grk “And in.”
16 sn Capernaum was a town on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, 680 ft (204 m) below sea level. It was a major trade and economic center in the North Galilean region.
17 tn Although βασιλικός (basiliko") has often been translated “nobleman” it is almost certainly refers here to a servant of Herod, tetrarch of Galilee (who in the NT is called a king, Matt 14:9, Mark 6:14-29). Capernaum was a border town, so doubtless there were many administrative officials in residence there.
18 tn The direct object of ἠρώτα (hrwta) is supplied from context. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
19 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than the royal official alone).
20 tn Or “you never believe.” The verb πιστεύσητε (pisteushte) is aorist subjunctive and may have either nuance.
21 tn Grk “Go”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
22 tn Grk “and left.” The words “for home” are implied by the following verse.
23 sn While he was on his way down. Going to Capernaum from Cana, one must go east across the Galilean hills and then descend to the Sea of Galilee. The 20 mi (33 km) journey could not be made in a single day. The use of the description on his way down shows the author was familiar with Palestinian geography.
24 tn Traditionally, “servants.” Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times…in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v.). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος), in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.
25 tn Grk “the hour.”
26 tn BDAG 558 s.v. κομψότερον translates the idiom κομψότερον ἔχειν (komyoteron ecein) as “begin to improve.”
27 tn The second οὖν (oun) in 4:52 has been translated as “and” to improve English style by avoiding redundancy.
28 tn Grk “at the seventh hour.”
29 tn Grk “at that hour.”
30 tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. 2:11 where the same construction occurs.