Matthew 11:21

11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹  Woe to you, Bethsaida! If ²  the miracles ³  done in you had been done in Tyre ⁴  and Sidon, ⁵  they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Mark 6:45

Walking on Water

6:45 Immediately Jesus ⁶  made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dispersed the crowd.

Mark 8:22

A Two-stage Healing

8:22 Then ⁷  they came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus ⁸  and asked him to touch him.

Luke 9:10

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

9:10 When ⁹  the apostles returned, ¹⁰  they told Jesus ¹¹  everything they had done. Then ¹²  he took them with him and they withdrew privately to a town ¹³  called Bethsaida. ¹⁴ 

Luke 10:13

10:13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! ¹⁵  Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if ¹⁶  the miracles ¹⁷  done in you had been done in Tyre ¹⁸  and Sidon, ¹⁹  they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

¹ sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

² tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

³ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

⁴ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

⁵ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁸ tn Grk “to him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Grk “And when.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹⁰ tn The participle ὑποστρέψαντες (Jupostreyante") has been taken temporally.

¹¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

¹³ tc There is a seeming myriad of variants for this text. Many mss read εἰς τόπον ἔρημον (ei" topon erhmon, “to a deserted place”; א*^,2 [1241]) or εἰς τόπον ἔρημον πόλεως καλουμένης Βηθσαϊδά (ei" topon erhmon polew" kaloumenh" Bhqsai>da, “to a deserted place of a town called Bethsaida”; [A] C W Ξ^mg [Ë^1,13] [565] Ï) here, while others have εἰς κώμην λεγομένην Βηδσαϊδά (ei" kwmhn legomenhn Bhdsai>da, “to a village called Bedsaida”; D), εἰς κώμην καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά εἰς τόπον ἔρημον (ei" kwmhn kaloumenhn Bhqsai>da ei" topon erhmon, “to a village called Bethsaida to a deserted place”; Θ), or εἰς τόπον καλουμένον Βηθσαϊδά (ei" topon kaloumenon Bhqsaida, “to a place called Bethsaida”; Ψ). The Greek behind the translation (εἰς πόλιν καλουμένην Βηθσαϊδά, ei" polin kaloumenhn Bhqsai>da) is supported by (Ì⁷⁵) א¹ B L Ξ* 33 2542 pc co. The variants can be grouped generally into those that speak of a “deserted place” and those that speak of a place/city/town called Bethsaida. The Byzantine reading is evidently a conflation of the earlier texts, and should be dismissed as secondary. The variants that speak of a deserted place are an assimilation to Mark 6:32, as well a harmonization with v. 12, and should also be regarded as secondary. The reading that best explains the rise of the others – both internally and externally – is the one that stands behind the translation and is found in the text of NA²⁷.

¹⁴ sn Bethsaida was a town on the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee. Probably this should be understood to mean a place in the vicinity of the town. It represents an attempt to reconcile the location with the place of the miraculous feeding that follows.

¹⁵ sn Chorazin was a town of Galilee that was probably fairly small in contrast to Bethsaida and is otherwise unattested. Bethsaida was declared a polis by the tetrarch Herod Philip, sometime after a.d. 30.

¹⁶ tn This introduces a second class (contrary to fact) condition in the Greek text.

¹⁷ tn Or “powerful deeds.”

¹⁸ map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

¹⁹ sn Tyre and Sidon are two other notorious OT cities (Isa 23; Jer 25:22; 47:4). The remark is a severe rebuke, in effect: “Even the sinners of the old era would have responded to the proclamation of the kingdom, unlike you!”