Luke 2:4

2:4 So ¹  Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth ²  in Galilee to Judea, to the city ³  of David called Bethlehem, ⁴  because he was of the house ⁵  and family line ⁶  of David.

Matthew 2:23

2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth ⁷  and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus ⁸  would be called a Nazarene. ⁹ 

John 1:45-46

1:45 Philip found Nathanael ¹⁰  and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also ¹¹  wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 1:46 Nathanael ¹²  replied, ¹³  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ¹⁴  Philip replied, ¹⁵  “Come and see.”

John 7:41

7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!” ¹⁶  But still others said, “No, ¹⁷  for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ¹⁸ 

[2:4]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the consequential nature of the action.

[2:4]  ² sn On Nazareth see Luke 1:26.

[2:4]  ³ tn Or “town.” The translation “city” is used here because of its collocation with “of David,” suggesting its importance, though not its size.

[2:4]  ⁴ sn The journey from Nazareth to the city of David called Bethlehem was a journey of about 90 mi (150 km). Bethlehem was a small village located about 7 miles south-southwest of Jerusalem.

[2:4]  ⁵ sn Luke’s use of the term “house” probably alludes to the original promise made to David outlined in the Nathan oracle of 2 Sam 7:12-16, especially in light of earlier connections between Jesus and David made in Luke 1:32. Further, the mention of Bethlehem reminds one of the promise of Mic 5:2, namely, that a great king would emerge from Bethlehem to rule over God’s people.

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Or “family,” “lineage.”

[2:23]  ⁷ 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.

[2:23]  ⁸ 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.

[2:23]  ⁹ 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.

[1:45]  ¹⁰ sn Nathanael is traditionally identified with Bartholomew (although John never describes him as such). He appears here after Philip, while in all lists of the twelve except in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew follows Philip. Also, the Aramaic Bar-tolmai means “son of Tolmai,” the surname; the man almost certainly had another name.

[1:45]  ¹¹ tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[1:46]  ¹² tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

[1:46]  ¹³ tn Grk “said to him.”

[1:46]  ¹⁴ sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

[1:46]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”

[7:41]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:41]  ¹⁷ tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.

[7:41]  ¹⁸ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does he?”).