Matthew 2:23

2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth ¹  and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus ²  would be called a Nazarene. ³ 

John 1:45-46

1:45 Philip found Nathanael ⁴  and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also ⁵  wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” 1:46 Nathanael ⁶  replied, ⁷  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” ⁸  Philip replied, ⁹  “Come and see.”

John 6:14

6:14 Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus ¹⁰  performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet ¹¹  who is to come into the world.” ¹² 

[2:23]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[1:46]  ⁶ tn Grk “And Nathanael.”

[1:46]  ⁷ tn Grk “said to him.”

[1:46]  ⁸ sn Can anything good come out of Nazareth? may be a local proverb expressing jealousy among the towns.

[1:46]  ⁹ tn Grk “And Philip said to him.”

[6:14]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ¹¹ sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[6:14]  ¹² sn An allusion to Deut 18:15.