Matthew 4:23-25

Jesus’ Healing Ministry

4:23 Jesus ¹  went throughout all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, ²  preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all kinds of disease and sickness among the people. 4:24 So a report about him spread throughout Syria. People ³  brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those who had seizures, ⁴  paralytics, and those possessed by demons, ⁵  and he healed them. 4:25 And large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, ⁶  Jerusalem, ⁷  Judea, and beyond the Jordan River. ⁸ 

Matthew 9:26

9:26 And the news of this spread throughout that region. ⁹ 

Mark 1:28

1:28 So ¹⁰  the news about him spread quickly throughout all the region around Galilee.

Mark 1:45

1:45 But as the man ¹¹  went out he began to announce it publicly and spread the story widely, so that Jesus ¹²  was no longer able to enter any town openly but stayed outside in remote places. Still ¹³  they kept coming ¹⁴  to him from everywhere.

[4:23]  ¹ tn Grk “And he.”

[4:23]  ² sn Synagogues were places for Jewish prayer and worship, with recognized leadership (cf. Luke 8:41). Though the origin of the synagogue is not entirely clear, it seems to have arisen in the postexilic community during the intertestamental period. A town could establish a synagogue if there were at least ten men. In normative Judaism of the NT 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).

[4:24]  ³ tn Grk “And they”; “they” is probably an indefinite plural, referring to people in general rather than to the Syrians (cf. v. 25).

[4:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “those who were moonstruck,” possibly meaning “lunatic” (so NAB), although now the term is generally regarded as referring to some sort of seizure disorder such as epilepsy (L&N 23.169; BDAG 919 s.v. σεληνιάζομαι).

[4:24]  ⁵ tn The translation has adopted a different phrase order here than that in the Greek text. The Greek text reads, “People brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those possessed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics.” Even though it is obvious that four separate groups of people are in view here, following the Greek word order could lead to the misconception that certain people were possessed by epileptics and paralytics. The word order adopted in the translation avoids this problem.

[4:25]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated before each of the places in the list, since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[4:25]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:25]  ⁸ tn “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity. The region referred to here is sometimes known as Transjordan (i.e., “across the Jordan”).

[9:26]  ⁹ tn For the translation of τὴν γῆν ἐκείνην (thn ghn ekeinhn) as “that region,” see L&N 1.79.

[1:28]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “And.” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of previous action(s) in the narrative.

[1:45]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the man who was healed) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:45]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:45]  ¹³ tn Grk “and”; καί (kai) often has a mildly contrastive force, as here.

[1:45]  ¹⁴ tn The imperfect verb has been translated iteratively.