Jesus’ Public Ministry

14 And (A)Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and (B)news about Him spread through all the surrounding region. 15 And He began (C)teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all.

16 And He came to (D)Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, (E)He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and (F)stood up to read. 17 And the scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to Him. And He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 (G)The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 (H)To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

20 And He (I)rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and (J)sat down; and the eyes of all the people in the synagogue were intently directed at Him. 21 Now He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your [a]hearing.” 22 And all the people were [b]speaking well of Him, and admiring the [c]gracious words which were coming from His [d]lips; and yet they were saying, “(K)Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will [e]quote this proverb to Me: ‘Physician, heal yourself! All the miracles that we heard were done (L)in Capernaum, do here in (M)your hometown as well.’” 24 But He said, “Truly I say to you, (N)no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel (O)in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a [f]severe famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to [g](P)Zarephath, in the land of (Q)Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 And there were many with leprosy in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was [h]cleansed, but only (R)Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and (S)drove Him out of the city, and brought Him to the [i]crest of the hill on which their city had been built, so that they could throw Him down from the cliff. 30 But He (T)passed through their midst and went on His way.

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Footnotes

  1. Luke 4:21 Lit ears
  2. Luke 4:22 Or testifying
  3. Luke 4:22 Lit words of grace
  4. Luke 4:22 Lit mouth
  5. Luke 4:23 Lit tell me this
  6. Luke 4:25 Lit great
  7. Luke 4:26 Gr Sarepta
  8. Luke 4:27 I.e., healed
  9. Luke 4:29 Lit brow

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding region.(A) 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.(B)

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,(C) 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,(D)
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”(E)

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.(F) 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”(G) 23 He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say, ‘Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’ ”(H) 24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.(I) 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months and there was a severe famine over all the land,(J) 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”(K) 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.(L) 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.(M)

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To Set the Burdened Free

14-15 Jesus returned to Galilee powerful in the Spirit. News that he was back spread through the countryside. He taught in their meeting places to everyone’s acclaim and pleasure.

16-21 He came to Nazareth where he had been raised. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God’s Spirit is on me;
    he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
    recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
    to announce, “This is God’s time to shine!”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”

22 All who were there, watching and listening, were surprised at how well he spoke. But they also said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son, the one we’ve known since he was just a kid?”

23-27 He answered, “I suppose you’re going to quote the proverb, ‘Doctor, go heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we heard you did in Capernaum.’ Well, let me tell you something: No prophet is ever welcomed in his hometown. Isn’t it a fact that there were many widows in Israel at the time of Elijah during that three and a half years of drought when famine devastated the land, but the only widow to whom Elijah was sent was in Sarepta in Sidon? And there were many lepers in Israel at the time of the prophet Elisha but the only one cleansed was Naaman the Syrian.”

28-30 That set everyone in the meeting place seething with anger. They threw him out, banishing him from the village, then took him to a mountain cliff at the edge of the village to throw him to his doom, but he gave them the slip and was on his way.

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