Luke 4:14-30

English Standard Version

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹⁴^(A)And Jesus returned ^(B)in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and ^(C)a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵And ^(D)he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁶^(E)And he came to ^(F)Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And ^(G)as was his custom, ^(H)he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up ^(I)to read. ¹⁷And ^(J)the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸^(K)“The Spirit of the Lord ^(L)is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
    to ^(M)proclaim good news to the poor.
^(N)He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
    and ^(O)recovering of sight to the blind,
    ^(P)to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
¹⁹^(Q)to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.”

²⁰And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and ^(R)sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were ^(S)fixed on him. ²¹And he began to say to them, “Today ^(T)this Scripture ^(U)has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²And all spoke well of him and marveled at ^(V)the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ^(W)“Is not this ^(X)Joseph's son?” ²³And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ^(Y)‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did ^(Z)at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ^(AA)no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when ^(AB)the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶and Elijah was sent to none of them ^(AC)but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷And ^(AD)there were many lepers^[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, ^(AE)but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹And they rose up and ^(AF)drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰But ^(AG)passing through their midst, he went away.

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Footnotes

Luke 4:27 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13

Luke 4:14-30

The Message

To Set the Burdened Free

^14-15Jesus 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.

^16-21He 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.”

²²All 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?”

^23-27He 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.”

^28-30That 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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English Standard Version (ESV)

The Message (MSG)

Luke 4:14-30 English Standard Version