Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

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

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

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

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Footnotes

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

16 Jesus went to Nazareth, where he had been raised. On the Sabbath he went to the synagogue as he normally did and stood up to read. 17 The synagogue assistant gave him the scroll from the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because the Lord has anointed me.
He has sent me to preach good news to the poor,
    to proclaim release to the prisoners
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
    to liberate the oppressed,
19     and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.[a]

20 He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the synagogue assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the synagogue was fixed on him. 21 He began to explain to them, “Today, this scripture has been fulfilled just as you heard it.”

22 Everyone was raving about Jesus, so impressed were they by the gracious words flowing from his lips. They said, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?”

23 Then Jesus said to them, “Undoubtedly, you will quote this saying to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. Do here in your hometown what we’ve heard you did in Capernaum.’” 24 He said, “I assure you that no prophet is welcome in the prophet’s hometown. 25 And I can assure you that there were many widows in Israel during Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain for three and a half years and there was a great food shortage in the land. 26 Yet Elijah was sent to none of them but only to a widow in the city of Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 There were also many persons with skin diseases in Israel during the time of the prophet Elisha, but none of them were cleansed. Instead, Naaman the Syrian was cleansed.”

28 When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was filled with anger. 29 They rose up and ran him out of town. They led him to the crest of the hill on which their town had been built so that they could throw him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the crowd and went on his way.

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