He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
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Luke 4:24-27 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’ ” He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
Parallel Translations
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He said, “Most certainly I tell you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown.
But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.
Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
-
And he sayde verely I saye vnto you: No Prophet is accepted in his awne countre.
But I tell you of a truth many wyddowes were in Israell in the dayes of Helias when hevyn was shet thre yeres and syxe monethes when greate fammisshemet was throughoute all the londe
and vnto none of them was Helias sent save in to Sarephta besydes Sidon vnto a woman that was a widow.
And many lepers were in Israel in the tyme of Heliseus the Prophete: and yet none of them was healed savinge Naaman of Siria.
Show all 3 translations
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And he saide, Verely I say vnto you, No Prophet is accepted in his owne countrey.
But I tell you of a trueth, many widowes were in Israel in the dayes of Elias, when heauen was shut three yeres and sixe moneths, when great famine was throughout all the land:
But vnto none of them was Elias sent, saue into Sarepta, a citie of Sidon, vnto a certaine widowe.
Also many lepers were in Israel, in the time of Eliseus the Prophet: yet none of them was made cleane, sauing Naaman the Syrian.
Cross-references (22)
- Matthew 13:57 (v24) They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.”
- John 4:44 (v24) For Jesus himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
- Mark 6:4-5 (v24) Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.” He…
- 1 Kings 17:1 (v25) Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there…
- James 5:17 (v25) Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years…
Show all 22 cross-references
- 1 Kings 17:9-24 (v26) “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.” So he arose and…
- 2 Kings 5:1-27 (v27) Now Naaman, captain of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him Yahweh had given…
- Isaiah 55:8 (v25) “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my ways,” says Yahweh.
- Matthew 11:21 (v26) “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would…
- Matthew 20:15 (v25) Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
- 1 Kings 18:1-2 (v25) After many days, Yahweh’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.”…
- Mark 7:26-29 (v25) Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter. But Jesus said to…
- Luke 10:21 (v25) In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these…
- John 17:12 (v27) While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son…
- Acts 22:3 (v24) “I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict…
- Romans 9:15 (v25) For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- 1 Kings 19:19-21 (v27) So he departed from there, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the…
- Matthew 12:4 (v27) how he entered into God’s house, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only…
- Romans 9:20 (v25) But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
- Ephesians 1:9 (v25) making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him
- Ephesians 1:11 (v25) We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel…
- Acts 22:18-22 (v24) and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’ I said,…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v25 Land of Israel, see Mark 15:38.
Land of Israel, see Mark 15:38.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv24–27 24 And he said, Verily I say unto you,…
24 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country.
Ver. 24. No prophet is accepted] {See Trapp on "Mat 13:57"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v25 The two stories to which our Saviour refers are…
The two stories to which our Saviour refers are those 1Ki 17:9; 2Ki 5:14. But the question is what our Saviour intended to teach them by these stories, which made them so exceeding angry, as we shall find by and by. I answer, several things, none of which pleased them.
1. The freeness of God’s distinguishing grace. That God was not bound to give to all the same aid, and means of grace, that he gave some. This is a doctrine the world was never patient to hear. That God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. We would fain make God a debtor to us. Those of Nazareth think they had as good, if not a better, right to Christ’s miracles than those of Capernaum. I tell you, saith Christ, God is a Sovereign in his acts of grace, and acts freely, and I can do no miracles but where he will have them done.
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2. That it is through the fault of men, it they receive not the benefits of Divine grace. If the Israelites would have entertained Elijah, he might have been sent to them, as well as to Sarepta. If the lepers in Israel would have sought out and come to Elisha they might have been healed. If you would have received me, and believed in me, you might have seen what those of Capernaum did; it is because of your contempt and unbelief that I can show you no miracles. If any say, If God had put it into the hearts of the widows in Israel, or the lepers there, they would also have entertained Elijah, and have sought out and came to Elisha: why did not God put it into their hearts? To this the answer is ready: Who art thou that disputest with God? Why doth the clay reply upon the potter? Even so, O Father, for so it pleaseth thee. However, the failures of the lepers in Israel, and the widows there, and of those in Nazareth, was in a great measure in their duty, as to things within their power to do by virtue of that common grace which God denieth to none: he might justly deny his special influences, while they neglected to make use of his more common influences.
3. That in every nation he that feared God, and wrought righteousness, was ever accepted of him. God had no respect to this country, or that country; he sent Elijah to do good to a Sidonian, and Elisha to do good to a Syrian, while he neglected the ungrateful and disobedient Israelites. Thus he also not obscurely hints, that for their unbelief, and rejection of, and disobedience to him, God would send his gospel to the Gentiles, and reject them, which came to pass within a few years after. None of all these were grateful sounds in the ears of the men of Nazareth. You ask me (saith our Saviour) why I do not such things here at Nazareth as I did at Capernaum. I was not sent to you. No; but were not they some of the lost sheep of Israel? Ah! but Christ was no more sent to all Israel, than Elias was sent to all the widows in Israel. He was sent to preach to them all, but for any special, signal favours, he was sent but to some, and those some were such as did not proudly reject and contemn him, but receive him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v25 Here our Saviour by a double instance confirms what…
Here our Saviour by a double instance confirms what he had last told his countrymen at Nazareth, namely, that prophets are most despised by their own countrymen and acquaintance, and that strangers oft-times have more advantage by a prophet than his own people.
The first instance of this which our Saviour gives them, is in the days of Elias, though there were many widows then in his own nation, yet none of them were qualified to receive his miracles, but a stranger, a widow of Sarepta.
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The second instance was in the days of Elisha; when though there were many lepers in and about the neighborhood, yet they being his countrymen, despised him, and none were qualified for a cure but Naaman the Syrian, a man of another country.
Thus the prophets of God, like some fishermen, catch least in their own pond, and do more good by their ministry among strangers, than among their own countrymen, kinsfolk, and near relations: No prophet is accepted in his own country.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv24–27 And he said, verily I say unto you,.... Another…
And he said, verily I say unto you,.... Another proverb in use among them, the meaning of which was well known to them, and was very appropriate to the present case:
no prophet is accepted in his own country; See Gill on Mat 13:57
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 27 No prophet is acceptable in his own country -…
No prophet is acceptable in his own country - That is, in his own neighbourhood. It generally holds, that a teacher sent from God is not so acceptable to his neighbours as he is to strangers. The meanness of his family, or lowness of his circumstances, bring his office into contempt: nor can they suffer that he, who was before equal with, or below themselves, should now bear a superior character.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv24–27 Verse 24. No prophet is accepted] See on Mt…
Verse 24. No prophet is accepted] See on Mt 13:55-57.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v25 Luk 4:25-27. Many widows were in Israel in the…
Luk 4:25-27. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, &c. — “By putting them thus in mind of Elijah’s miracle in behalf of the widow of Sarepta, a heathen inhabitant of a heathen city, in a time of famine, while many widows of Israel were suffered to starve; and of Elisha’s miracle on Naaman the Syrian leper, while many lepers in Israel remained uncleansed, he showed them both the sin and punishment of their ancestors, and left it to themselves to make the application.” When the heaven was shut up, &c. — Such a proof had they that God had sent him. Three years and six months — In 1Ki 18:1, it is said, The word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year: namely, reckoning, not from the beginning of the drought, but from the time when he began to sojourn with the widow of Sarepta. A year of drought had preceded this, while he dwelt at the brook Cherith. So that the whole time of the drought was (as St. James likewise observes) three years and six months.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv24–27 No prophet is accepted - Has honor, or is…
No prophet is accepted - Has honor, or is acknowledged as a prophet. See the notes at Mat 13:57.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv24–26 And he said, &c.--He replies to the one proverb…
And he said, &c.--He replies to the one proverb by another, equally familiar, which we express in a rougher form--"Too much familiarity breeds contempt." Our Lord's long residence in Nazareth merely as a townsman had made Him too common, incapacitating them for appreciating Him as others did who were less familiar with His everyday demeanor in private life. A most important principle, to which the wise will pay due regard. (See also Mat 7:6, on which our Lord Himself ever acted.)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv24, 25, 27 24. He said—In answer to some response with which…
24. He said—In answer to some response with which they interrupted him. The response must have admitted that they did hold the sentiments he attributed to them.
No prophet—Proverbs are of course general rules, to be taken with exceptions. The present proverb is founded on one of the evil propensities of our nature; namely, the envy which arises from our seeing former equals outstrip us in life. This is a special characteristic of coarser natures like the men of Nazareth.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv24–27 24–30. Rejection by the Nazarenes
24–30. Rejection by the Nazarenes
24. is accepted in his own country] St Matthew adds (Mat_13:57) “and in his own house,” implying that “neither did His brethren believe on Him.” This curious psychological fact, which has its analogy in the worldly proverb that ‘No man is a hero to his valet,’ or, ‘Familiarity breeds contempt,’ was more than once referred to by our Lord; Joh_4:44. (“Vile habetur quod domi est.” Sen. De Benef, iii. 2.)
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv24, 26, 27 (24) No prophet is accepted.—The proverb is remarkable as…
(24) No prophet is accepted.—The proverb is remarkable as having been quoted by our Lord certainly twice, possibly oftener: (1) on this His first visit after His baptism to Nazareth; (2) on His second visit (Mat_13:57; Mar_6:4). St. John’s reference to it (Joh_4:44) may have risen out of one or other of these two occasions, but it rather conveys the impression of the saying having been often on the lips of Jesus.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv24–25 And he said, Verily I say unto you, No…
And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. But instead of gratifying their curiosity and supplying them with some more empty arguments why they should not listen to his words, the Lord quietly quotes a proverb well known to all people Farrar calls it a curious psychological fact the quoting prefaced by the solemn "verily." The Master was evidently looking far beyond the little prejudices of Nazareth. "His own country" meant far more than the narrow circuit bounded by the Nazareth hills. The Speaker was thinking of all the chosen people of the Jews, who as a nation he knew too well would not accept him. But if Israel would have none of him, he would reign in the hearts of that unnumbered multitude who peopled the isles of the Gentiles.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v26 Save unto Sarepta
Luk_4:26
Save unto Sarepta
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Description of Sarepta
The ruins of Sarepta are scattered over the plain, at intervals, for more than a mile: one group is on the coast, and may be the remains of the ancient harbour.
These lie on a tongue of land which forms a small bay, and pleasantly varies the monotony of the otherwise unbroken coast line. Fine crops brighten part of the plain around, though only the small village of Surafend, the modern representative of the ancient town, is actually surrounded by green. Sarepta was famous for its wine in the early Christian centuries, but it got its name in the Hebrew Bible--Zarpath--from its being in still older days a chief centre of the glass works of Phoenicia--the word meaning melting-houses. It belonged to the territory of Sidon, and must have been a large place, if we may judge from the number of rock-tombs at the foot of the hills. Its supreme interest, however, to all Bible readers lies in its connection with the great Prophet Elijah. A place is still shown at the old harbour where a Christian Church once stood, on the alleged site of the widows house in which the prophet lived. But no value is to be attached to such a localization, though the spot is still called The Grave of Eliiah, in the belief that he finally died there. During the reign of the Crusaders, Sarepta was strongly fortified, and made the seat of a bishop, who was subject to the Archbishop of Sidon; but as early as the end of the thirteenth century it had sunk into utter desolation. Legend has tried to identify it with the home of the Syrophcenician woman whose daughter Christ healed, but there is no ground for this fancy. Its fame must always rest, for Christians, on the noble lesson of faith in God taught by the prophet on the one hand, and by the great-hearted widow on the other. (C. Geikie, D. D.)
All men are thought of by God
There is a place in each mothers heart for every child that is given her, and do you not suppose there is a place in Gods heart for every child that He has created? Do you not suppose that all men stand before Him plain, and individual, and distinct? Yes, you stand before God as if there were not another man in the universe. As men stand before us without mistake of identity, and as all that we think and feel of them we think and feel of them as individuals, so we stand before God, and all that He thinks and feels of us He thinks and feels of us as individuals. He calls every one of us by name, and He does it a great deal more than we know. How much does the child know of the thoughts of the mother who sings and rocks its cradle while it sleeps, and breathes its name? When the child is gone from home for a visit or for school, how much does it know of the thoughts that are beaded and strung, pearl-like, before God, on its account, or of the frequency with which its name is uttered? If the child could follow its fathers and mothers voice, in the closet and elsewhere, how often would it hear its own sweet name sounding all the way up to heaven! And if this is so with earthly parents, may we not suppose, when we remember the boundlessness of Gods love, that there is not a child of His on which He does not bestow special thought and attention? (H. W.Beecher.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On v25 25–27. Many widows were in Israel. He points out…
25–27. Many widows were in Israel. He points out that Elijah saved a Sidonian widow, and Elisha healed a Syrian leper, passing by Hebrews and healing Gentiles, and thus he points to the salvation of Gentiles by Christ.
Sarepta. The same as Zarephatha, a town between Tyre and Sidon. See 1 Kings 17:9, 10.
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Naaman. See 2 Kings 5:14.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v25 General Information:
General Information:
Jesus reminds the people who are listening to him in the synagogue about Elijah and Elisha, who were prophets about whom they knew. (See: Background Information)
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But in truth I tell you
"I tell you truthfully." Jesus uses this phrase to emphasize the importance, truth, and accuracy of the statement that follows.
widows
Widows are women whose husbands have died.
during the time of Elijah
The people to whom Jesus was speaking would have known that Elijah was one of God's prophets. If your readers would not know that, you can make this implicit information explicit as in the UDB. AT: "when Elijah was prophesying in Israel" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
when the sky was shut up
This is a metaphor. The sky is pictured as a ceiling that was closed, and so no rain would fall from it. AT: "when no rain fell down from the sky" or "when there was no rain at all" (See: Metaphor)
a great famine
"a serious lack of food." A famine is a long period of time when the crops do not produce enough food for the people.
to Zarephath ... to a widow living there
The people living in the town of Zarephath were Gentiles, not Jews. The people listening to Jesus would have understood that the people of Zarephath were Gentiles. AT: "to a Gentile widow living in Zarephath" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and How to Translate Names)
Naaman the Syrian
A Syrian is a person from the country of Syria. The people of Syria were Gentiles, not Jews. AT: "the Gentile Naaman from Syria" (See: How to Translate Names)
translationWords
true
Israel
Elijah
famine
Sidon
leper
Elisha
prophet
Naaman
Syria
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv25, 27 4:25-26 widow of Zarephath: See 1 Kgs 17–18.
4:25-26 widow of Zarephath: See 1 Kgs 17–18.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.