Bible Strands
Luke 4:16
Then Jesus came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath. And when He stood up to read,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus arrives in Nazareth, the town where He was raised, and enters the local synagogue on the Sabbath to stand and read. This event follows His Galilean teaching ministry and immediately precedes the handing of the Isaiah scroll.
The words — The Greek τεθραμμένος (tethrammenos) literally means "raised" or "brought up," specifying Jesus's upbringing in Nazareth. The text explicitly notes that entering the synagogue on the Sabbath was His regular custom.
The thread — This return to His hometown parallels the synagogue encounters in Matthew 13:54 and Mark 6:1. His residence in Nazareth also aligns with the prophetic fulfillment pattern recorded in Matthew 2:23.
Why it lands — The verse establishes Jesus's deliberate participation in Jewish worship before any public revelation. It requires the reader to acknowledge that His ministry operates within established religious practice rather than in opposition to it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Cross-references
- Matthew 2:23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”
- Matthew 13:54 Coming to His hometown, He taught the people in their synagogue, and they were astonished. “Where did this man get such wisdom and miraculous powers?” they asked.
- Mark 6:1 Jesus went on from there and came to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples.
- Acts 13:14 And from Perga, they traveled inland to Pisidian Antioch, where they entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and sat down.
- Luke 2:51 Then He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
- Acts 17:2 As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
- Luke 2:39 When Jesus’ parents had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
- Luke 2:42 And when He was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Feast.
- Luke 4:21 and He began by saying, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
- John 18:20 “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus answered. “I always taught in the synagogues and at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.