Luke 4:19-38

¹⁹And he sent me to declare that now is the time when ◄the Lord/God► will act favorably toward people.

²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down to teach the people. Everyone in the synagogue was looking intently MTY at him.

²¹He said to them, “Today as you have been hearing MTY me speak, I am beginning to fulfill this Scripture passage.”

²²At first everyone there spoke well about him, and they were amazed at the charming words that he spoke. But then some of them said, “◄He is only Joseph's son!/Isn't he only Joseph's son?► RHQ So ◄ it is useless for us(exc) to listen to what he says!/why should we(exc) listen to what he says?► RHQ”

²³He said to them, “Surely some of you will quote to me the proverb that says, ‘Doctor, heal yourself!’ What you will mean is, ‘People told us that you did miracles in Capernaum town, but we(exc) do not know if those reports are true. So do miracles here in your own hometown, too!’ ”

²⁴Then he said, “It is certainly true that people do not accept the message of a prophet when he speaks in his hometown, just like you(pl) are not accepting my message now.

²⁵But think about this: There were many widows in Israel during the time when the prophet Elijah lived. During that time, because of there being no rain MTY for three years and six months, there was a great famine throughout the country.

²⁶But God did not send Elijah to help any of those Jewish widows. God sent him to Zarepath town near Sidon city, to help a non-Jewish widow.

²⁷There were also many Jewish lepers in Israel during the time when the prophet Elisha lived. But Elisha did not heal any of them. He healed only Naaman, a non-Jewish man from Syria.”

²⁸When all the people in the synagogue heard him say that, they were very angry, because they realized that he was inferring that he similarly would help non-Jewish people instead of helping Jews (OR, that they also were not worthy of receiving God's help).

²⁹So they all got up and shoved him out of the town. They took him to the top of the hill outside their town in order to throw him off the cliff and kill him.

³⁰But he simply walked through their midst and went away.

³¹One day Jesus went with his disciples down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee district. On the next ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest► (OR, Each ◄Sabbath/Jewish day of rest►), he taught the people ◄ in the synagogue/in the Jewish meeting place►.

³²They were continually amazed at what he was teaching, because he spoke ◄ with authority/as people speak who have the right to command others what to do►.

³³That day, (OR, On one of those Jewish days of rest,) there was a man in the synagogue who was controlled by an evil spirit. That man shouted very loudly,

³⁴“Hey! Jesus, from Nazareth! We(exc) evil spirits have nothing in common with you, so ◄ do not interfere with us now!/why should you interfere with us now?► RHQ ◄Do not destroy us now!/Have you come to destroy us now?► RHQ I know who you are. You are the Holy One who has come from God!”

³⁵Jesus rebuked the evil spirit, saying, “Be quiet! And come out of the man!” The demon threw the man down on the ground in the midst of the people. But without harming the man, the demon left him.

³⁶The people were all amazed. They said to each other, “◄What he says to the demons has great power!/What kind of teaching is this?► RHQ He speaks to them like he knows that they must obey him, and as a result they leave people!”

³⁷The people were telling everyone in every village in the surrounding region what Jesus had done.

³⁸Jesus and his disciples left ◄the synagogue/the Jewish meeting place► and entered Simon's house. Simon's mother-in-law was sick and had a high fever. So others in Simon's family (OR, the disciples) asked Jesus to heal her.