3rd Sunday after the Epiphany, 26th January 2025

Luke 4:14-21

Jesus reads the prophet Isaiah

4:14Then Jesus, in the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding region.

4:15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

4:16When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read,

4:17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

4:18″The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed,

4:19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

4:20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

4:21Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

^[14]Καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν ὁ ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ Πνεύματος εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν· καὶ φήμη ἐξῆλθε καθ᾿ ὅλης τῆς περιχώρου περὶ αὐτοῦ. 

^[15]καὶ αὐτὸς ἐδίδασκεν ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς αὐτῶν δοξαζόμενος ὑπὸ πάντων.

^[16]Καὶ ἦλθεν εἰς τὴν Ναζαρέτ, οὗ ἦν τεθραμμένος, καὶ εἰσῆλθε κατὰ τὸ εἰωθὸς αὐτῷ ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν σαββάτων εἰς τὴν συναγωγήν, καὶ ἀνέστη ἀναγνῶναι. 

^[17]καὶ ἐπεδόθη αὐτῷ βιβλίον ῾Ησαΐου τοῦ προφήτου, καὶ ἀναπτύξας τὸ βιβλίον εὗρε τὸν τόπον οὗ ἦν γεγραμμένον· 

^[18]

Πνεῦμα Κυρίου ἐπ᾿ ἐμέ,

οὗ εἵνεκεν ἔχρισέ με,

εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέ με,

ἰάσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν,

κηρῦξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν

καὶ τυφλοῖς ἀνάβλεψιν,

ἀποστεῖλαι τεθραυσμένους ἐν ἀφέσει,

^[19]

κηρῦξαι ἐνιαυτὸν Κυρίου δεκτόν.

^[20]καὶ πτύξας τὸ βιβλίον ἀποδοὺς τῷ ὑπηρέτῃ ἐκάθισε· καὶ πάντων ἐν τῇ συναγωγῇ οἱ ὀφθαλμοὶ ἦσαν ἀτενίζοντες αὐτῷ. 

^[21]ἤρξατο δὲ λέγειν πρὸς αὐτοὺς ὅτι σήμερον πεπλήρωται ἡ γραφὴ αὕτη ἐν τοῖς ὠσὶν ὑμῶν.

Comments

[14] φήμη: ‘reputation, rumour, etc.’ (already in Odyssey) < φημί, ‘I say, speak’; cf. Latin fama, Engl. fame (Beekes s.v. φημί). Jesus is talked about, he is the talk of the town or rather ‘throughout the surrounding area’, καθ᾿ ὅλης τῆς περιχώρου. The prep. καθ᾿ (< κατά) denotes extent.

[15] δοξαζόμενος: δοξάζω,’honour a person or God’; the pass., ‘receive honour’ (EDNT s.v. 2a).Here the meaning is ‘(he) being praised’.

[17] ἐπεδόθη: 3^rd pers. sg. pass. vc., ἐπιδίδωμι, ‘I give into another’s hands, deliver’ (Hellenistic Gk: LSJ s.v. 5); hence ‘was (ceremoniously) presented/ handed over to him’.

ἀναπτύξας: aor. part., ἀναπτύσσω, ‘unfold the rolls on which a book was written, open for reading’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.1a). See on v. 20 below.

[18] εὐαγγελίσασθαι πτωχοῖς ἀπέσταλκέ με,

ἰάσασθαι τοὺς συντετριμμένους τὴν καρδίαν,

κηρῦξαι αἰχμαλώτοις ἄφεσιν: note the assonance of αι in the three infinitives at the beginning of the three successive clauses.

τεθραυσμένους: perf. part. pass., θραύω, ‘I shatter’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v.); here, fig. ‘broken, shattered’. (The Engl. tr. renders the word as ‘oppressed’.)

[19] Κυρίου δεκτόν: δεκτός, adj., ‘acceptable’; in LXX, with gen. pers., as here, ‘acceptable in the favour of the Lord’ (cf. Muraoka s.v.).

[20] πτύξας τὸ βιβλίον ἀποδοὺς τῷ ὑπηρέτῃ: πτύξας,  aor. part., simplex (i.e. uncompounded ) form,  πτύσσω, ‘fold’ (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I); here, ‘close a book’  (LSJ ibid.).

ἀποδοὺς: aor. part., ἀποδίδωμι, ‘give back, return’ (Homer, etc.: LSJ s.v. I.1). Vv. 17 and 20 neatly mirror or balance one another: the scroll is given (handed over) to Jesus, he unfolds it, and later he folds it up and gives it back to the attendant (who give it to him in v. 17).

 [20] ἦσαν ἀτενίζοντες: ἀτενίζω, ‘gaze earnestly, stare’, intr. (cl. Gk: LSJ s.v. I), one of Luke’s favourite words. The form is a periphrastic impf. (just like the Engl. ‘were + staring’), which is possible in koine, but more often in the NT presupposes translation from an Aramaic source (Blass-Debrunner-Funk, par. 353; Moulton, p. 226). The periphrasis lends emphasis to the continuing action or condition: ‘they were staring at him continuously’.