Luke 4:27

Luke 4:27, in plain English

Jesus added another example: there were many lepers in Israel during the prophet Elisha's time, but only Naaman, a Syrian enemy commander, was healed.

Why it's here

Two examples, same message: when God's own people reject Him, He pours out His grace on outsiders—even enemies. This was deeply offensive to the people of Nazareth.

Who's speaking

Jesus delivers a second illustration that makes His point even sharper.

Where it sits in the story

First a foreign widow, now an enemy general. Jesus is telling His hometown that their sense of entitlement to God's blessing is the very thing blocking them from receiving it.

The scholarly reading

Jesus adds a second example: many lepers existed in Israel during Elisha's time, yet only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed (2 Kings 5). The pattern repeats—Gentile faith receives what Israelite presumption forfeits.

Language and setting

Naaman was a Syrian military commander—an enemy of Israel. His healing while Israel's own lepers remained unclean intensifies the provocative message of grace extended beyond ethnic boundaries.

Voice

Jesus reinforces his argument with a second prophetic parallel.

Significance

Jesus doubles down with another example: Naaman the Syrian—an enemy general—was healed while Israel's own lepers were not. The pattern is unmistakable: rejection at home means blessing abroad.

25But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.

26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to the widow of Zarephath in Sidon.

27And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet. Yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

28On hearing this, all the people in the synagogue were enraged.

29They got up, drove Him out of the town, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff.

Read all of Luke 4 — Jesus reads from Isaiah in his hometown synagogue and claims the prophecy is fulfilled in himself. The congregation tries to throw him off a cliff.