Luke 4:27

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.

Luke 4:27 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 4:27

And many lepers were in Israel
The leprosy was a disease very common among the Jews; hence those laws concerning it in ( Leviticus 13:1-14:57 ) and it seems by this account, that it was very prevalent,

in the time of Eliseus the prophet;
that is, the prophet Elisha; who, by the Septuagint, in 1Ki 19:16
and, in other places, is called "Elisaie": and none of them was cleansed; from their leprosy, by any direction of the prophet,

saving Naaman, the Syrian:
or but Naaman, who was not an Israelite, but a Syrian: he was cleansed and cured of his leprosy, being ordered by Elisha to dip himself seven times in Jordan, which he did, and was healed, ( 2 Kings 5:14 ) .

Luke 4:27 In-Context

25 But of a truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, so that a great famine came upon all the land,

26 and to none of them was Elias sent but to Sarepta of Sidonia, to a woman [that was] a widow.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian.

28 And they were all filled with rage in the synagogue, hearing these things;

29 and rising up they cast him forth out of the city, and led him up to the brow of the mountain upon which their city was built, so that they might throw him down the precipice;

Footnotes

• [a]. 'But' here has the sense of 'but it is only' or 'no one else than:' see Gal. 1.7 and 19.