14
Then Jesus returned to Galilee, filled with the Holy Spiritâs power. Reports about him spread quickly through the whole region.
15
He taught regularly in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.
16
When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures.
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The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:
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âThe Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,
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and that the time of the LORDâs favor has come. â
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He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently.
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Then he began to speak to them. âThe Scripture youâve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!â
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Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips. âHow can this be?â they asked. âIsnât this Josephâs son?â
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Then he said, âYou will undoubtedly quote me this proverb: âPhysician, heal yourselfââmeaning, âDo miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.â
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But I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.
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âCertainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijahâs time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land.
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Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreignerâa widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
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And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, but the only one healed was Naaman, a Syrian.â
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When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious.
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Jumping up, they mobbed him and forced him to the edge of the hill on which the town was built. They intended to push him over the cliff,
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but he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.