Below is what Luke records, the passage from Isaiah side by side, where Jesus stopped reading, and how the people of Nazareth responded.
Luke 4:16–21
What happened in the synagogue at Nazareth?
And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,
Luke 4:16–17, KJV
Scripture was written on scrolls. Albert Barnes explains that “when he had opened the book” literally means “when he had ‘unrolled’ the book.”
What did Jesus read?
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
Luke 4:18–19, KJV
What did he say about it?
And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Luke 4:20–21, KJV
Adam Clarke notes that “It is very strange that none of the evangelists give us any account of this sermon!” Luke keeps only its opening line.
Isaiah 61:1–2
Where did Jesus stop reading?
Here is the passage in Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isaiah 61:1–2, KJV
Luke’s account ends the reading at “the acceptable year of the Lord”. It stops before the words “and the day of vengeance of our God”. Adam Clarke also notes that Luke’s wording draws on Isaiah 61:1, but that Jesus “immediately adds to it Isaiah 42:7.”
What was “the acceptable year of the Lord”?
Both Clarke and Barnes hear an allusion to the year of jubilee, when debts were released and land returned:
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
Leviticus 25:10, KJV
Luke 4:22–30
How did the people react?
And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Luke 4:22, KJV
The mood changed as he went on. By the end of his words they were “filled with wrath” and tried to throw him off the hill the town was built on, but he “passing through the midst of them went his way” (Luke 4:28–30).
And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath,
And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
But he passing through the midst of them went his way,
Luke 4:28–30, KJV
How others have read it
Albert Barnes, an American Presbyterian minister, holds that the passage in Isaiah “had a principal reference to the Messiah”, and that “Its first application might have been to the restoration of the Jews from Babylon”.
John Gill (1697–1771), a Baptist theologian, paraphrases Jesus’ point as “I am the person here spoken of”.
Adam Clarke (1762–1832), a Methodist scholar, links the reading to the jubilee: “a year of general release of debts and obligations”.
The channel’s reading
But then Jesus said something astonishing: “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Your reading
What did the people think when they heard Him say that?
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Sources
- Scripture quotations: King James Version (public domain), checked against the Project Gutenberg KJV.
- John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible on Luke 4 (public domain), via Bible Hub.
- Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible on Luke 4 (public domain), via Bible Hub.
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible on Luke 4 (public domain), via Bible Hub.
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