OET OET-RV OET-LV ULT UST BSB MSB BLB AICNT OEB WEBBE WMBB NET LSV FBV TCNT T4T LEB BBE Moff JPS Wymth ASV DRA YLT Drby RV SLT Wbstr KJB-1769 KJB-1611 Bshps Gnva Cvdl TNT Wycl SR-GNT UHB BrLXX BrTr Related Parallel Simple Interlinear Topics Reference Dictionary Search
InterlinearVerse GEN EXO LEV NUM DEU JOB JOS JDG RUTH 1 SAM 2 SAM PSA AMOS HOS 1 KI 2 KI 1 CHR 2 CHR PROV ECC SNG JOEL MIC ISA ZEP HAB JER LAM YNA (JNA) NAH OBA DAN EZE EZRA EST NEH HAG ZEC MAL LAO GES LES ESG DNG 2 PS TOB JDT ESA WIS SIR BAR LJE PAZ SUS BEL MAN 1 MAC 2 MAC 3 MAC 4 MAC YHN (JHN) MARK MAT LUKE ACTs YAC (JAM) GAL 1 TH 2 TH 1 COR 2 COR ROM COL PHM EPH PHP 1 TIM TIT 1 PET 2 PET 2 TIM HEB YUD (JUD) 1 YHN (1 JHN) 2 YHN (2 JHN) 3 YHN (3 JHN) REV
Luke C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
Luke 4 V1 V3 V5 V7 V9 V11 V13 V15 V17 V19 V21 V23 V27 V29 V31 V33 V35 V37 V39 V41 V43
OET (OET-LV) But in truth I_am_saying to_you_all, were many widows in the days of_Aʸlias/(ʼĒliyyāh) in the Israaʸl/(Yisrāʼēl), when the sky was_shut for three years and six months when a_ great _famine became on all the land,
OET (OET-RV) There were certainly many widows in Yisrael in the days of Eliyah when God stopped the rain for three and a half years and caused a terrible famine.
In the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus read a text from Isaiah that refers to the Messiah. Jesus said that what this scripture talked about was happening as he read it. By saying this, Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah. He used examples from the history of Israel to show that the Israelites did not believe and obey God well. He implied that people from other countries were ready to believe and obey God more than the people of Israel were. So the people of Nazareth tried to kill Jesus, but they could not.
Some other possible headings for this section are:
The People of Nazareth Turn against Jesus (CEV)
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth (ESV)
There is a parallel passage for this section in Mark 6:1–6.
In 4:25–27, Jesus gave two examples to illustrate a prophet helping people in other towns or areas instead of his own people.
But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah,
Listen to this, in the time of Elijah there were many widows in Israel.
During Elijah the prophet’s time, certainly there were living in our(incl) country Israel many women whose husbands had died.
I tell you truthfully: The Greek clause that the BSB translates as I tell you truthfully is literally “in truth I tell you.” Jesus was emphasizing that what he was about to say was important and people must think about it. He was asking people to listen with extra attention.
Some other ways to translate this are:
I tell you the truth that
Listen to me: it is true (GNT)
Listen to this
You may also translate this phrase with an emphatic word or phrase such as “indeed” or “certainly.” For example:
There were indeed many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time (REB)
Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time (NLT)
This phrase is similar to the phrase in 4:24a, and you may translate it in a similar way.
there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah: Elijah, the widows, Jesus, and Jesus’ listeners were all Israelites. Israel was their country. In some languages, it may be helpful to make this clear. For example:
In the time of Elijah there were many widows in his own land/ country of Israel.
During the time of Elijah, there were many widows in our country Israel.
widows: A widow is a woman whose husband has died. If she remarries, she is no longer a widow. In Bible times, widows were generally very poor.
in the time of Elijah: The Greek phrase that the BSB translates as in the time of Elijah is literally “in the days of Elijah.” It refers to the time almost 900 years earlier when Elijah was a prophet in Israel. The story is found in 1 Kings chapter 17.
when the sky was shut for three and a half years
During that time there was no rain for three and one half years,
At that time God caused it not to rain for three and a half years,
the sky was shut: The phrase the sky was shut is an idiom. Other ways to translate it are:
no rain fell from the sky
it did not rain
God caused it not to rain
See heaven, Meaning 1, in the Glossary.
and great famine swept over all the land.
and the food in the land of Israel was almost gone.
and as a result people everywhere in the country did not have enough to eat.
and great famine swept over all the land: A famine is an extreme lack of food that lasts for a long time and covers a large region or area. It results in many people being hungry. In the famine that Jesus referred to, there was no rain for three and a half years. The crops did not grow, so people did not have enough food to eat.
over all the land: The phrase over all the land means “throughout the entire country of Israel.”
ἐπ’ ἀληθείας δὲ λέγω ὑμῖν
in truth (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπʼ ἀληθείας Δέ λέγω ὑμῖν πολλαί χῆραι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλίου ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανός ἐπί ἔτη τρία καί μῆνας ἕξ ὡς ἐγένετο λιμός μέγας ἐπί πασᾶν τήν γῆν)
Jesus uses this phrase to emphasize the truth of the statement that follows. Alternate translation: [What I am about to tell you is very true]
Note 1 topic: figures-of-speech / idiom
ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλείου
in the days in (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπʼ ἀληθείας Δέ λέγω ὑμῖν πολλαί χῆραι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλίου ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανός ἐπί ἔτη τρία καί μῆνας ἕξ ὡς ἐγένετο λιμός μέγας ἐπί πασᾶν τήν γῆν)
Jesus is using the term days to refer to a particular time. Alternate translation: [during the time when Elijah was prophesying]
Note 2 topic: figures-of-speech / explicit
ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλείου
in the days in (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπʼ ἀληθείας Δέ λέγω ὑμῖν πολλαί χῆραι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλίου ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανός ἐπί ἔτη τρία καί μῆνας ἕξ ὡς ἐγένετο λιμός μέγας ἐπί πασᾶν τήν γῆν)
The people to whom Jesus was speaking would have known that Elijah was one of God’s prophets. If your readers would not know that, you could make this implicit information explicit, as UST does. Alternate translation: [during the time when Elijah was prophesying]
Note 3 topic: figures-of-speech / activepassive
ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανὸς
when ˓was˒_shut the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπʼ ἀληθείας Δέ λέγω ὑμῖν πολλαί χῆραι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλίου ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανός ἐπί ἔτη τρία καί μῆνας ἕξ ὡς ἐγένετο λιμός μέγας ἐπί πασᾶν τήν γῆν)
If it would be helpful in your language, you could express this with an active form, and you could state who did the action. Alternate translation: [when God shut up the sky]
Note 4 topic: figures-of-speech / metaphor
ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανὸς
when ˓was˒_shut the (Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπʼ ἀληθείας Δέ λέγω ὑμῖν πολλαί χῆραι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλίου ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανός ἐπί ἔτη τρία καί μῆνας ἕξ ὡς ἐγένετο λιμός μέγας ἐπί πασᾶν τήν γῆν)
Jesus describes the sky as if God had closed it so that no rain could fall from it. Alternate translation: [when no rain fell from the sky]
Note 5 topic: translate-unknown
λιμὸς μέγας
(Some words not found in SR-GNT: ἐπʼ ἀληθείας Δέ λέγω ὑμῖν πολλαί χῆραι ἦσαν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Ἠλίου ἐν τῷ Ἰσραήλ ὅτε ἐκλείσθη ὁ οὐρανός ἐπί ἔτη τρία καί μῆνας ἕξ ὡς ἐγένετο λιμός μέγας ἐπί πασᾶν τήν γῆν)
A famine is a long period of time when the people in an area cannot produce or acquire enough food to feed themselves. Alternate translation: [a serious lack of food]
OET (OET-LV) But in truth I_am_saying to_you_all, were many widows in the days of_Aʸlias/(ʼĒliyyāh) in the Israaʸl/(Yisrāʼēl), when the sky was_shut for three years and six months when a_ great _famine became on all the land,
OET (OET-RV) There were certainly many widows in Yisrael in the days of Eliyah when God stopped the rain for three and a half years and caused a terrible famine.
Note: The OET-RV is still only a first draft, and so far only a few words have been (mostly automatically) matched to the Hebrew or Greek words that they’re translated from.
Acknowledgements: The SR Greek text, lemmas, morphology, and VLT gloss are all thanks to the CNTR.
Open Bible Data site copyright © 2023–2026 Freely-Given.org.
Python source code for creating these static pages is available on GitHub under an open licence.
For Bible data copyrights, see the details for each displayed Bible version.
The Open English Translation (OET) main site is at OpenEnglishTranslation.Bible or OET.Bible.