Luke 4:14–4:21, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Luke 4:14–4:21
Jesus Announces Isaiah's Good News at Nazareth
In the Spirit's power Jesus teaches in Galilee, reads Isaiah in his customary synagogue, and declares good news to the poor, release, sight, liberty, and the Lord's acceptable year fulfilled in their hearing.
What helps us understand it
Earlier material that actually helps
Luke 4:1–4:13Luke 4:1–4:13 materially prepares this unit: Full of the Holy Ghost, Jesus is led in the wilderness, answers hunger, rule, and temple tests with Deuteronomy, refuses worship and spectacle, and awaits a later assault.
Later material that clarifies it
Luke 4:22–4:30Luke 4:22–4:30 carries this movement forward: Jesus responds to hometown wonder with Elijah and Elisha stories of aid beyond Israel, exposes demand for local signs, and passes through a furious crowd that drives him toward a cliff.
Why this reading fits
Material limit
Luke's combined Isaiah wording and stopping point shape a programmatic scene. 'Poor,' 'captives,' 'blind,' and 'oppressed' carry real social and theological force and must not be reduced to metaphors alone.
Responsible boundary
The announcement does not erase bodily poverty, disability, imprisonment, debt, Jewish Sabbath worship, or the need to test modern liberation claims contextually.
A phrase that matters
poor / materially vulnerable
πτωχός · ptōchos
poor / materially vulnerable is materially present in Luke 4:14–4:21. The SBLGNT and STEP records clarify its form and range, while the complete sentence and Luke's narrated movement select the responsible sense.
How this should shape us
What accountable response follows?
Join proclaimed good news to real attention to poverty, captivity, disability, debt, and oppression while testing modern liberation claims by Luke's whole narrative and the safety of affected people.
Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Read it sentence by sentenceEach line inside the larger movement
What the scene or teaching communicates
In the Spirit's power Jesus teaches in Galilee, reads Isaiah in his customary synagogue, and declares good news to the poor, release, sight, liberty, and the Lord's acceptable year fulfilled in their hearing.
What remains disputed or limited
Luke's combined Isaiah wording and stopping point shape a programmatic scene. 'Poor,' 'captives,' 'blind,' and 'oppressed' carry real social and theological force and must not be reduced to metaphors alone.
What responsible use must refuse
The announcement does not erase bodily poverty, disability, imprisonment, debt, Jewish Sabbath worship, or the need to test modern liberation claims contextually.
Original-language wording and grammarTechnical detail appears only where it helps
poor / materially vulnerable
poor / materially vulnerable is materially present in Luke 4:14–4:21. The SBLGNT and STEP records clarify its form and range, while the complete sentence and Luke's narrated movement select the responsible sense.
How certain? probableWhy translations sometimes differMaterial translation choices
Pinned KJV and language control for Luke 4:14–4:21
The pinned KJV remains the displayed text. SBLGNT, STEP morphology, and the verse-attached NET notes were checked at Luke 4:14–4:21; only a wording issue that affects understanding is surfaced here. Luke's combined Isaiah wording and stopping point shape a programmatic scene. 'Poor,' 'captives,' 'blind,' and 'oppressed' carry real social and theological force and must not be reduced to metaphors alone.
How certain? probableCommon ways this passage gets misusedFair explanation, context check, and stronger reading
The announcement does not erase bodily poverty, disability, imprisonment, debt, Jewish Sabbath worship, or the need to test modern liberation claims contextually.
A memorable line in Luke 4:14–4:21 can be detached from Luke's narrator, speaker, Jewish setting, Roman power, Synoptic relationship, affected people, and later Luke-Acts controls.
In the Spirit's power Jesus teaches in Galilee, reads Isaiah in his customary synagogue, and declares good news to the poor, release, sight, liberty, and the Lord's acceptable year fulfilled in their hearing. The material uncertainty is: Luke's combined Isaiah wording and stopping point shape a programmatic scene. 'Poor,' 'captives,' 'blind,' and 'oppressed' carry real social and theological force and must not be reduced to metaphors alone.
Read Luke 4:14–4:21 as the complete unit, distinguish description, dialogue, authorial judgment, theology, and analogy, and preserve the explicit negative before applying it.
In the Spirit's power Jesus teaches in Galilee, reads Isaiah in his customary synagogue, and declares good news to the poor, release, sight, liberty, and the Lord's acceptable year fulfilled in their hearing.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Luke 4:14–4:21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 4:14–4:21
Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.
STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.
Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Jesus Begins to Preach and Heal study guide, Luke 3:1-6:11; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.
Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.
Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.
Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Abstract-supported control against simple anti-Jewish or replacement summaries; not a settlement of every scene.
Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), official abstract and bibliographic range pp. 738-765; applied only to Jewish continuity and Gentile-inclusion framing in Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Women's narrative, material, and discipleship agency, with social reconstructions kept provisional.
Penner, The Work of Wealthy Women, PDF pp. 15-18, 30-61, and 76-100; applied to the named women, households, bodies, work, resources, or witness in Luke 4:14–4:21
Supports: Focused ethical control for wealth and poverty without converting one commentary into a full economic history.
Mitzi J. Smith, “Commentary on Luke 16:19-31,” complete sections on Luke's wealth sequence, Lazarus, bodily poverty, reversal, and present justice; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and coverage.
Exact location: Luke 4:14–4:21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗Greek textual evidence
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition
Michael W. Holmes, editor; Society of Biblical Literature and Logos
Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, 2010
Supports: Greek wording and sentence relations; the edition is not treated as a complete apparatus.
Exact location: Faithlife SBLGNT official repository, data/sblgnt/text/Luke.txt, 4:14–4:21
Open the Luke Greek text file ↗Lexical and grammatical evidence
STEP Bible Data
Tyndale House Cambridge
Tyndale House Cambridge, repository snapshot verified 2026
Supports: Greek forms, morphology, and lexical ranges only where the unit discusses them; local syntax controls sense.
Exact location: STEP Bible Data official repository, TAGNT Matthew-Acts rows for Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗open translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Luke
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, KJV-language clarification, historical notes, Synoptic parallels, and textual alternatives.
Exact location: NET Bible First Edition Luke PDF, exact tn/tc/sn entries attached to Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗open university bible study course
The Gospel of Luke Course and Study Guides
Yale Divinity School faculty
Yale Bible Study, 2020; current online edition
Supports: Critical orientation to the unit's place in Luke-Acts, narrative structure, sources, social questions, Passion, or resurrection.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study Gospel of Luke course, Jesus Begins to Preach and Heal study guide, Luke 3:1-6:11; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗modern scholarly book introduction
Luke: Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, and Bible in the World
Matthew L. Skinner
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, 2024 revision; current course inspected 2026
Supports: Current reader-oriented synthesis of anonymity, date, Jewish setting, salvation, marginalized people, parables, wealth, and whole-book movement.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Luke course, Summary, Outline, Background, Introductory Issues, Theological Themes, Bible in the World, and linked passage index; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗open confessional commentary
Luke
Peter G. Bolt
The Gospel Coalition Bible Commentary, 2023
Supports: One complete confessional reading of the unit, independently checked against critical, textual, and ethical controls.
Exact location: Bolt, “Luke,” commentary heading and paragraphs explicitly covering Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗modern scholarly open monograph
The Synoptic Problem: A Way Through the Maze
Mark Goodacre
T&T Clark; open access supplied by the author and Duke University, 2001; open release 2011
Supports: Literary relationship evidence and material alternatives among Luke, Mark, and Matthew without treating dependence as a historicity verdict.
Exact location: Goodacre, The Synoptic Problem, chapters 1-5 on Synoptic data and Markan priority and chapters 6-10 on Q and Farrer alternatives; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗peer reviewed article abstract and metadata
The Jewishness of Luke-Acts: How Recent Scholarship Has Challenged the View that Luke-Acts Is Pro-Gentile and Anti-Jewish
Joshua Paul Smith
The Journal of Theological Studies 72.2, 2021
Supports: Abstract-supported control against simple anti-Jewish or replacement summaries; not a settlement of every scene.
Exact location: Smith, JTS 72.2 (2021), official abstract and bibliographic range pp. 738-765; applied only to Jewish continuity and Gentile-inclusion framing in Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗open access masters thesis
The Work of Wealthy Women: Female Discipleship in Luke 8:1-3
Kimberly Penner
University of Waterloo, 2011
Supports: Women's narrative, material, and discipleship agency, with social reconstructions kept provisional.
Exact location: Penner, The Work of Wealthy Women, PDF pp. 15-18, 30-61, and 76-100; applied to the named women, households, bodies, work, resources, or witness in Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗modern scholarly pastoral passage commentary
Commentary on Luke 16:19-31
Mitzi J. Smith
Working Preacher, Luther Seminary, 2021
Supports: Focused ethical control for wealth and poverty without converting one commentary into a full economic history.
Exact location: Mitzi J. Smith, “Commentary on Luke 16:19-31,” complete sections on Luke's wealth sequence, Lazarus, bodily poverty, reversal, and present justice; applied to Luke 4:14–4:21
Open source ↗