לוקם 4:23

Hebrew Modern Translation

ויאמר אליהם הן תאמרו לי את המשל הזה רפא רפא את עצמך וככל אשר שמענו שנעשה בכפר נחום עשה כן גם פה בעיר מולדתך׃

Parallel Translations

Delitzsche Hebrew NT (1877)
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲלֵיהֶם הֵן תֹּאמְרוּ לִי אֶת־הַמָּשָׁל הַזֶּה רֹפֵא רְפָא אֶת־עַצְמֶךָ וּכְכֹל אֲשֶׁר שָׁמַעְנוּ שֶׁנַּעֲשָׂה בִּכְפַר־נַחוּם עֲשֵׂה־כֵן גַּם־פֹּה בְּעִיר מוֹלַדְתֶּךָ׃

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Physician: Luke 6:42, Romans 2:21, Romans 2:22

whatsoever: Matthew 4:13, Matthew 4:23, Matthew 11:23, Matthew 11:24, John 4:48

do: John 2:3, John 2:4, John 4:28, John 7:3, John 7:4, Romans 11:34, Romans 11:35, 2 Corinthians 5:16

thy country: Matthew 13:54, Mark 6:1

Reciprocal: Proverbs 26:7 - so Matthew 7:5 - first Matthew 11:6 - whosoever Mark 6:3 - offended Luke 23:8 - and he

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And he said unto them, ye will surely say unto me this proverb,.... Or "parable"; for any pithy sentence, or proverbial expression, was, by the Jews, called a parable:

physician heal thyself; and which was a proverb in use with the Jews; and which is sometimes expressed thus, זיל אסי נפשך, "go heal thyself" m; and sometimes in this form, אסיא אסי חגרתך, "physician, heal thy lameness" n: the meaning of which is, that a man ought to look at home, and take care of himself, and of those that belonged to him; and Christ was aware that his townsmen would object this to him, that if he was the person he was said to be, and could do the miracles and cures which were ascribed to him, he ought to do something of this kind at home, among them, who were his townsmen, neighbours, relations, and acquaintance; that is, heal their sick, lame, blind, leprous, deaf, and dumb: and that this is the sense of it, is manifest from what follows,

whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum: a place where Christ often was, and where he cured the centurion's servant of the palsy, and Peter's wife's mother of a fever, and another man sick of a palsy, and the woman of her bloody issue, and a man that had a withered hand, and where he raised Jairus's daughter from the dead:

do also here in thy country; or city, as the Syriac, Arabic, Persic, and Ethiopic versions render it: hence it appears, that this was not the first of our Lord's ministry; he had preached elsewhere, and wrought miracles before he came to Nazareth, and of which his townsmen had heard; and therefore were desirous that he would do the like among them, if he was able, for they seem to be very incredulous, and to question the reports of him, and his ability to perform such things; however, if he could, they thought they had as good a right to his favours and benefits, as any, this being his native place.

m Zohar in Exod. fol. 31. 2. n Bereshit Rabba, sect. 23. fol. 20. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Physician, heal thyself - This proverb was probably in common use at that time. The meaning is this: Suppose that a man should attempt to heal another when he was himself diseased in the same manner; it would be natural to ask him first to cure himself, and thus to render it manifest that he was worthy of confidence. The connection of this proverb, here, is this: “You profess to be the Messiah. You have performed miracles at Capernaum. You profess to be able to deliver us from our maladies, our sins, our afflictions. Show that you have the power, that you are worthy of our confidence, by working miracles here, as you profess to have done at Capernaum.” It does not refer, therefore, to any purification of his own, or imply any reflection on him for setting up to teach them. It was only a demand that he would show the proper evidence “by miracles” why they should trust in him, and he proceeds to show them why he would not give them this evidence.

Whatsoever we have heard done - Whatsoever we have heard that thou hast done. It would seem, from this, that Christ had before this performed miracles in Capernaum, though the evangelist has not recorded them.

In Capernaum - Capernaum was on the northwest corner of the Sea of Tiberias, and was not far from Nazareth. It is not improbable that some of those who then heard him might have been present and witnessed some of his miracles at Capernaum. See the notes at Matthew 4:13.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Luke 4:23. Physician, heal thyself — That is, heal the broken-hearted in thy own country, as the latter clause of the verse explains it; but they were far from being in a proper spirit to receive the salvation which he was ready to communicate; and therefore they were not healed.