Matthew 2:23

2:23 He came to a town called Nazareth ¹  and lived there. Then what had been spoken by the prophets was fulfilled, that Jesus ²  would be called a Nazarene. ³ 

Matthew 23:30

23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, ⁴  we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

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¹ sn Nazareth was a very small village in the region of Galilee (Galilee lay north of Samaria and Judea). The town was located about 15 mi (25 km) west of the southern edge of the Sea of Galilee. According to Luke 1:26, Mary was living in Nazareth when the birth of Jesus was announced to her.

map For location see Map1-D3; Map2-C2; Map3-D5; Map4-C1; Map5-G3.

² tn There is no expressed subject of the third person singular verb here; the pronoun “he” is implied. Instead of this pronoun the referent “Jesus” has been supplied in the text to clarify to whom this statement refers.

³ tn The Greek could be indirect discourse (as in the text), or direct discourse (“he will be called a Nazarene”). Judging by the difficulty of finding OT quotations (as implied in the plural “prophets”) to match the wording here, it appears that the author was using a current expression of scorn that conceptually (but not verbally) found its roots in the OT.

⁴ tn Grk “fathers” (so also in v. 32).