Biblical Geography

Nazareth

Town · New Testament · Nazareth

Scripture first

Luke 1:26-27 · WEBU

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Gabriel is sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to Mary.

Nazareth is never mentioned in the Old Testament, a small village above the Jezreel valley. Jesus was raised there, worked there, and was rejected in its synagogue when he read and applied it to himself.

The hill village of lower Galilee where Jesus grew up, and whose name clung to him: Jesus of Nazareth.

Biblical names
Nazareth
Modern identification
Nazareth · Israel

Nazareth sat in a basin of the hills yet within sight of the Via Maris traffic in the valley below. Jesus grew up in obscurity that was never isolation.

  • Gabriel is sent to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to Mary.
  • He shall be called a Nazarene
  • Jesus reads Isaiah in the Nazareth synagogue and is rejected
  • Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

What we know

Certain

  • The Gospels uniformly name Nazareth as Jesus' home town.

Disputed

  • Nazareth is absent from the Old Testament and Josephus; first-century remains have been excavated, but its small size explains the silence.