The Meaning of Luke 4:29 Explained

Luke 4:29

KJV: And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.

YLT: and having risen, they put him forth without the city, and brought him unto the brow of the hill on which their city had been built -- to cast him down headlong,

Darby: and rising up they cast him forth out of the city, and led him up to the brow of the mountain upon which their city was built, so that they might throw him down the precipice;

ASV: and they rose up, and cast him forth out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might throw him down headlong.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  rose up,  and thrust  him  out of  the city,  and  led  him  unto  the brow  of the hill  whereon  their  city  was built,  that  they might cast  him  down headlong. 

What does Luke 4:29 Mean?

Context Summary

Luke 4:14-30 - "his Own Received Him Not"
A wide gap occurs here, embracing the important transactions of John 1:29-51; John 2:1-25; John 3:1-36; John 4:1-54.
What a flutter in Mary's heart when she saw her son sitting in the teacher's place of His native synagogue! How gratified at the reception given to the opening sentences! What a sword pierced her heart at the sudden revulsion of feeling! They were jealous that He performed only a few private miracles; but He could not do more because of their unbelief. See Mark 6:5.
Note that our Lord here sounded forth the silver trumpet of jubilee. Seizing on the imagery of the gladdest festival of Hebrew life, He likened Himself to a priest proclaiming the acceptable year of the Lord. Not yet the day of vengeance! Compare Luke 4:19 with Isaiah 61:1-2. This is Christ's program for the present age. [source]

Chapter Summary: Luke 4

1  The fasting and temptation of Jesus
14  He begins to preach
16  The people of Nazareth marvel at words, but seek to kill him
33  He cures one possessed of a demon,
38  Peter's mother-in-law,
40  and various other sick persons
41  The demons acknowledge Jesus, and are reproved for it
42  He preaches through the cities of Galilee

Greek Commentary for Luke 4:29

They rose up and cast him forth [ανασταντες εχεβαλον]
Second aorist ingressive active participle and second aorist effective active indicative. A movement towards lynching Jesus. [source]
Unto the brow of the hill [ηος οπρυος του ορους]
Eyebrow Past perfect indicative, stood built.That they might throw him down headlong Neat Greek idiom with ωστε — hōste for intended result, “so as to cast him down the precipice.” The infinitive alone can convey the same meaning (Matthew 2:2; Matthew 20:28; Luke 2:23). Κρημνος — Krēmnos is an overhanging bank or precipice from κρεμαννυμι — kremannumi to hang. Κατα — Kata is down. The verb occurs in Xenophon, Demosthenes, lxx, Josephus. Here only in the N.T. At the southwest corner of the town of Nazareth such a cliff today exists overhanging the Maronite convent. Murder was in the hearts of the people. By pushing him over they hoped to escape technical guilt. [source]
Was built [ωικοδομητο]
Past perfect indicative, stood built. [source]
That they might throw him down headlong [ωστε κατακρημνισαι αυτον]
Neat Greek idiom with ωστε — hōste for intended result, “so as to cast him down the precipice.” The infinitive alone can convey the same meaning (Matthew 2:2; Matthew 20:28; Luke 2:23). Κρημνος — Krēmnos is an overhanging bank or precipice from κρεμαννυμι — kremannumi to hang. Κατα — Kata is down. The verb occurs in Xenophon, Demosthenes, lxx, Josephus. Here only in the N.T. At the southwest corner of the town of Nazareth such a cliff today exists overhanging the Maronite convent. Murder was in the hearts of the people. By pushing him over they hoped to escape technical guilt. [source]
The brow [ὀφρύος]
Only here in New Testament. Wyc., cope, which is originally cap or hood. The word is used in medical language both of the eyebrows and of other projections of the body. It would naturally occur to a physician, especially since the same epithets were applied to the appearance of the eyebrows in certain diseases as were applied to kills. Thus Hippocrates, describing a deadly fever, says, “The eyebrows seem to hang over, ” the same word which Homer uses of a rock. So Aretaeus, describing the appearance of the eyebrows in elephantiasis, depicts them as προβλῆτες ,projecting, and όχθώδεις ,like mounds. Stanley says: “Most readers probably from these words imagine a town built on the summit of a mountain, from which summit the intended precipitation was to take place. This is not the situation of Nazareth; yet its position is still in accordance with the narrative. It is built upon, that is, on the side of a mountain, but the brow is not beneath, but over the town, and such a cliff as is here implied is found in the abrupt face of a limestone rock about thirty or forty feet high, overhanging the Maronite convent at the southwest corner of the town” (“Sinai and Palestine”)Cast him down headlong ( κατακρημνίσαι )Only here in New Testament, and in the Septuagint only in sa40" translation="">2 Chronicles 25:12.sa40 [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 4:29

John 1:46 Come out of Nazareth [ἐκ Ναζαρὲτ εἶναι]
Literally, “be out of;” a characteristic expression of John. See John 3:31; John 4:22; John 7:17, John 7:22; John 8:23; John 15:19; John 18:36, John 18:38, etc. It means more than to come out of: rather to come out of as that which is of; to be identified with something so as to come forth bearing its impress, moral or otherwise. See especially John 3:31: “He that is of the earth is of the earth;” i.e., partakes of its quality. Compare Christ's words to Nicodemus (John 3:6), and 1 Corinthians 15:47. In the Greek order, out of Nazareth stands first in the sentence as expressing the prominent thought in Nathanael's mind, surprise that Jesus should have come from Nazareth, a poor village, even the name of which does not occur in the Old Testament. Contrary to the popular explanation, there is no evidence that Nazareth was worse than other places, beyond the fact of the violence offered to Jesus by its people (Luke 4:28, Luke 4:29), and their obstinate unbelief in Him (Matthew 13:58; Mark 6:6). It was a proverb, however, that no prophet was to come from Galilee (John 7:52). -DIVIDER-
-DIVIDER-
[source]

James 2:25 Sent them out [ἐκβαλοῦσα]
Better, thrust them forth, implying haste and fear. Compare Mark 1:12; Luke 4:29; Acts 16:37. [source]

What do the individual words in Luke 4:29 mean?

and having risen up they cast Him out of [the] city led unto brow of the hill upon which the town had been built of them in order to throw over him
καὶ ἀναστάντες ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν ἔξω τῆς πόλεως ἤγαγον ἕως ὀφρύος τοῦ ὄρους ἐφ’ οὗ πόλις ᾠκοδόμητο αὐτῶν ὥστε κατακρημνίσαι αὐτόν

ἀναστάντες  having  risen  up 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: ἀναπηδάω 
Sense: to cause to rise up, raise up.
ἐξέβαλον  they  cast 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ἐκβάλλω  
Sense: to cast out, drive out, to send out.
ἔξω  out 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἔξω  
Sense: without, out of doors.
τῆς  of  [the] 
Parse: Article, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
πόλεως  city 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: πόλις  
Sense: a city.
ἤγαγον  led 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ἄγω  
Sense: to lead, take with one.
ἕως  unto 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἕως  
Sense: till, until.
ὀφρύος  brow 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Feminine Singular
Root: ὀφρῦς  
Sense: the eyebrow.
τοῦ  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ὄρους  hill 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Neuter Singular
Root: ὄρος  
Sense: a mountain.
ἐφ’  upon 
Parse: Preposition
Root: ἐπί  
Sense: upon, on, at, by, before.
πόλις  town 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: πόλις  
Sense: a city.
ᾠκοδόμητο  had  been  built 
Parse: Verb, Pluperfect Indicative Middle or Passive, 3rd Person Singular
Root: οἰκοδομέω 
Sense: to build a house, erect a building.
αὐτῶν  of  them 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Plural
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
ὥστε  in  order 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὥστε  
Sense: so that, insomuch that.
κατακρημνίσαι  to  throw  over 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Infinitive Active
Root: κατακρημνίζω  
Sense: to cast down a precipice.