Luke 4 · Verse 26

Luke 4:26

But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
Luke 4:26, King James Version

Luke 4:26 in other translations

BSBYet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to the widow of Zarephath in Sidon.
WEBElijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
ASVand unto none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
YLTand unto none of them was Elijah sent, but--to Sarepta of Sidon, unto a woman, a widow;
DARBYand to none of them was Elias sent but to Sarepta of Sidonia, to a woman that was a widow.
BBEBut Elijah was not sent to one of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
WebsterBut to none of them was Elijah sent, save to Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a woman that was a widow.

What does Luke 4:26 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Luke 4:25-27

25-27. But I tell you, &c.--falling back for support on the well-known examples of Elijah and Elisha (Eliseus), whose miraculous power, passing by those who were near, expended itself on those at a distance, yea on heathens, "the two great prophets who stand at the commencement of prophetic antiquity, and whose miracles strikingly prefigured those of our Lord. As He intended like them to feed the poor and cleanse…

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Barnes' Notes
Verse 26. Save unto Sarepta. Sarepta was a town between Tyre and Sidon, near the Mediterranean Sea. It was not a Jewish city, but a Sidonian, and therefore a Gentile town. The word "save" in this verse does not express the meaning of the original. It would seem to imply that the city was Jewish. The meaning of the verse is this: "He was sent to none of the widows in Israel. He was not sent except to Sarepta, to a woman that was a Sidonian." Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. i. p. 232-236) regards Sarepta as the modern Sarafend. He says that the ruins have been frequently dug over for stone to build the barracks at Betrout, and that the broken columns, marble slabs, sarcophagi, and other ruins indicate that it was once a flourishing city. A large town was built there in the time of the Crusades.

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 26 Unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta - The sentence is elliptical, and means this: To none of them was Elias sent; he was not sent except to Sarepta; for the widow at Sarepta was a Sidonian, not a widow of Israel. Pearce. - Sarepta was a pagan city in the country of Sidon, in the vicinity of Galilee.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Luke 4:14-30

Christ taught in their synagogues, their places of public worship, where they met to read, expound, and apply the word, to pray and praise. All the gifts and graces of the Spirit were upon him and on him, without measure. By Christ, sinners may be loosed from the bonds of guilt, and by his Spirit and grace from the bondage of corruption. He came by the word of his gospel, to bring light to those that sat in the…

Read the full comment on Luke 4:14-30 →

Luke 4:26 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

καὶkaiandG2532
πρὸςprostoG4314
οὐδεμίανoudemiannoneG3762
αὐτῶνautōnof themG846
ἐπέμφθηepemphthēwas sentG3992
ἨλίαςĒliasElijahG2243
εἰeionlyG1487
μὴmēexceptG3361
εἰςeistoG1519
ΣάρεπταSareptaZarephathG4558
τῆςtēs<the>G3588
ΣιδωνίαςSidōniasof SidonG4606
πρὸςprostoG4314
γυναῖκαgunaikaa womanG1135
χήραν.chērana widow.G5503

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Luke 4:26

  • 1 Kings 17:9-24

    Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. …

  • Matthew 11:21

    Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

  • Obadiah 1:20

    And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even unto Zarephath; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
save.
1Ki 17:9-24
Zarephath.
Ob 1:20
Sarepta.Sarepta, a city of Phoenicia, on the coast of the Mediterranean, is called Zarphand by the Arabian geographer Sherif Ibn Idris, who places it twenty miles N. of Tyre, and ten S. of Sidon; but its real distance from Tyre is about fifteen miles, the whole distance from that city to Sidon being only twenty-five miles. Maundrell states that the place shown him for this city, called Sarphan, consisted of only a few houses, on the tops of the mountains, within about half a mile of the sea; between which there were ruins of considerable extent.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Luke 4:25

    But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land;

  • Luke 4:26

    But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.

  • Luke 4:27

    And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.

Read all of Luke 4

Luke 4:26 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Pero á ninguna de ellas fué enviado Elías, sino á Sarepta de Sidón, á una mujer viuda.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		et Élie ne fut envoyé vers aucune d’elles, sinon à Sarepta de la Sidonie vers une femme veuve.
German
Elberfelder 1871		und zu keiner von ihnen wurde Elias gesandt, als nur nach Sarepta in Sidonia, zu einem Weibe, einer Witwe.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		et ad nullam illarum missus est Elias, nisi in Sarepta Sidoniæ, ad mulierem viduam.