Jesus starts to speak God's message in Galilee
12 Then Jesus heard that Herod had put John the Baptist in prison. So Jesus returned to Galilee.
13 But he did not stay in Nazareth. He went to live in Capernaum, which is a town on the shore of Lake Galilee. It was in the part of Israel called Zebulun and Naphtali.
4:13Zebulun and Naphtali were two of Israel's 12 tribes. This was the region of Israel where those tribes had lived.
14 This caused God's message to become true. Long ago God had said through his prophet Isaiah:
15 ‘I am speaking to you people who live in Zebulun and Naphtali.
Your land is on the way to Lake Galilee.
It is across the Jordan River in Galilee,
where people of other nations live.
16 They are like people who are living in a dark place.
They live in the shadow which death brings.
Now God will send a light to shine on them.’
4:16See Isaiah 9:1-2. These people did not understand the truth about God. It is like they were living in a dark place with no light. 17 Then Jesus began to speak God's message to people. He said, ‘You must turn away from your sins and change how you live. Do this now, because the kingdom of heaven has come very near.’
