Matthew 4:24 is the twenty-fourth verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 in the New Testament

New Testament

The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....

. This verse is part of a brief summary of and introduction to Jesus

Jesus

Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...

' ministry in Galilee

Galilee

Galilee , is a large region in northern Israel which overlaps with much of the administrative North District of the country. Traditionally divided into Upper Galilee , Lower Galilee , and Western Galilee , extending from Dan to the north, at the base of Mount Hermon, along Mount Lebanon to the...

, which will be recounted in the next several chapters. This verse summarizes Jesus' healing.

The original Koine Greek

Koine Greek

Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....

, according to Westcott and Hort

The New Testament in the Original Greek

The New Testament in the Original Greek is the name of a Greek language version of the New Testament published in 1881. It is also known as the Westcott and Hort text, after its editors Brooke Foss Westcott and Fenton John Anthony Hort...

, reads:

και απηλθεν η ακοη αυτου εις ολην την συριαν και προσηνεγκαν αυτω παντας

τους κακως εχοντας ποικιλαις νοσοις και βασανοις συνεχομενους δαιμονιζομενους

και σεληνιαζομενους και παραλυτικους και εθεραπευσεν αυτους

In the King James Version of the Bible the text reads:

And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that

were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils,

and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.

The World English Bible

World English Bible

The World English Bible is a public domain translation of the Bible that is currently in draft form. Work on the World English Bible began in 1997 and was known as the American Standard Version 1997...

 translates the passage as:

The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who

were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with

demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 4:24

The Roman province

Roman province

In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and, until the Tetrarchy , largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of Italy...

 of Syria

Syria (Roman province)

Syria was a Roman province, annexed in 64 BC by Pompey, as a consequence of his military presence after pursuing victory in the Third Mithridatic War. It remained under Roman, and subsequently Byzantine, rule for seven centuries, until 637 when it fell to the Islamic conquests.- Principate :The...

 covered a huge area. France feels that the author of Matthew was likely using the OT meaning that limited it to the area immediately to the north and northeast of Israel. Schweizer notes that one late manuscript has synoria, region, in place of Syria, a meaning that would also make the passage more credible. Syria is often considered to be the location where the author of Matthew wrote his gospel.

The last verse mentioned Jesus' healing power and this one goes into more detail. It lists a number of general conditions common in that period. Torment

Torment

Torment may refer to:* The feeling of pain or suffering* Causing to suffer, torture* Torment , a 1944 Swedish film* Torment , a 1924 silent film crime-drama* Torment , a 1950 British thriller film...

 refers to severe pain; possession

Demonic possession

Demonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...

 is seen either as possession by the Devil, or as a metaphor for mental illness

Mental illness

A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...

; epileptics refers to any suffering seizure

Seizure

An epileptic seizure, occasionally referred to as a fit, is defined as a transient symptom of "abnormal excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain". The outward effect can be as dramatic as a wild thrashing movement or as mild as a brief loss of awareness...

s; and paralytics to those who are paralyzed. Hill notes that the general understanding of disease among the Jewish community at the time was that it was in atonement for sin. Thus Jesus' healing power is a subset of his ability to grant forgiveness of sins, as mentioned in Matthew 1:21

Matthew 1:21

Matthew 1:21 is the twenty-first verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. Jesus. Joseph is being spoken to in a dream by an angel...

.