Matthew 4:25 is the twenty-fifth, and final, 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 lists the many locations from which people came to see Jesus.

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 ηκολουθησαν αυτω οχλοι πολλοι απο της γαλιλαιας και δεκαπολεως

και ιεροσολυμων και ιουδαιας και περαν του ιορδανου

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

And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from

Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan.

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:

Great multitudes from Galilee, Decapolis, Jerusalem,

Judea and from beyond the Jordan followed him.

For a collection of other versions see BibRef Matthew 4:25

This verse reaffirms the author of Matthew's affinity for geography, and especially place names, as previously seen throughout Matthew 2

Matthew 2

Matthew 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. It describes the events after the birth of Jesus. The first section deals with the visit of the magi and the attempt by King Herod to kill the infant messiah. The second portion deals with Jesus' Flight into Egypt, and...

 and in Matthew 4:13

Matthew 4:13

Matthew 4:13 is the thirteenth verse of the fourth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament. In the previous verse Jesus returned to Galilee after hearing of the arrest of John the Baptist...

. This verse lists the places from which people came to follow Jesus. These are:

• 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...
  
  , Jesus' homeland where he is preaching at this time
• The Decapolis
  Decapolis
  The Decapolis was a group of ten cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire in Judea and Syria. The ten cities were not an official league or political unit, but they were grouped together because of their language, culture, location, and political status...
  
  , literally "the Ten Towns", largely Gentile
  Gentile
  The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....
  
   Greek cities
• Jerusalem, the political and spiritual capital of the region
• Judaea
  Judea
  Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
  
  , the heartland of the Jews to the south of Galilee
• Peraea
  Perea (Holy Land)
  Perea , a portion of the kingdom of Herod the Great occupying the eastern side of the Jordan River valley, from about one third the way down from the Sea of Galilee to about one third the way down the eastern shore of the Dead Sea; it did not extend too far inland...
  
  , an area to the east of the Jordan River

With the mention of Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

 in the previous verse this covers the entirety of the Holy Land

Holy Land

The Holy Land is a term which in Judaism refers to the Kingdom of Israel as defined in the Tanakh. For Jews, the Land's identifiction of being Holy is defined in Judaism by its differentiation from other lands by virtue of the practice of Judaism often possible only in the Land of Israel...

, with the notable exception of Samaria

Samaria

Samaria, or the Shomron is a term used for a mountainous region roughly corresponding to the northern part of the West Bank.- Etymology :...

. Throughout his gospel the author of Matthew seems to view that area in a negative light, as in Matthew 10:5.