Lives of Scripture
Capernaum
Name means “the field of repentance; city of comfort”Hitchcock’s Bible Names Dictionary: “Capernaum, the field of repentance; city of comfort”
Modern location: Kfar Nahum, Israel
First named: Matthew 4:13
A fishing town on the Sea of Galilee's north shore that Jesus made the base of much of His Galilean ministry after leaving Nazareth (Matthew 4:13). It was Peter's hometown, the site of Jesus's synagogue teaching and many healings — including Peter's mother-in-law and a paralyzed man lowered through the roof — and where Matthew was called from his tax booth (Mark 1:21-29; 2:1-14; Matthew 9:9).
References: Matthew 4:13; Mark 1:21-29; Matthew 9:9; Mark 5:21-24
People connected to Capernaum
- Andrew (M) — Peter's brother, a fisherman whose home was in this town
Mark 1:29
- Jairus (M) — a synagogue official of this town whose dying daughter Jesus raised
Mark 5:22-42
- Matthew (M) — sat at the tax booth here until Jesus called him to follow
Mark 2:14; Matthew 9:9
- Peter (M) — the fisherman whose house here Jesus made a base for His Galilean ministry
Mark 1:21; Mark 1:29
- the centurion of Capernaum — asked Jesus only to speak the word, and his servant was healed from a distance
Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-10
- the paralyzed man let down through the roof — was lowered through a broken-open roof here by four friends, and Jesus forgave and healed him
Mark 2:1-12